Back during the "Bike Boom" of the 1970's, many folks thought the BEST bikes were the ones with Reynolds 531 frames (based on that frame being used on the winning bike in the Tour de France virtually every year from 1950 to 1980). So, back in those days, I rode the bikes I could afford, but I was lusting after a Schwinn Paramount, or some other bike with a nice Reynolds 531 frame.

Over the years, I began making more money, but the price of such bikes went from around $300 in 1969, to over $1,000 by 1980 - always a bit more than I could afford.

So, yesterday, I'm looking on E-Bay, and a bike with Reynolds 531 frame sells for around $50. The same bike sold for around $1,000 back in 1983. And, instantly, a Reynolds 531 framed bike became MUCH less attractive to me. It was too cheap. Nobody wanted it. It was an outcast. It was a Hollywood movie actress who, in her declining years, was dancing for tips in a back alley bar.

So, is that how it works? We only "lust" after the bikes we can't have? And, if suddenly we can have it, we no longer want it?

Are the bikes we can't afford always better than the bikes we can afford? Sigh.

Ahh...those were the days! I remember lusting after a Schwinn (may have been a paramount or varsity) back in the late 70's, I think that bike was around $500 but it might as well have been 5 million. No way were my parents going to buy me a bike that cost that much. So then and there my great cycling carreer ended in a bust!

As for the lust question, I think that boats, cars, homes and sometimes even loved ones fall into the same catagory as our bikes, once we get it we no longer want/need it or we quickly want to trade up to the latest model.

I've always been a fan of picking stuff up after the fad has passed and it's cheap...

It probably helps that I ride fixed, so most road frames I would want must be old-school, with horizontal dropouts and steel. I look at a lot of new frames and they do nothing for me...

Modern bikes remind me of modern bowhunting equipment. You see all these guys in the woods claiming to love the simplicity of bowhunting, yet their bows have pulleys and lasersights and titanium arrows! How complicated can you make it when the technology was perfect a hundred years ago? Bicycles are much the same, as alot of the "advances" of the last 20 years are just gimmicks to stimulate the market.
I love steel, especially lugged steel, and I don't really mind the weight penalty. I like the design asthetics of the 60s-80s and I think road designs were a lot more practical for the everyday cyclist,(clearance for tires and fenders, braze-ons, etc.) The best thing about a bicycle is, unlike a car, any idiot can repair one, so I'm kind of skeptical about stuff like disc brakes, which really requires an lbs to service them. STI and "compact road" geometry just leave me cold. 80's really isn't considered vintage yet, so you can get an amazing level of quality for very cheap. Just my opinion, though.

alanbikehouston, you're onto something here. As a teenager I dreamed of having a Paramount or a Raliegh Pro. But alas, part-time job doesn't equal that kind of ride. Then came wife & kids. Still couldn't afford my dream bikes. And you're right what was a dream bike then is now ho-hum. At the Hotter&Hell Hundred trade show I saw a new Merlin Cielo w/DA. This is my new dream bike. Funny thing is I could afford the bike. It's the the divorce it might cause that I can't afford.

SS

As a teenager I dreamed of Farah Faucett.

Heh, very interesting parallel with the insanely overblown mountain bikes available today. Robo-bow and Robo-bike. My mountain bike is a basic steel frame with a rigid fork, and I have a simple recurve bow, but I don't point it at animals. Bow to my old-skool-ness!

I couldn't disagree more. The classic Reynolds, Columbus, Vitus, etc. steel frames are like a fine works of art compared to the lifeless high-tech frames sold today. You can just feel the love that was conveyed from the brazer into the frame. I have absolutely no desire to spend thousands of dollars for a weight savings of a few pounds and a questionable lifespan. If somebody wants to offload a nice steel frame for $50.00, I'll eagerly gobble it up and add it to my fleet. I remember spending hours drooling over beautiful lugged steel bikes in the cycling mags and now I meerly glance over the modern bikes that all look the same. What happened to the art and the love? Sorry for the rant, but there just seems to be something missing in the bicycle manufacturing industry today, and I think it might be craftsmanship.

I didn't buy good bicycles in the 1970's but I was dreaming this summer of a bike with Reynolds 525 frame and purchased it. (Bianchi Volpe) I'm still dreaming of a Burley recumbent (Chromoly 4130) a Surly Pacer (Chromoly 4130) and Crosscheck.

I'm still dreaming of low level chromoly bike today!

The really nice thing about those expensive bikes of yesteryear is that you can pick them up for pennies-on-the-dollar now that the new designs have become popular. And they're still sweet bikes.

