Originally Posted by mattface
I never said anything about better. You must be confusing me with someone else. I would argue that new frames of moderate price are as good as they were 30 years ago, and the cheap ones are way better than comparably cheap frames. As for the high end, if someon could build it 30 years ago, someone can do it today.
The selection of new steel bikes is certainly adequate to the market, if not plentiful, and if you're OK with used bikes they are extremely plentiful. Many people here have attested to buying numerous used steel bikes for under $10. I got my '78 Supercourse for free. Judging that frame fairly it was a really nice inexpensive frame. In spite of chipped paint it was still just as good 25 years later, but it was not work of art or an example of old world craftsmanship. In order to keep the price low they worked fast on the brazing, and it showed. I'd take another Supercourse in a heartbeat, but I'm not about to wax philosophic about how they don't make them like that anymore. The reason they don't make them like that is because when cost is an issue now they weld them. I doubt you will find a modern lugged frame with that kind of sloppy brazing.
I'm plenty ok with used ones. I'm here aren't I?
I have a '78 SuperCourse too, and not surprisingly, it is of similar build quality to yours. I wouldn't quite call it "sloppy" (because it's worlds better than the job the lads in Nottingham did on my uncle's Superbe), but it's no work of art. On the other hand, I have a 1973-ish Fuji, and a 1969/70 Raleigh Professional that are very nicely finished. They're both near top-of-the-line models from their makers at the time, but they were still mass-produced.
I guess today, sloppy is reserved for welded aluminum frames.
I have no doubt though, that if they were building the lower-end stuff out of steel instead of aluminum today, the cheap stuff would be no better than it used to be.