I spent a big chunk of the weekend pulling security for the Lung Association's 'Trek Across Maine' fund-raiser, and checked 1400+ bikes out. Not counting 'bents and tandems, only a dozen or so were lugged steel, so few I can list them:
3 Miyatas (912, 215, 312) 2 Panasonics, 2 Shoguns, a Le Tour, a Dave Scott Ironman, a Warterford (!), a De Rosa, and a RB-1.
I got to talk to most of the riders a bit; the Le Tour was ridden by a gent a little older than I who had bought it new in 1974. The woman riding the Waterford made sure you knew what it cost in the first sentence of her conversion. And the young lady on the RB-1 had picked it up for $50 at a swap meet the week before. This was her first long ride on it, and she was talking about new pedals, tweeking the drivetrain, and maybe a Brooks. So perhaps there is still hope.
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Nice group of lugged classics there. I came up on an orange Waterford on the last ride I was on and as I approached the rider I commented on the nice ride. He laughed and told me it was a rental from the local LBS. With my memory now sufficently jogged to remember this particular beauty hanging in the shop the rider goes on to tell me how they had run out of their usual Trek 1200 rentals and they had rented him this bike instead. I just smiled, and informed him he'd got the better end of that deal for sure.

I have to admit I rode the St. Paul Classic bike tour last year. They claim 7000 riders. Besides my 1986 Raleigh Super Course (singlespeed), the only lugged frame I saw was a Miyata 912...otherwise, lots of Treks, Lemonds, the usual stuff....kickstands.

If I were going to ride one of those charity rides, I'd probably be on my 1974-ish Fuji Dynamic 10, just as a side note....

Just because they're old, doesn't mean they can't do the job....!

In this day and age of name brand jeans & tee shirts the lugged steel bike still have some mystique. I have a modern Columbus Foco steel and a TiC bike. That said I also have a 1969 Cinelli, and 2 SLX lugged Greg Lemonds (PreTrek) both built by high quality Italian builders. Love the ride on all the bikes but, to me the lugged steel frames have more character and a terrific ride quality...they're just a little heavier. There are a number of builders who still make high quality lugged bikes out of the latest steel tube sets like Waterford, Torelli, Mondonico, Columbine, even Eddy Merckx has a limited run of Lugged Steel SLX frames that he is selling this year (2K$ for the frame...and they are selling!!!).
Most riders today haven't had the experience of a lugged steel frame. Lighter is better in the Peleton and most marketing is geared that way. The funny thing is that most riders today can stand to make up the difference in personal weight for example I could lose 1.5 SBWs (SBW = Standard Bike Weights) and become a much improved rider. To me a high quality lugged steel frame is aesthetically appealing whereas the modern oversized tubes and OLCV bikes need the NASCAR decals to sex them up and hide the shaped tubing. I don't think that the Ti bikes have much character so I painted mine British Racing Green. I guess I am from the old school of plain black bike shorts and minimal shirt bling.
I will have to close by saying that when I take my lugged frames on rides and stop by shops with very experienced mechanics they always come out and drool over the older frames especially the 1969 Cinelli.

I did note that the lugsters all knew what they were riding and doing so out of preference. The gent with the LeTour had some sort of Trek at home, but liked his 'old reliable' on long rides. Two of the Miyata riders and the guy on the Ironman had sought those specific bikes out on the used market. One of the woman riding a Panasonic kept arguing with her buddy that toeclips really were better. With the execption of the young hottie with good taste on the RB1, all the other folks were 30+.
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