Just keep taking pictures of your little ones in it.

They grow so fast!

Those will be the "special" memories.

Not much interest in modern for me. It all seems very finicky and disposable. Plus I like owning a bike that I can tear down to the frame and rebuild on my own. My newest bike is from 1985, and I can't believe I'm ever going to be a strong enough rider to need anything more modern. I pass people kitted out with high tech stuff fairly frequently anyway, so I'm not sure I see the point. Also brifters are just plain ugly. They started out ugly, they stayed ugly, and they'll probably always be ugly. To my eye, of course.

I have a Giant Nutra from the 90's. I use it for a compact tourer. Everything else is 80's- A Peugeot Versailles, a Diamondback Topanga, a Schwinn Passage(1987), and a Schwinn Voyageur 11.2 (1981)

I'm down to 3 bikes and only one of them is vintage and it's disassembled at the moment. I keep looking through the local CL but I probably shouldn't buy another bike since I hardly ride much. I'm planning on riding my trek hard until it breaks or something. I think about what type of bike I want (vintage of course). Lightweight road bike? Cyclocross? Cruiser? I'm not to sure anymore.

I feel the need to spread the love. This year I have logged 1,000 miles each this year on the 70s Moser, the Bilenky 70s Schwinn travel bike, the Cannondale Synapse carbon and the Felt aluminum CX/commuter bike. I have recently acquired a Miyata 110 that was going to be sold, but has found a place in the riding order. The Miyata may scratch my itch for a SS/FG.

I still really like hopping on the carbon and going fast. There is no way I can match performance (group ride speed) of the carbon bike with anything in the stable, but sometimes the extra work, nostalgia and the feel of steel is more rewarding. It is soon cross season and messy weather is right around the corner, so it might be time to rehab and touch up the Moser, repack bearings on the Miyata and prepare the cold weather gear and ride the Felt.

I'm actually coming from the dark (CF) side. ish... I sold off my C'dale Supersix frameset and aero wheelset. I'm re-purposing my modern groupo onto an 80s 531 frame of unknown origin with a set of Mavic GL330 laced wheels. So I'm half way to C&V status.

Next purchase will be a CV mtn bike for cruising around with my kids.

I try to mix it up...steel, Ti, CF.

Of course, all my bikes..."vintage" or modern are equipped with modern Campy 10 or 11s gruppos.

I also recently have ridden tubular (and also CF) wheels for the first time...I run these on my Look 585...beautiful ride, much more capable than me.

I'm now waiting for a 2nd tubular set to arrive tomorrow (oddball Spada hubs laced to Wolber Profil A's) on which I'll mount some more Vittoria Corsa CXs...nice ride. This set will be used on some of the vintage steel rigs...most likely the Chesini and the Vittorio.

-Mark in St. Louis

You have so many great bicycles, it must be tough to choose.

I knew you would like the tubs. Hard to go wrong.

Mark, I bought another Merckx today. Couldn't help myself.

A cross bike to keep the dirt theme going this summer.

Sold my first vintage 70s gigante to finish a build up a px-10. I am brand new into c&v and am learning a lot from you guys and tearing into them. What I learned so far, cottered cranks suck, and french bikes are a pain but it makes it all the more rewarding when I complete a project. Really learning what to buy and what not to buy also. My primary bike is not c&v, mainly because I haven't picked up one that fits/feels right either. Part of this is my tight bike budget, and I haven't had the heart to update one to see if that is the route that I need to go. Also my primary I beat the hell out of commuting and running errands and can't/won't to the classics I strip down, clean, etc. the peugeot will be my firs Reynolds 531 build and I am very excited to get it on the road and see what all the fuss is about! Maybe ill ride cV more frequently with a higher quality frame and components.

I have a fuji cross (aluminum frame, carbon fork, shimano 105 gearing) which is my one guilty pleasure. My other modern bikes don't really qualify as guilty pleasures because they are kind of retro modern bikes: two of them are steel (salsa casseroll and soma double cross) and one is steel with a carbon fork (orbea with campy chorus). But the fuji cross is a whole different beast and I like it. For one, it's light. I have no idea what it weighs. I've never given a d@$*% about how much a bike weighs but I know this fuji is lighter than any other bike I own. I really like the combo of road geometry with fat tires. And the bike is currently MIA. Like so many bikes being sold today, it came with cheesy wheels and the rear wheel is toast. But there are lots of inviting gravel roads where I live in the midwest and they need to be ridden. So before too long, I'll figure out what pair of wheels I can talk myself into buying and build the bike back up. Heck, I might even post a pic of this in some appropriate (or even inappropriate) bike porn thread and pretend that I ride modern bikes.

I'm interested to see how you like the AL ride on dirt/gravel! I got a wild hair and bought that CAAD5 a few months back...can't say it's my favorite ride...but it is pink.

Post some info/pics of the Merckx when you get a chance...

-Mark

Will do in the morning.

Should be nice tomorrow.

Since the docs tell me old age is setting in, I decreased the fleet by 5 vintage roadies and a mtn bike.

