Actually, we were!

If you advanced beyond the bottom of the barrel 10-speed you soon learned what constituted a better bike. Reynolds made its way down the line on many bikes, especially British, even if it was only plain guage.

The typical pattern was: start with a junky bike; realize you like riding. Sell it and buy something new, middle of the line and upgrade the parts as you could afford it. Ride that awhile, take your better parts off, return it to original, sell it and buy that frame you always dreamed of. Or replace that junky bike with an older used frame or better bike and upgrade as you went. Things didn't change much in those days... a 1970 bike lwas the same more or less until about 1984.

Of course, there are those that are still riding their Varsity untouched since 1969. And I knew a 15 year old at the time who were riding full Campagnolo Colnagos... if fact, he had two! What a butt!

In 1972, I sold my Gitane hunkojunk for 90 dollars, bought a 60s Carlton 531 frame from a friend and built it to full Campagnolo by 1975.

BTW, in the early 70s, a low end 10-speed was about 100 bucks, 275. would get you a PX10, 500. would get you a Raleigh Pro, and a sweet Italian bike only a little more. A nice used all Campagnolo bike could be had for 200.-250. or so...