So true. Hope everybody realizes I'm just pulling your legs with my "unique" definition of classic and vintage.

I think I was imprinted for life by the period I grew up in - I got my first "good" bike at 12 years old, an entry level Italian steed with all the chrome and flashy paint job and even a few Campagnolo bits. At that time "Made in Japan" was still pretty much understood to mean cheap junk much as many people think of "Made in China" today. I aspired to a "rarefied" high-end Italian bike but it wasn't in my budget. Then just about the time quality Japanese bikes and components started to really hit the market in numbers, I got a car and went off to college and didn't pay any attention to cycling for 10 years. When I awoke from my Rip van Winkle-esque non-cycling period and got back on a bike in the early 90's, the Campy vs. Shimano war was over, Shimano had won but Campy had survived and the dollar to yen exchange rate had pretty much pushed the Japanese bikes out of the market. Most (certainly not all but the majority) of the Japanese bikes I see are fine bikes but lack in aesthetics compared to an equivelant European bike and just don't turn me on.

Figure if you are either 5-10 years younger than me and grew up during the Japanese bike period of the 80's or you at least continued riding through that period and got more exposure to those bikes you probably have a lot more feeling for them than I would.