I ride a 23 year old Merlin road bike to work every day. Excellent original dura ace 8 speed. Kicks the ass out of my carbon fiber Specialized Roubaix with a 10 speed Ultegra group-san.

In addition, I have a 17 year old all Italian Bianchi lugged steel frame bike. Love this bike. Love the Roubaix too. But there is nothing wrong with a vintage bike. I firmly believe that much of the innovation over the past 20 years is more marketing hype. And the minimal (3 to 5 pounds) weight savings of a modern carbon bike are not that great in the grand scheme of things. Especially to when commuting with about 25 pounds of panniers.

So it occurred to me that my "normal" commuting bike is 20 years old this year, so now I officially ride a clunker to work.



I had today off, so we got a little crazy and took off the panniers and just took a trunk bag. I got 50 miles in, including a visit to airfield falls.





And.... from the commute today (Friday 4 April) with new shoes (Panaracer Pasela PTs)

I also have a 20 year old bike which I bought new in 94 back in Germany. It is from a very small bicycle manufacturer in Bremen. After years of not using the bike very much since moving to Texas I now decided last year to commute by bike again. But with extra 20 years of age and way more pounds I am getting back pains after 2-3 weeks of riding. I now need to increase the handlebar height and I hope with a more upright posture to solve this issue. Parts are ordered and I hopefully can get the job done in the next days.

The frame on the bike I rode to work today is getting close to 30 years old. It has a mishmash of parts, - most of which are quite a bit newer.

My "new" road bike is almost 10 and I've started to think about replacing it.

Past commuters have included a 20 year old Bianchi and a 20 year old Peugeot. I myself will be turning 50 this year so 20 doesn't sound particularly old to me anymore.

This is the bike I rode in on today (I use a backpack to carry things and also have a touring bike that I commute on as well). It was state of the art before I was born and was my road bike (until a couple days ago)........

Photos of the commuter 5 years ago. Back then I had added a rear rack and fenders. I swapped out the flat bar to a riser bar, and changed the tires to Ritchey 1.4 slicks. And I also put in clipless pedals.

Recently I got the itch to make some additional changes. I ended up upgrading a few more things on the commuter:
- replaced saddle and seatpost
- replaced riser handlebar to trekking bar with Ergon grips
- replaced quill stem to threadless stem
- replaced clipless pedals to platform pedals.
- added handlebar bag

I hope not to offend, but I am curious as to how much you paid for it. There is an identical bike for sale on my local craigslist for $350. Do you think this is too much to pay? Thank you

In case you didn't notice, you are responding to a post from 2008.

I did not notice actually. Thank you. Do you know if $350 is too much for this bike in near perfect condition?

I couldn't know without pictures, and even then, I still might not know.

Nishiki Century road bike

I've got a 1988 Bridgestone CB-1 almost identical to the one in the pic, except for a few modifications over the years as the bike has been serviced. I still use it on and off to commute, which is about 2.5 miles each way, mostly on paved roads. It's been kept indoors and is still in pretty decent shape. In the spring I'lll be buying myself a 50th birthday present - a Specialized Sirrus Sport Disc - which I'm really looking forward to. Question is, do I sell the Bridgestone to defray the cost of the Sirrus (it's probably worth about $75) or keep it as a back up or maybe my son can use it when he goes away to college in a few years.

My 1970,s Gitane Tour De France ....(approx 45 years old)

I bought it recently for £25 ...(approx $36 USD) .... I use it daily (I average approx 100 miles per week (160km)

It's actually in good condition .... frame is straight, no rust except for a few nuts on the brakes, gears work smoothly and it's a pleasure to ride. The frame decals are long gone (they used foil decals on these, but it still has the decal on the front)... there are a few scratches on the paintwork, mainly from bike locks

I have not done much to it (I bought a new 700c wheel as the front wheel was a tubular), and I added new Schwalbe Durano Plus tyres, and changed the saddle. I also added my Sigma cadence computer, added my Cygolite hotshot back light and have just ordered a Solar Storm 3 Cree headlight

I am still breaking my previous Strava records and there is nothing better than overtaking young guys on expensive carbon fibre bikes

I'm enjoying this bike and might have it fully restored / painted or powder coated and add the decals and new pedals

I have very nice Carradine panniers to add to the bike which I will do next week

this photo shows it as I bought it with the old tyres

The turkey levers and stem shifters mark it as a low end bike, would usually go for $100ish. But the guy did a fantastic job polishing and photographing it.

Dear Newbies! Welcome! It's always nice to have new folks to chat with. If you would like to have a discussion in the forum how about starting a new thread instead of resurecting an old dead thread? For instance the question about whether this Nishiki is worth $350 (it isn't) should have been it's own thread in the C&V Appraisal section.

But to answer your questions @newbie2345 that Nishiki is in great shape. Looks like original tires even. But @Darth Lefty nailed it, with turkey levers and stem shifters this is at best a $100 bike.
@Clamms Nice birthday present! I would give the CB-1 to your son if he wants it. You're not going to want to ride it after you get your new bike.

I would say ~$250 too expensive. For $350, you should be able to find quite a nice bike. I have only 1 old bike I have spent about that on (actually a little more, but in that same price range) and you couldn't even compare that bike to mine. I have plenty more I have spent a fraction of that price on that are still much nicer than that bike. Keep looking.

Keep it to give to your son when he goes off to college. You won't be able to find as nice a bike as this for $75 and $75 is about what it's worth. It's also a fine bike; I ride a 1992 Bridgestone BB-1 to work.

I ride two 20 plus year old clunkers to work. In fact, they're two of my favorite bikes. One is a 1992 Bridgestone BB-1 which is my winter bike; the other is a 1988 stumpjumper comp that I did a drop bar conversion on which is my more all purpose rider:

It's pretty difficult to credit a Peterson-era Bridgestone and a cross country racing bike as "clunkers" just 'cos they're old. :-D

lol, OK; but the BB-1 was a low end bike with a hi tensile steel fork and rear triangle and a straight gauge chrome moly main triangle; so maybe we can call it a clunker wannabe. Plus I "rescued" the frame from an owner who was abusing it by leaving it camped outside.

Agreed that the stumpy with its tange double butted tubing and deore xt components is not even a clunker wannabe, .

I have two "beater bikes" as one of my co-worker calls them but I can't post pics yet (need to get to 10 posts).
Bridgestone 300
Stella Arctic Cat...that I think is like 50 years old now? Based on what I've read that they're from '72-73. Having trouble figuring out the gears so my first trial ride to the train station was a bit of an adventure.

This is my 35 year old everyday bike designed to not attract attention from theives.