bmthom.gis

A number if my bikes are older...79 Raleigh Comp GS, my commuter us an 87 Peugeot that has been updated with semi modern parts, I have a Peugeot MTB I use for city riding, I have a 96 Proflex MTB I am almost done building, and a 70s something or other I am turning into a single speed cross bike

pedlar

i have a 90's hardtail mtb,that is now a exped tourer,and its the only bike i ride,i've tried other bikes but they just didn't feel right for my purpose,if you like it ride it

Jim from Boston

"Old school" vs New....

I had a Bridgestone RB-1, circa 1986, that many riders I met, and even Sheldon Brown considered a classic.

I can’t recall how it compared to my previous Mercier racing bike, circa 1972. The Mercier bottom backet had worn out, prompting the RB-1; that was totaled in 2012.

Then, this summer I took my cycle training to a new level, not experienced in over four decades of riding, mainly because,

So count this old-timer as New School.

TroN0074

This is what I ride.

JamesRL

My old schoolish ride. It is steel and lugged, but index shifting and aero levers. I swapped out the pedals for clipless.

I had a hybrid then longed for my old school bikes so kept my eyes open.

ButchA

What a beautiful Raleigh!

After reading more on bicycles and comparing the latest, greatest, technology with classic bikes from days gone by, I have learned that today's bikes are extremely quick, agile, lightning fast STI shifting, etc... But will they still be around 25-30 years from now? Some of the "old school" bikes are still going strong and have no issues at all. They were built like a tank and built to last. Wouldn't you agree?

When I bought my '85 Fuji Del Rey off Craigslist, it was originally $150 (talked the college kid down to $120 - and bam! it was mine! ). Granted it weights 24 pounds, steel frame, 12 speed, Suntour components, etc... but after 30 years, the bike still looks in MINT condition! That's why I jumped at the chance to buy it before the kid changed his mind - or realized what he truly had!

I went as far as contacting Fuji (the USA affiliate company - Advance Sports in Philadelphia) about my old Fuji Del Rey and got all the specs, and fine details about it. I even asked them what it would be similar to, 30 years later, out of today's Fuji lineup...

1985 Fuji Del Rey <===would sort of equal===> 2015 Fuji Sportif 2.1
(both are an "endurance" geometry, relaxed comfort (more upright), and solidly built)
MSRP: $389 ($862 today/inflation)......................MSRP: $830 off Fuji's website

rekmeyata

First of STI is not any faster than SIS of the 80's, in fact I think SIS is a bit faster.

As far as Fuji's comparison, I think they're whacked! A cheap made in China with robots AL frame is not even close to a comparison of a Fuji Del Rey that was handmade and has lug construction, maybe the components and that's about it if you want lower reliability than you have now! Fuji has nothing in their current catalog that would compare, you would have to go to maybe a Rivendell Sam Hillborne at $1,300 just for the frame! Then slap on some Shimano 105 components which would bring it up another $600 or so, plus wheels, bars, seat, pedals, etc. Problem with the Sam though is if you get a frame size 58 or larger you have to have the double top tube which will add weight to the frame. That bike is made for heavy loaded touring, but that's the lowest costing semi hand built lugged steel bike I could find.

Sam Hillborne

Cougrrcj

I had done a 'Then vs Now' comparison, (actually, I used the US Minimum Wage then and now), and I came up with my '75 Fuji S-10S ($219 MSRP) to be a $850 bike today.

rekmeyata

Problem with that inflation thing is you can't find a lugged steel bike brand new for $850 even with crappy components.

downtube42

Can't say I agree with that assessment. The basic cup and cone bottom bracket was standard for multiple decades, whilst various cartridge bottom bracket "standards" come and go faster than shops can buy tools. Ditto for headsets. Ditto for wheel bearings. There are a billion one-inch threaded stems out there in the world, while finding parts for a flash-in-the-pan "standard" from five years ago is darned near impossible. Sure if you're looking for a particular vintage derailleur in mint condition to complete your build, it's going to be tough. But if you just need a decent derailleur for a 5 or 6 speed non-indexed rear end, a buck at the local co-op will do the job, or $10 with shipping on eBay. The fixed gear craze has generated demand for vintage framesets, but servicable discarded parts are plentiful.

mightymax

Hey TroN0074 I found a Super Course this same color. I was going to part it out to use some parts on my Gran Prix but after reading what I could find, I have decided to try and restore it.
What components are on your Raleigh???
Max Bryant

rekmeyata

You can get very high quality vintage derailleurs like the Suntour Vx series which was a very high reliable derailleur, or Shimano 600 series, both of which can be purchased for under $60. You can find high end French stuff like Huret Duopar for under $70 too.

As far as old school stuff being sold by collectors and hoarders demanding high prices, some of that is true but only on the really high end stuff especially the Italian high end stuff, the regular stuff, as I have shown above, is not true. And new school stuff is sold at equally ridiculous prices by price gouging corporations and LBS's! Don't be scared off by a bunch of fear tactics, if you want to restore your old vintage bike to have vintage components then do so, if you want modern stuff then do that as well!

