As per usual, the winter is a time where I neglect my bikes a bit (while still riding to work every day) and obsess about skiing. This winter as I began to pack up for my eventual move to a new home I thought a lot about the bike collection in my basement. What are they all for? How many should I keep? Which ones?

Previously I'd always considered myself a user, not a collector. I bought a new (typically vintage) bike for some purpose: commuting, winter, touring, road riding. Not just to have it. But with ten-odd bikes around, with lots of overlap I've slowly come to grips with the fact that I'm a collector. I just love bikes. Their history and development. And that I can at any time grab one off the hook and go for a ride on something many decades old. Over these last few months (where I've purposely stayed away from BF.net to avoid compulsive purchases) I tried to figure out what sort of collection I want to curate over the next few years / decade / life.

Certainly goals and priorities will change over time, but I think I've settled on my first long-term goal: The Decade Project

The goal of this project is to own one bike, from every decade going back until at least the 1930s. They should all be riders in good repair. I'd like to include geographic variation as much as possible. And as many different types of bikes (road, touring, mountain, city, folding?, etc) as possible. No wallhangers. No bikes I'm afraid to ride. Something that was nice quality when it was manufactured, top of line is fine but not a requirement.

I already have 4 spots filled in and sold off a couple already that didn't quite fit. Certainly there will be times when I have more than one from a particular decade, but the aim is to refine over time rather than expand.

I hope to use this thread over the next few years to track my progress and ask for recommendations / thoughts / help. And of course, post lots of build and ride photos as they occur.

The Decade Project: Current Line-up

• 1930: ??? Plan: French / Belgian / Italian / Dutch / German.
• 1940: ??? Plan: French / Belgian / Italian / Dutch / German
• 1950: ??? Plan: French / Belgian / Italian / Dutch / German
• 1960: UK. Carlton Catalina. 1966?. Setup as a 3-sp with North Roads.
• 1970: UK. MKM Cycle. Early 1970s. Not currently built.
• 1980: USA. Trek 620. 1983. Rando-build.
• 1990: USA. Waterford RS. 1999. Road build.
• 2000: ??? Plan: single speed or IGH, all-weather, commuter OR Italian racer?
• 2010: ??? Plan: modern FS mountain bike.

To reconsider / prune

• 1995: Diamondback Racing Axis Titanium. XT w/ updated 100m air-fork. I may keep it as an all-weather, SS commuter once a modern mountain bike finds its way home. It'd give me some different options for the 2000s bike. (Folding?)
• 1989: Schwinn High Sierra. Current utility / bad weather bike. Have a friend who it would suit.
• 1983: Trek 420. Current SS, nice day, around town. Probably bound for a different friend of mine.

Current to-do list. Or "give me your recommendations."

• Build a list of French, Belgian, Italian, Dutch and German bike brands that were manufactured 1930-50s to slowly search Ebay/CL for. Ideally available in America. Aim for $400-800 total per bike. For something exceptional, this can grow a bit.
• Plan MKM build. Have GB bars/stems I'd like to use. But what component set for an early 1970s British racer?
• Prep High Sierra / 420 for sale to friends (i.e. full overhaul / build adjustments.)

Interesting project.

1930s track bike/path racer
1940s french 650B?
1950s italian city bike

1960s track or french constructeur and 1970s definitely a road bike.

In the 1980s things get a little more difficult. A nice sport touring bike from the 1980s or touring bike would be a good fit. For me, personally, nothing defines the 1990s for me more than weird suspension and colourful anodized CNC mountain bike parts. Road bikes evolved through every material known in the 1990s so you could choose many iconic machines from that period, but still I would say nothing says 1990s like a hard tail MTB with a nice rockshock. I'd go for the earlier half personally but by the late 1990s disc brakes and better suspension were emerging. 2000s are tough, lots of things happened then, certainly the fixie craze was memorable. You could get an aerospoke and through it on a debernardi and call it done, world touring also enjoyed a surge in popularity and the roll-off became a big deal. A thorn touring machine with rolloff would be pretty appropriate.

I'll always have a modern mountain bike, never more than 3 years old so when this decade passes you may not want to still have that bike. A fat bike or other plus sized tire machine would be pretty iconic for this decade but so too would a modern steel road bike with disc brakes and electronic shifting. My road bike has caliper brakes and machnical sram shifting, I'd love the modern stuff, but for me the money is better spent on keeping a new full suspension mtb, there is way more performance to be gained with new suspension and 1x drivetrains or wider, lighter MTB wheels etc.

Interesting approach...I am at the point of pruning as well...not sure I want to do this...but...food for thought...thanks...and it will be fun to watch!

I guess I'd put a balloon tire bike in there somewhere.

Great ideas and food for thought. I hear you re:MTB although I certainly am more okay with a bit longer-in-the-tooth bikes than 3 years. Hell, I've been riding the DBR Ti hardtail all over Colorado for the last 2 summers (with an upgraded Reba Team shock and fresh cockpit.)


Agreed that all those styles mentioned by [MENTION=13607]cyclotoine[/MENTION] and [MENTION=339610]Darth Lefty[/MENTION] are worth adding. Ultimately I think what I end up with will be a bit driven by what I fall in love with and is in my size / repairable condition.