I just purchased a Miyata Steel bike from the mid-'80's. Built up completely as a single speed - less than $175, but man what a ride - smoooothhhh!

I am presently LUSTING after a mid-70's english bike I have found here in town - all Campy Record and Reynolds 531 frame and fork. $250. And, OOHH baby, High Flange hubs!!

These are the bikes I lust after, the stuff in the bike stores nowadays - it bores me, I barely look at it as I aim for the back rooms where the good stuff is hiding.

All mass produced, soulless bikes today.

What I find is that I'm still lusting after those same bikes.
My thought is alot of the whole collecting thing is to get the
bikes we lusted after in our youth and couldn't afford.
Some of my lust for list:
68 Pogliaghi
74 Colnago Super
72 Falcon San Remo
Zieleman any year, any condition.
I've got the Treks that I lusted after in the early to mid 80's. You can
pick those up for literally pennies on the dollar (770 frame for $25.00).

Marty

I lusted over the Nishiki Alien in the early nineties.

Back in the 70's we all wanted Gitanes around here. Also wanted a Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Finally got the Strat a few years ago... still looking for a Gitane.

I owned a 1990 Nishiki Ariel. It was the steel-cousin to the Alien. I loved that bike but stupidly gave it to my brother when I got my FS bike... biggest cycling mistake I've ever made. What I really lusted over (and still do) were the Mantis bikes (XCR, Flying V, Profloater and Screaming V) and the Nishiki AlienACX for obvious reasons.

It makes me smile and my eyes feel good whenever I take a few steps back and glance at my freshly cleaned and polished old lugged steel frame bike. I think the word "elegant" is close to how the design strikes me. I suppose if they were making bikes that looked exactly like mine, but using carbon or titanium, I'd get the same satisfaction from the same visual perspective.

If you want a bike that is handcrafted to today's standards, there are custom carbonframe builders out there, like Calfee, and Parlee. They make awesome, beautiful bikes that ride splendidly and that weigh 15 lbs. I love my 1988 Pinnarelo Treviso, but I ride my Calfee much more often. I have a 17 mile commute and a 23 pound bike is just plain slow.

Well, I lusted after hi-end french stuff, and now I have several of them. I don't think I'd trade the '67 PX10 for anything much, except maybe another cool old bike. Love to find a 50's (or 60's) era Stella.

Keep in mind a lot of the hi-end older frames are handmade and silver brazed. If they're going after 30+ years, they are not liable to stop anytime soon. And the cost of comparable workmanship today is out of the range of bottom feeder of the economy types like me. So if other folks think old 531 bikes are worthless, it's fine by me.

I'm with you here and now, Poguemahone.

I never lusted over a bike; I rode the one my parents gave me when I was a child (one speed and backpedaling brakes, banana saddle and chopper handlebars, wow, I miss it...); I rode the one I could possibly afford when I was a teen (one of those 10 sp. CCM Targa), given I was not passionate about cycling per se, but used a bicycle as a means of transportation (the concept of locking a bike was not a priority then... yes, SOMETIMES I locked the bike, and sometimes, NOT, and this did not make any difference...). In the end of the '70's, one of my friends lusted for a bike badly and bought it (a nice Peugeot, don't remember the model, but waaayyyyyyy lighter than my crappy Targa...and way more expensive, three to fourfold), but did not give it the appropriate amount of care, and was riding it like a tank... result, by the end of this summer, if I was still riding my crappy targa (in a rather correct shape), his Peugeot was litterally going down in shreds, spokes broken, cables ripped, et alii...

To make a story short, after an episode with several 18 and 21 sp. MTB's, and then a total absence of bike in my life (for nearly 8 years), I'm back to cycling on a mid-'80's Bianchi 12 sp. I love that bike, and I'm looking for some other equivalent one (other nice brands and makes of the past) in the near future (planning on to get as many fine used bikes as I can possibly get and ride). And I would not change that for a "modern" bike, be it made of carbon, alu or Ti.

When I see a used bike, my question is still: is it in good shape, mechanically speaking ? Does it feel good when I ride it ? What is the brand, where was it made ? How much does it cost ? If the amount of money demanded for that is reasonable, if the other questions are answered by "Yes", then, I buy...and ride...

BTW, it's ironic to buy a bike a very cheap price, and realizing that everything you want to add to it (to get it back in REAL shape) is going to be more expensive than the bike itself. Not to mention the need to renew the biking clothes. Feels weird to me...

But the most important thing is: at last, I ride on a good, responsive bike, and God, I like this !

Sapolin

amen suntreader, and i got my gitane today that i lusted for
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=75969 :)