Well, I wouldn't really say I'm "suffering."

“Cheaper than hookers and blow?”

Clearly, sir, you have much to learn in the ways of C & V.

Ditto.
Or divorce.

Word of advice - GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU CAN! These forums get you hooked and make you spend all your money on the next greatest thing. I haven't been on this forum for long and already I'm 3 cheap bikes in and starting to ponder the grail bike.
I was pretty active on a couple of music gear forums and I don't even want to estimate what I spent on guitars and amplifiers over the years.

Anyone want to buy a 1965 Ampeg Reverberocket amp??

Ditto.
Same with divorce.

Perhaps the grail-up tendency is because at that Maslow level, there's still a wide footprint.
Even Rodin may have said "hmm, I can do better," or Ruben thought "she could lose a pound or two..."

If you dive into subjectivity, you'll only swim in that. Surf above it.

A Buddhist joke can be lost in translation.

Personally? Got into vintage bikes in 1994 with a Colnago Mexico. Bought my grail Bianchi Super Leggera in 2019, then called it quits on the buying. Sold a couple in early 2021, which truly illustrated (to myself, anyway) I was content with what I had. As of today, I still have no desire to add to the collection, but still ride them as often - and as hard - as I can. Riding? Can't see myself ever quitting that. Collecting? Yes. After 24+ years, it's finished for me.

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Just one person's story; yours will likely be different

DD

Hmm.
Nice match to my Wollensack 8-Track deck.
European 60's and 70's audio is pretty fun.
It's sometimes so kitschy, hard to pass up.

I must be living in the past. My idea of great audio is components from the 70's and 80's. Not that I spent alot but mine is an 1980ish Scott 350R receiver into a pair of Advent Legacy speakers. and none of my guitar amps are newer than 25+ years old

Sounds like an oxymoron.

We drink from the same trough - I knew I couldn't be the only one!

DD

even if you have your grail bike (which can change) wanting another bike even if similar is not wrong or right, it just is

Any number of reasons, from having different bikes for different things, having a backup so your riding or commuting is not interrupted, having a around town bike for errands, getting a bike you once lusted for or for nostalgia, curious how 531 or SLX tubing rides, the list goes on

all said and done C&V bikes is a lot less expensive the other endeavors, even at it's extrme

for me I am set with 3 bike (SR semi pro with for around town, 84 team miyata for heoroica/cino rides, 85 team miyata with modern gear for most riding), but would jump on a Torpado Super light in my size and do have a deposit on a bespoke bike

I’ll stop when I get that early Lemond Zurich or Litespeed or Masi Gran Criterium or a Bridgestone Radac 3100. Yeah, I’ll stop then.

For me, the focus is shifting away from acquisition and toward more riding. This year I picked up two aluminum framesets, a Cannondale and a GT.
They'd been on my radar for a while and opportunity struck. Those two and the Colnago Super will see the most miles this year.

There are many days when I could see getting down to three road bikes. Maybe even two. So far nothing has actually ridden better than the Colnago, it just isn't geared for the hills. I could change that, but I don't want to. Hence the need/desire for a second roadie.

Ill gladly trade my Squier classic vibe 70's Tele for your Colnago..?

Pioneer silver face!! sx-whatever, but i traded my sx-1280 for some American muscle namely Mcintosh the famous scottish sound system lol

Lordy, lordy... I have been through a significant number of C&V bikes searching for grail. As far as my opinion goes = once you have the basic frame geometry nailed and some nice tubesets identified, the accoutrements that suit you at the 3 touch points, mostly determine a grail ride. And the tires must be expensive.

And as your riding preferences change and/or expand, so does grail.

Or maybe grail is something more than you see or feel in the ride.

An ex-pro's bike would be cool grail. Like one of Eddy's......? And fits the need for grail to be unobtainable. But we dream, grail holds Hope.


edit: also own custom carbon fiber + custom lugged steel (2004) + oversized ti. Because there is old grail and new grail. And if there is future grail, maybe a lightweight, high-end, aluminum e-gravel bike.

"How do you make a small fortune in C&V bikes? Start with a large fortune."

Installing groove tubes in '63 and '73 Marshalls is kind of fun; then you actually "click" on a real toggle switch and listen.
You know the second you touch that guitar, it's alive.

Silky knob action, damped levers, warm glow.
Can't go no bettah.

Didn't.


The Litespeed was already on board, but not like this.



Only 8 or 9 bikes to go, though.

good tires are always the best, most guaranteed way to get a better ride and handling. took me many years before I understood this

And, as with many things, YMMV.

I have had great luck with Gatorskins and GP 4 Seasons, the ride is just fine for me, which I know many don't care for, I probably just don't know any better and am good with that.

I get great mileage and have had only a handful of flats in 12 years of commuting and riding.

Also like the aesthetic for C+V, not oldschool per se and not really modern either.

...or a Tele thru a brownface Fender at the edge of breakup...sonic nirvana!

I did. For me it was partly the circumstances under which I lost contact with the first "good bike" that I owned (a 1978 Raleigh Super Course, which was stolen in between the time I finished college and joined the Navy), but I also had not done any appreciable amount of riding for the intervening twenty years. A couple months before I replaced it, I located a 1972 Fuji Finest, and by the time I got the Super Course on the road, it didn't seem anywhere near as special as it had when I was in college and able to ride tirelessly in the 52/14 combination. I suspect that while we both can attribute the desire to nostalgia, your experience is likely to be different from mine. The odds of you feeling the let-down of the experience may be lower than mine.

This said, my journey into the hobby and subsequent proliferation of bicycles began during that period of time. It has been a satisfying hobby/adventure thus far, and I plan on it continuing for many more years.