It's been awhile since we bash...er hashed over carbon/aluminum/steel and modern/classic bikes.
And that is good, so NO, this is not another one of those threads.

I know full well some members have added a modern bike, or two or three, to the stable. However, I know of very few who have not kept the classic bug alive and well, and infectious, no matter their infidelity.

So, I'll update and confess. It's no longer DADT on alumicarbon fun in the RT garage....

I have acquired 3 modern bikes in the last year, and only 2 steel C&V. gads.

I have not stopped the classic train wreck, though: 6, with 1 pending/likely.
I'm at the point where I try to build a decent enough bike that I won't give it up.

So spill it, birds. Sing like canaries.
Tell us about the subtle, and maybe not so subtle, changes in direction, if any.
If you've "stayed the course.." then let us know that, too.

This will save the NSA the trouble of scanning our posts, eh?

i'm happy with what i have now, 1 modern carbon, 1 track bike for the velodrome, 1 mtb and 1 vintage road. my true love is turn of the century and 30's-50's fat tire bikes. i always have my eye open for those.

I want 1 more bike. Period. And when I get it, I will no longer want any more bikes. I will be complete.

But.

I am enjoying blowing money on cycling paraphernalia. Caps, vintage magazines, signs, trading cards, etc. Anything that fills in the history a bit.

I'll buy whatever, I like 1980-ish and onwards.

Over the past year I've sold off almost the entire stable and most of my parts but I'm still looking for new additions, I'm just more discriminating. I use to have a $100 rule, I wouldn't buy a bike if I couldn't make $100 after expenses, I don't buy strictly to flip but I sure as hell am not going to buy something I'll lose money on. My current rule is a minimum $250 equity in a bike after expenses or I don't buy it.

Vintage versus modern? My Litespeed Classic and Merlin Cyrene have spoiled me. My Pinarello Dogma is well beyond my riding skills...that bike is like a Ferrari on mix of coke and speed.

I've developed a huge crush on fat tires, gravel and mud.

Can't get enough.

I bought a Merckx Alu Cross cyclocross bike today.

An Easton aluminum frame.

Yep, the same Easton that brings you softball/baseball bats.

Other than that, I will also confess to riding a loaner off and on this summer.

A Colnago C59 that is a similar experience to Miamijim's Dogma.

Absolute craziness on wheels.

Man, I wish I were still strong enough to take advantage of this beast.

I really can't remember the last time I rode an older bicycle.........

I've never really had a course. I buy what interests me, build it up, ride it until I'm bored with it and move on to the next interest in cycling. I'm currently in a touring and randonneuring phase, and am working on both new and old versions of each type. The one constant for me is practical, utilitarian commuting and city bikes, whether it's a Raleigh 3 speed or a stripped down fixed gear. Racing type bikes don't really do it for me, maybe one day in the future.

What's DADT?


But yeah I'm with Grady, I've recently developed a serious pull towards cross/gravel grinders. I might even go modern on this one if I can, although I do have an '84 trek frame I could build up. Decisions, decisions..

My cv bikes have been getting little love lately. Most of my riding has been on ti, both road and mountain. I still have a Legnano and a pxn-10 to finish eventually.. as far as CV rides my Miyata 615 has been getting truck duty.

I do want to add a modern CF to my stable, I have all classic steel at the moment. I actually have tossed around the idea of trading in my peugeot px-10 to a local shop owner who in return would give me something modern and CF and light, and yea you know the drill. But a part of me cannot let go of the steel rides. I think the older bikes have a certain charm about them, they are conversation pieces. When someone sees a modern CF wonder its " hey there is another one of those ". When I ride the px-10 people do a double take...its a "what the heck was that old bike " ya know. I do want a modern road bike, but I dont want to do it at the expense of one of my steel rides because they just dont make them like that anymore.

I've been pretty much on a steady course since I got into this - relatively racy road bikes, 1981-1991, that's the menagerie in my living room (and the bed room, the shed, the furnace room, and my girlfriend's parents shed 5000km away). I do have the sense, however, that a change in direction is going to mark any possible new acquisition. Just not yet sure of direction. A cross bike or touring bike is very much on my mind at the moment, and I'm thinking more or less of something contemporary (maybe just one of those Surly products, though a Ritchey Breakaway cross bike would be a dream). Some 1990s and even newer North American made race machines have caught my attention (though I still focus on those made of metal - and can't really justify another 'fast' bike without cutting a couple loose). Still, I predict that my road time this fall will be split largely between my 1980s Proctor race bike (which has room for 28s, but isn't exactly relaxed) and my 1990 Marinoni Special (stout SP tubes and a rather tight wheelbase...and it just got back to me after 8 months away).

