In 1977 I bought my new Trek frame and built it up with most of the components you see here. Then 30 years ago almost to the day, I traded frames for this '72 Condor Italia. It was a giddy all night parts swap and we both rode away happy. Here it is after last year's repaint.

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMAG0517.jpg

I bought a new frameset from Bike Warehouse in 1979 when I was in high school, with my own cash. I had a department store 10 speed but I snapped its fork and needed a new bike. I already had modded the department store bike with lighter parts (SR handlebars, aluminum stem, 600 EX crankset, KKT quill pedals, Mafac Racer brakeset, Suntour VGT RD, Winner freewheel, and Normandy high flange hubs and Mavic 27x1 rims), so these got transferred to the new Champion 2 sport tourer frame. At 23", it was bigger than I needed, but I didn't know enough about sizing and fit. I included new Avocet Racer II saddle, and SR Laprade post.

After riding it for 2 years, it got a series of upgrades, Dura Ace EX derailleurs, Sugino Aero Mighty crankset, Suntour Sprint pedals, ALE alloy toe clips, Superbe Pro standard reach sidepull calipers, Sedisport chain, a forged SR stem, Cinelli criterium bend bars, and new wheels with Campy Record hubs and Ambrosio 27" rims. It stayed this way for 22 years.

It was during my divorce from my 1st wife that I dusted off this bike, checked everything and aired the Specialized tires and went riding. That's when I tried a pair of Look style pedals and a new kinder and gentler saddle for my 40 y.o. butt. ;)
BTW, I dropped 30 lbs.

This is how it is to this day. (I may swap a pair of 700C wheels and 28mm tires)
It's the red one behind the Ti mtb frame:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/...f3876c6b_o.jpg

Addendum:
The soon to be ex-wife #2 has deleted all my photos of my possessions recently (2012). So, the above photo is lost. She's trying to claim my pre-marriage belongings are community property and hoping to get half of its worth. I may not get back any on my old bikes that I've kept all these years.

I'm the second owner of the 3 bikes I have now. A bit melancholic thinking of the bikes I bought new, now long gone.

In addition to the Raleigh Carlton I had shipped from Stuyvesant Cycle Shop in 1966 for $100, I have this early Ron Cooper I bought used for $375 in 72 or 73 while at UNC-CH. The seller had bought it from the original owner while living in England. It came with two sets of Fiamme/Campagnolo wheels, two Unicanitor saddles, two Cinelli stems, and Campagnolo tools. The RD is dated 1970. I still have the original brake levers which have some road rash from a crash I don't remember, but hoods are quite expensive. One of the wheelsets is on the Raleigh now, the Raleigh's original 27" Normandy/Weinmann wheels long gone.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/PA160032.jpg
I wish now I had not had it repainted a couple of years ago, but it had small rust spots on the paint.
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/P8020015.jpg

I bought this in 1974, not nearly as nice as most of the other bikes here,but I was 12 and road the poop out of it for a long time. So it needed alot of new parts when I decided to give it a new life with upright handlebars and 7 speeds about 10 years ago.

http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/a...tketze/031.jpg"]

Same here! In 1968 or so I bought a Falcon Ernie Clements, then a year later I bought a Cicli Rossignoli, when the Falcon was stolen. Five years after I bought it, the Rossignoli was stolen. I never was too crazy about the Falcon, but I could have ridden the Rossignoli to this day. I'm not sure I have a better bike, even thought I have a pair of Treks, a Mondonico, and a Masi. The Rossignoli was pinned! Now I know what that means, but then I couldn't figure out why there were nail ends inside my frame and steer tube.

My 1975/76 Zieleman, which was especially build for me by Ko Zieleman for entering Dutchy style criterium races.(no hills, short turns)

The Tevano cranckset with 48/52 chainrings had been put on for that reason ( I think Ko's dad had it lying around for a while :p because i have never seen a Tevano since, but hey it is a nice piece of work anyway and still running smoothly) and I definitly wanted good Campagnolo record hubs and a superrecord rear derailleur because that was the nicest looking RD around at that time.

The rest of the components I already had aquired someway before,I didn't have the money lying around to pay all of it once, so it was a mixed build to start with (Shimano dura ace headset+ brakes, Christophe pedals, Cinelli handebars)

The bike was used in the eighties as a holiday bike, complete with bags on it and has really been all over Europe.

The bike was used in the nineties solely indoors in a tacx for training purposes and just a couple of years ago I decided to bring it to the road again to enjoy smooth country rides.

Still love it !!!

I owned a lot of other locally build racing bikes over the years but this one is still with me.

http://i53.tinypic.com/xn8234.jpg

Here's the 1972 Peugeot track bike I received for Christmas. My father bouight it for me at Campus Bike Shop in Columbus, from owner Wilber Scot. It's been repainted and not all parts are original:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_4320.jpg

On the left is goofy me with the Peugeot on Christmas morning:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_4425.jpg

I bought this 1972 Mercian frame from Campus Bike Shop the same year, and have been riding it since. Paint and decals are original.