Kept 2 vintage roadies as one is the "preferred Gentleman's roadie" and the other "Italian racy".
And of course the 3 modern bikes with Campy 10 and interchangeable wheelsets.

I swear my favorite frame material has become = good Carbon Fibre, nice titanium, and refined steel (in no particular order). Custom built if possible.

My miles and intensity may be a shadow of the past, but the smiles are all still present. The gods have blessed western Washington with an excellent summer. Life is good. N+1 for me should be a cross-type bike with disc brakes, belt drive, fenders, lights - preferably from Mike DeSalvo, or, or...

That's all I have to confess tonight.

I ride tubies on the vintage - makes them feel more like the modern bikes. I keep the vintage for friction and downtube shifters but an upgrade to Campy10 would be interesting and compatible with the more modern frames.

Totally agree with riding different frame materials. Bike life has more flavors to savor than vanilla.

I can confess that I am plenty interested in modern, but I am unlikely to find the resources to indulge it at the quality level I tend to seek out. I just don't have a four figure budget for bicycles and have no desire for entry level modern CF. So I'm content to indulge the affordable pleasures of C&V which allows me to continue to use the parts, tools and skills I acquired many years ago. I'm sure one of these days I'll venture into the modern components and end up with one of those very cool retro roadies on one of my Columbus or Reynolds frames and that will be close enough for me.

Yeah, it would be fun to tote around the kid in one of those Cetmas. My buddy was talking about how he had his 4-yr-old on one of those trail-a-bikes, felt a little bouncing in the rear. "What's going on?" Kid replies, "Oh, just doing some tricks," as he's freestylin' off the side on a downhill. Nice to have them in eyesight!

I feel you on the pace of projects. Most of my summer projects were once winter projects...or even summer projects before that.

I have modern Steel, Old Steel, Modern Alu, and until recently modern Ti..

I like them all but the new to me Blur is getting all the ride time right now mostly because I haven't owned a mountain bike in a while

I'm definitely veering toward modern more and more.

I'm limiting myself to two road bikes: Merckx with 11-sp Athena, Peugeot with 8-sp record.

Then a would-be touring rig (if I decided to tour) that I use for carrying things: Rawland cSogn with 8-sp (TA crank, bar end shifters)

Then a 2013 All-City cross bike, first time ever I've bought a bike new.

My stable has it's contradictions:
All my completed C&V steel bikes have Campy 10-sp Ergo.
(The influence of bigbossman, bulldogge, gomango, whatwolf, and thirdgenbird)

My current steel build is 2x5 friction, a true "10-speed" with 27x7/8" wheels.
(The influence of iab, bibliobob and other Chicago greats)

I'm still keeping a 700c/27" 2x9 downtube Ultegra/DA group around, though, for the right frame to come along....

I am not at all interested in another modern bike, there is just no "buzz" there.

The steel bikes, I still look for, wonder about, and don't rule out another.
In fact, I'm starting to look back in time a bit further. More interesting stuff.

My general impression is that the used market is getting newer, and this is scraping away some of the competition for the older bikes that have kind of had the page turned on them, so to speak. I certainly hope so. BAMF also showed me that patina is not a bad thing, kind of a tale told of the life of the bike.

^ This. Plus it seems that a lot of the modern bikes/parts are made with a planned obsolescence philosophy and won't last nearly as long as my vintage stuff does. BB30 bottom brackets, integrated headsets, etc. No thanks.

Robbie, you build them well, no doubt.

As you have discovered, Campy has a sweet spot.

That sweet spot is 10 speed "any level" with Ergos.

Deals can be had and performance is uniformly strong, especially with the Chorus gruppos I dig up.

Lasting/durability may not be in the plan for large brands.

I can't speak to that, but I will say I am very impressed by the new 105 and Centaur gruppos.

Solid performance at an entry level price.

Also, it is hard to believe how well a Cannondale CAAD 10 with 105 or Ultegra performs right out of the box.

That bike seems to be the darling of the local crit scene I've noticed.

I have been mighty tempted myself, but I hardly "need" another road bike atm.

Kinda in the same boat, after trying to make so many different 64/65 cm frames work, I have come to the conclusion that nothing under 66cm in a vintage geometry is comfortable.

I plan to keep the 3 vintage road bikes that I do have and if I do add anything else it would be a more modern cross bike that I would not mind taking on the trails. I know I have nothing that is truly collectible, but I hate taking the older bikes trail riding if that makes any sense. I don't have any desire for anything carbon fiber or aluminum, steel will always be my first choice.

I have spent most of my summer messing around with different Surly's and IGH's. I am going to have to do some heard-thinning, and I think some of the older bikes (pre-1980) are going to be at the top of the list. The 1980's seems to be where most of my interest lies.

My latest carrot is a new Bike Friday. I would then be able to liquidate my entire US based collection of 3 road bikes. Basic common sense tells me that they'll need more maintenance than I'm willing to give them when I haven't been around for a year or two. As far as my home collection, my interest remains entirely c and v. Carbon and aluminum just don't do anything for me. Granted, I've never ridden carbon. However, if a Salsa Vaya dropped into my lap, I wouldn't send it packing.