I cut my chops on mid-80s bikes, but my interests have been going backward in time. Most of my recent acquisitions have been from the early 70s. I would like to add a bike from the 50s or 60s. My fleet consists of bikes from France (3), Great Britain (1), Japan (1), Switzerland (1), and Taiwan (2). I don't own an Italian bike, so that's an itch that needs to be scratched. And I'd love to find a U.S.-built bike (an Eisentraut or Carlsbad Masi would be high on my list). Oh and I read through the "post your CX bike" thread this morning; I don't have one of those, so I'm hankering to add a cross bike as well. And a bigger garage while I'm at it!

I'm not interested in one of those indistinguishable (to me) cookie-cutter, black/white/red, off-the-shelf CF frames. That said, I'd like to have a new custom-built KOF bike (Kirk, DiNucci, Bruce Gordon, come to mind) with Campy SR-11...but not if I had to pay for it.

I picked up a vintage Rocky Mountain Stratos which is an aluminium rocket and the only non steel frame I have... And it will be going to my brother from a different mother in a week.

I've added two relatively modern pieces recently. One is a late 90's Litespeed Classic frameset and the other is a similar time period Klein donor. Both are nice. The Klein feels much faster, but I like the Litespeed more on Illinois roads. I'd sell the Klein, but the road frames don't seem to get much attention, so I've hung it as art in the garage. The Lightspeed is my first encounter with a carbon fork. (I'd trade either, or possibly both, for another Fuji Titanium.)

I've also picked up a 50's or 60's Italian project. That counts for something, right?

I really struggled to restrain myself from picking up the Marinoni on Ebay tonight. $100 + shipping and it had a number hanger!?!? Someone got a deal.

All that I am really after now is a 30's to early 60's French bike.

Interesting post.

I am adding a 1974 Masi Gran Criterium after the first of the year.

The owner will be back in the Twin Cities in January and the deal is set.

I also long in the worst way for a McLean.

I've seen two in person and that was enough to set my heart on fire.

If I had those two, I really think that would suffice for my c&v fix.

Contact this guy. He will sell anything in his collection.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/collectvelo/

Between my ridiculous height, bad knees and limited budget I currently have one bike I can ride and it's my 68cm 1979 Raleigh Super Grand Prix, just sold my 1979 Competition GS because my knees didn't like it.

It's SOOOOO frustrating.


.

I would get a modern CF bike if the right deal presented itself, but mainly for curiosity. My vintage road bikes are fine for me. And the whole CV/not CV doesn't really seem to apply to my touring bikes. If I want to make them modern, I just change components! My bikes are pretty much '84-'92, with some featuring somewhat more modern components.

this years bike purchses have been:

Cetma cargo bike
Rivendell
Surly Long Haul Trucker
Voodoo Wahoo Cross

I still have a few older bikes but for the most part i've been there, tried that and I'm gravitating towards newer stuff. If not in the frame department modern parts. I have no desire to use things crap that is only cool because its old or was once sought after, but is functionally inferior to newer stuff.

I have been on mostly an Italian kick, with a preference towards Track.
After picking up a 1989 Land Shark, I have been keeping my eyes open for nice independent American built bikes from the 80's / early 90's.

Well, RT, you've seen pics of my latest downward trend, the Miami Vice Ironman, uni-crown and all. I never thought I'd build up a bike like that but it was so offbeat from my other bikes that it spoke to me. It's a great bike to ride too! 172.5 cranks, 53T big ring. Whodathunkit?

The two old French and Belgian bikes don't get ridden much. The Bianchi goes to work pretty often. But The Boss usually dictates that I ride the tandem. Solo rides don't happen very often any more.

I'm not interested in building up a piece of carbon fiber w/ industrial machinery components. I need fewer bikes, not more. Until the right next one comes along.

Three years ago, I started my C&V addiction by resurrecting and riding my steel bike that I bought when I was in college.....then a slew of C&V CF bikes strayed into my sights and Iended up with a small stable of bikes that was three quarters CF and a quarter steel....but then, while throughly enjoying the new experience to, ride and handling of my CF bikes and kina feeling that I was never gonna look back to steel bikes, I found and bought a very unique Medici from a fellow forum member....
But I'm not quite back to steel bikedom yet as due to limited budgets this year (slowdown at work) The restore/build has slowed the a snail's pace.
But thank God, my C&V future will not be too "plastic"...../

I have more bikes than I need (or probably want for that matter) at the moment, though I did acquire another Norman Rapide. It is in need of major TLC.

I have not ridden any modern bikes, save for the Capital Bikeshare BSOs and my Bilenky 650B tandem, since early last year.

Btw

I really wish I had known about your Cetma cargo bike when our boys were young.

They would have loved it.

You are doing nice work on that project!

The most modern bike in my collection is the Pugsley which does not have a vintage counterpart, I picked it up last June and it has been seeing a lot of enjoyable miles.

thank you Sir. I'd really like to finish it (the box), if I could just force myself to work on it instead of ride it! Hence my projects thread from the other day. And in a few days I travel to the other coast for nearly a month. Oh well.