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...IMG_0131_1.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_0319.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_0311.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_0317.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_4335.jpg

More recent shot, with ugly cheap fenders, which I've since removed, and installed on an ugly cheap bike:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/IMG_4329.jpg

My wife has her Collegiate.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/P3020466.JPG

This is an awesome thread. It's a testament to how durable and great bikes can be if they are cared for. I'm 33 now, so any bike I had 30 years ago would be a tricycle!

That's why buying a good bike back in the day was a great investment--not so much in terms of resell value, but more in terms of bang for the buck--after decades of use and many 1000s of miles, with common sense care, these bike are still going strong.

Great thread!!!

No, I have nothing, even though at 47 I "qualify" :)

Oh, and the fact that the OP's Sabatini is a one-owner bike is just one more reason it's at the top of my "favorite bikes" list. Thanks for posting the 1978 photo!

To everyone else: beautiful bikes and stories in their own right. Keep 'em coming, folks!

DD

I still have my mid sixties Armstrong 10 Speed. I got it when I was 13 years old. I'll post up to date pics this weekend.

'73 RRA. Bought this new in 1974 from Europa Cycles in Cedar Falls, IA when I was 19. Actually, a friend bought it and traded the frame for my '73 International. Built this up with the Campy NR from that, adding the Campy NR brakes. Updated the derailleurs in the '80s with Campy SR, bars and stem to Modolo, and the Campy Athena aero levers. Had the Campy NR low flange / Ambrosio wheels built at that shop in around '80 as well. Saddle is the original Brooks Pro from the International as well.

I subscribe to the N=1 school rather than the more commonly espoused N+1 (i.e., this is my only bike). That may change in the near future, though my wife keeps asking me why I need more than one bike :)

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...e_new_2011.jpg

Just tell her: "Same reason you need more than one pair of shoes."

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibility for the discussion that ensues :)

DD

I am 42, still have my 1985 Bridgestone T500 (though the paint is terribly faded and I'm thinking to have it redone sometime in the next year). All the bikes I've bought after that are even older :-)

Still have my '77 Raleigh Record Ltd that the wife bought me for our 2nd anniversary/ Christmas. My favorite all-time vehicle.

I bought my Gitane TdF from Bob Gray in Putney, Vermont in June of 1970. I still have it and ride it, though it's been repainted (we all have our stupid moments) and has no original parts except for the headset, hubs, crankset, and pedals.
My next, and only other new bike was a Motobecane Super Mirage that I bought from Onion River Sports in Monpelier in late May of 1979, about three weeks after my 25th birthday. I don't think it has any original parts left, other than the frame. I rode it in winter and bad weather (it was a singlespeed at one point) for years, until I passed it off to my son, who now rides it around Brooklyn. As I was fixing it up for him to take down there, I realized that he would be taking possession of it about three weeks after HIS 25th birthday. He's had it for a couple of years now, and amazingly, it hasn't been stolen yet.

Great thread.
I got my 1970 Robin Hood Lenton Sports as an eighth grade graduation present in......1970.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...RobinHood2.jpg
Been redone a number of times in the last 41 years, though not always well. The bars, stem, and shifters are original. I still have the Wrights saddle on my 91 Miyata 600gt. The original FD is in a drawer somewhere in the garage.
I also have a 1981 Miyata 710 I bought new that is 'mostly' original. Alas, no decent pics of it.

I guess it was, like the brochure states, designed to provide a lifetime of service.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/retroral...rd-limited.jpg

I recently started working at the local bike shop. Today, while fixing a customer's bike, he asked me if we work on old bikes. I asked him what he meant. He said he has a 1991 Schwinn Voyager. I said, "That's not an old bike!"

This thread has some awesome bikes!

I still have my frames I built 28 & 30 years ago. Does that count ?

This is the 28 year old, upgraded to 10 speed with original team color paint. The other is in the basement partially stripped.

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/a...ew/MyBike1.jpg

Agreed. The history and relationships of bikes and their owners is a large part of why I'm here.

Not 30 years yet, but 26 for my Panasonic and 23 for my Pinarello. The picture of the Panasonic is from last month when I decided to bring it out and fix it up. I have had this since 1985. My parents bought it as a birthday present when I turned 13.
All that is original on it is the front wheel, the stem and handle bars and the seat post. Currently it has all vintage 87-88 Shimano 105 parts on it.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...r/P7280007.jpg
and my Pinarello. I used to sit in study hall freshman year and look through all the bike mags and catalogs. This was custom built with everything I wanted. It also cost an entire summer's pay working for $3.75/hour.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...r/P4100005.jpg