Thus far the "set" bikes are:

1960s: Carlton Catalina. English 3-sp, "Tourist" esque build. I realize its a bit of an abomination taking a mid-pack roadie and turning it tourist. But I love the 531 and color, so for now it is safe.
1970s. English Road Bike. MKM Cycles. Needs to be built up from frame (full 531). But what group? (This is a no-matter-what Keeper.)
1980s. American Sport Touring. Trek 620. Built with a triple, my first wheels I laced (700c touring wheels), and saddle bag / rando bag. (My first nice bike. A no-matter-what Keeper)
1990s. American Road Bike. Waterford RS. Built with 9sp Ultegra and DA wheels.

I may keep the Diamondback Ti Hardtail as the 1990s model if I have a newer road bike in the mix than the Waterford. I have a Rock Shock Judy I'll keep around for it, but probably build it as single-speed, rigid, with Big Apples.

Especially high on the list to search for would be:

- American Balloon Tire (pre-war...30s?)
- French 650B
- Italian city
- Cargo bike
- Belt drive + IGH (2000s)

I have 1950's, 1960's, 1970's and 1980's bikes, all built by the same individual framebuilder: Licinio Marastoni. I know where there is a 1940's one as well as a 1990's one too... His first frames date from the late 30's. Unfortunately he passed away last year.

I have bikes built from every decade from the 1930s to the 2010s. I certainly don't think very many are iconic for that particular decade, however. Cool project.

I just bought 2 bikes from the 60s; they're my oldest bikes at this point. I wouldn't mind one from the 50s or even earlier either. Cool project.

I went through a a similar excercise last year. I had accumulated quite a few bikes that I just liked with no rhyme or reason and a lot of overlap. Then I moved into a 1 bedroom apartment. My daughter started telling people I lived in a bike shop. I decided to keep one example of each of Reynolds nicer tube sets. I guess I should call my Reynolds Collection. I've got bikes built up in Reynolds 531C, 753R and I'm working on my 653 frame now. I have an 853 Schwinn Peloton but I would like to replace it with a LeMond. I have a Specialized AWOL so I'm keeping my eyes open for a early AWOL expert frame made from Reynolds 725. When I find one I'll swap the parts over from mine. I still have a few bikes that don't fit the collection like my aluminum hardtail MTB. I live in a great mountain biking area so i'll keep that. I have one beater all weather grocery getter bike. And I have a Serrota thats made from Columbus SLX. That thing is a keeper so I justify it as the bike I measure the others against.

So far I've gotten rid of a modern gravel grinder and a modern road bike both All City's, an 80's Trek 620, a mid 00's full suspesion MTB, a department store cruiser bike (Columbia) and a Miyata 912

I think you've made good choices on what you're keeping and like the suggestions of a 40's American Track racer, 50's Italian City Bike etc. For the current decade bike I would build a steel framed disc brake Gravel Grinder with clearance for larger tires like an All City Macho Man.

I'm looking forward to following your progress.

I would add Schwinn in there somewhere, either pre war or a nice top end one. Maybe a Raleigh.

I currently own at least one from each of the 40's-80's, and the 2000's.

VERY cool. Wow. Hope you are able to find those last couple to complete the collection. I'm sure his family would love to see the evolution of his work. I'd love to see a write-up of why you focused on him and how his work changed over the years.

Your collection is one of my absolute favorites around here. I'm not obsessed with them being iconic from the time -- reflective perhaps. More important is being able to see the variety of bikes produced, some tech evolution and that they all be fun to ride.

Very cool. Aren't there 9XX Reynolds tubes too?

I've sort of got the Schwinn and Raleigh covered in a backhand way: the Waterford was made in the same factory as Paramounts, and the Carlton is from when Raleigh owned the shop and is basically a re-badged Super Course. Realistically I wouldn't be opposed to replacing the Waterford/Carlton with their more iconic counterparts, but it isn't high on the priority list.

Plus the names Waterford and Carlton stand out to me.

I've been working on this with my collection of Italians. My goal was to eventually do l'Eroica in Gaiole on a different bike from each decade prior to the 90's (4 done so far).

1910's Touring
1920's missing (except for the wife's Gloria city bike)
1930's Airolg, Vittoria Margherita
1940's Legnano, Cambio Corsa
1940's Gloria Garibaldina, Simplex
1950's Cicli Masini, Paris-Roubaix
1960's missing and unfortunately not my thing(!)
1970's Ciöcc
1980's Tommasini Racing
1980's Rossin Ghibli
1990's Somec MS
2000's missing
2010's Colnago C60

Glad to see someone else is thinking along these lines! Makes me feel less compulsive!

I don't see a Stumpjumper in the mix. Probably the most significant factory MTB ever. Please don't comment Ritchey and other custom/semi custom bikes. The Stumpy was the first production MTB and still affordable.

Cool project! For the 30's-50's, consider eBay France. Shipping a bike here is ~$120, depending on the seller. You can find som really cool, old bikes there, and if they were on this side of the ocean, would be worth much more just because of stateside rarity. I've sometimes thought about taking an extended vacation and doing a European Picker tour, then ship them all back in a container. Do a pop up store in the early summer...

This sounds fun! Best of luck!