Cougrrcj

True, but it puts things in perspective. I used to think people were crazy to spend over a grand on a new bike - now I see that it is just a sign of modern times/inflation. Likewise, it puts the C&V bike marketplace in a better light with respect to pricing. My Univegas were both bought for under $150 in the past two years. A new comparable bike today would be ten times that.

I'll stick with C&V deals, thankyouverymuch...

rekmeyata

I don't fault you at all for buying C & V bikes, I've done that my self and have gotten a couple of good deals, problem with C & V is there are people who try to sell a bike that was considered "junk" when they were new and now they want more for it then the actual worth of the bike and that's scrap value! Not all stuff made back in the vintage days were good, I was alive and buying stuff back then and there were some real clunkers just as there are today. The big difference back then as I said before is you could buy a really nice handmade in the USA, Italy, England, Japan (yes I excluded France because I thought all their bikes were trash!) lugged steel bike with top of the line components for $800 or so depending on the year made, and with inflation if that were a marker for prices today you should be able to get a similar bike for $2,300's or so but you can't. The same thing is true with cars, but the biggest reason cars have followed a pace much higher than inflation is that fact that buyers of new cars are helping to the tune of $15,000 on each new car sold to pay for past and present employee benefits who built those cars because the unions falked us, and the car companies over big time by not letting the workers pay a fair percentage of those benefits, and they still don't today which only means that in 15 years or so that $15,000 could double. Some things bought today are actually selling for LESS than what inflation should have dictated, like TV's, my last "large" 32" picture tube TV cost me $620 in 1992, 3 or 4 years ago it blew and I got a 47 inch plasma for $430 instead of just over $1,000 as inflation would have suggested; the same with computers, my first computer, a 286 with 40mb of HD and 1mb of ram cost $3,200...well you know what computers cost today. Going back to cars some argue that all the electronics we put in cars is the reason for high prices, NOT, reread my last sentence about electronics, if anything electronics should have made a car cheaper because the cost of those items are very cheap to make.

rob_ralph

I own several '90-92 mtn bikes. Love 'em, but only buy one's with Deore LX/DX/XT components and have not paid more than $65 for any of them.

veganbikes

My Cilo is from the 80s and I love her. I love vintage bikes, would happily own some 60s era racing bikes with a special interest in Colnago (what Eddy rode) and want to build a Breezer #1 copy . Though I do want to do a vintage styled completely modern bike with full Di2 electronic shifting but with down tube shifters and full lugged steel with quill stem and fluted details. Just to make everyone's head asplode.

New bikes are great but old bikes have something that some new bikes just don't have a style, some class. Some features have improved bikes greatly but some stuff has just made it feel like we are almost going backwards.

Aubergine 

All but two of my bikes are older steel models from the 70s and 80s. And one of the two newer bikes is a custom copy of a 1980 Holdsworth that I loved but was too small for me. I have upgraded some of them to indexed shifting but several of them still use bar-end shifting.

sail

I've always ridden old school road bikes. A Raleigh 3 speed became the favorite until it was stolen. The old steel frames and their components are much cooler, simpler....more pleasing. But I love riding my new Trek.

Jseis 

Old: Motobecane Grand Jubilee purchased new...42 years ago and ridden cross country.



New: Framed 3.0 fat less than a year old.

rydabent

If I haddnt switched to bents, I would still be riding my lugged frame touring bike. The frame was beautiful compared to the lugless robot welded frames of today. It had down tube click shifting, and was clean and simple without cables flopping all over the place.

DorkDisk

I have several older bikes. The biggest improvements IMO have been in braking, wheels, and ergonomics (saddles especially.) Drivetrains have improved little and friction fronts still function better

New bikes have more plastic. Black is a nice color for clothing but silver is better for components.

With current pricing on 90s MTBs they are great bargains

D1andonlyDman

I like a well designed index-shifting drivetrain, but I LOVE old school steel frames. 4 of my bikes are steel from 1979-1992 timeframe. Two of those have modern 9-speed index shifting, and two of them have old school friction shifting - but with downtube shifters, not brifters. But even the two with index shifting use friction shifting in front - which I find works fine, and is especially useful on a triple, because it makes trimming easy, and triples are susceptible to extreme chain lines.

And BTW, a well chosen older bike is always going to be better value than a new one. For example: my recently acquired mid 1980's De Rosa with a late 1990s Campy 9-speed index drivetrain, that I bought for $650. It's just ridiculous how much better this bike is than anything new that could be bought for anywhere close to $650.

caloso

About 10 years ago I bought a 86 Gazelle Champion Mondial with the thought of building it up with period correct components. Instead I put a modern Campy 10 speed group on it, and that was brilliant. I moved the Campy group over to my son's bike last year and now the Gazelle is set up as a fixed gear in classic roadie winter training mode. I think I love it this way even more.

rex615

You can get lugs on a bent, but you have to build it yourself.

OldsCOOL

Classics are what I ride. I havent been bit by the CF bug probably because of the '88 Cannondale Criterium.



Then if a casual ride of 15-20mi up the shoreline the 86 Trek 760 gets the honorable duty:


Then when riding the town on Friday nights, a '77 Colnago:



Classics are elegant, fun, beautiful....and fast (if you do your part).