How old is a "Classic"? (Group poll)

Nothing to do with age imho, but with design. You can go to a good
builder and get something that will be a classic the minute it leaves
the paint booth.

Now you could qualify your classic. You could have a jazz-age classic,
or a cold war classic, or a disco classic...

On Wed, 7 Dec 2005 23:15:09 -0500, [email hidden]

(Chris Zacho 'The Wheelman') said:

In your opinion, (assuming it met all the rest of your qualifications of
course) is there a certain age a bike has to be before you would qualify
it as a "Classic"? How old would it have to be? 10 years old? 15? 20?

I believe a Hetcins or Mercian "King of Mercia" would be a classic
before they were even brazed up. Almost anything with Campagnolo
Record equipment could be considered a classic.
--
zk

Chris Zacho The Wheelman said:

In your opinion, (assuming it met all the rest of your qualifications of
course) is there a certain age a bike has to be before you would qualify
it as a "Classic"? How old would it have to be? 10 years old? 15? 20?

- -

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

"May you have the winds at your back,
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Well IMO 15 to 20 years old would be considered a "classic", but also
depends on styling. I was looking at some of Vanilla bikes and they have
that classic look to them.

Ken

--
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy

Chris Zacho The Wheelman said:

In your opinion, (assuming it met all the rest of your qualifications of
course) is there a certain age a bike has to be before you would qualify
it as a "Classic"? How old would it have to be? 10 years old? 15? 20?

In cars it's 20 years, for bikes I would say 20 - 25. It is possible to
build a bike today that appears to be a classic, but that doesn't make
it a classic. Otherwise the PT-Cruiser car would be considered a
classic car and it isn't.

Much of this has to do with the accessories, a steel road bike frame
built today and a steel road bike frame built in 1974 look pretty much
the same, however the 1974 bike has downtube shifters, 5 sprocket
cluster, pedal clips, tubular tires and those things are what make it a
classic.

W

The Wogster said:

Much of this has to do with the accessories, a steel road bike frame
built today and a steel road bike frame built in 1974 look pretty much
the same, however the 1974 bike has downtube shifters, 5 sprocket
cluster, pedal clips, tubular tires and those things are what make it a
classic.

W

Yeah some of the older "classic" components do make a big difference in
the look of the bike. But I would not want to ride a bike with those
parts on an everyday basis. Maybe once and a while for the nostalgic
feeling.

Ken

--
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy

Sorry, maybe I should have been a little more clear as to what I'm
looking for. I'm setting up a new section on my website for people to
"showcase" their bikes. A "Concours d'Elegance".

One of the "categories" is for "Vintage" or "Classic" machines, and I
was looking for your opinions on what you think sould be an appropriate
minimum qualifing age. i.e. "bikes ## years or older".

This is the last bit of info I need to open up the section.

Thanks

- -

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

"May you have the winds at your back,
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Ken M said:

Yeah some of the older "classic" components do make a big difference in
the look of the bike. But I would not want to ride a bike with those
parts on an everyday basis. Maybe once and a while for the nostalgic
feeling.

Ken

I'd opine 20 years old plus and old technology.

Finding parts can be a pain. I started off on a 20+ year old Fuji
Supreme. It was my first real road bike and was what caused me to get
to like road riding so much, but it was hard to find tires and tubes for
the now non-standard wheels. After my third flat and first tire ruining
blowout, I donated it to charity and got another bike. It would have
been fun to make a fixie out of it, but I didn't really have the time or
the inclination and the end of summer sales were going on, so I pulled
the plug on it. If I did it again, I might get an old no suspension
mountain bike and fix it up for bad weather riding but I would not
collect old bikes for the fun of it.

Chris Zacho 'The Wheelman said:

One of the "categories" is for "Vintage" or "Classic" machines, and I was
looking for your opinions on what you think sould be an appropriate
minimum qualifing age. i.e. "bikes ## years or older".

This is the last bit of info I need to open up the section.

How about "Anything interesting enough, no matter how old, and anything
old enough, no matter how interesting."?

Your website, you be the judge on interest value. For age: cut off at the
year you were 21 :-)

Mike

Date: Thu, Dec 8, 2005, 8:17pm (EST+5) From:
[email hidden] (Mike Causer)

Quoted message said:

Your website, you be the judge on
interest value. For age: cut off at the
year you were 21 :-)

Quoted message said:

Mike

Thanks. Most people who gave an age here said 20 years, and that seems
to be the usual consensus of others on the forums I Googled.

So 20 it is (even though I was 21 in 1978).

- -

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

"May you have the winds at your back,
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

On Thu, 8 Dec 2005 16:09:01 -0500, [email hidden] (Chris Zacho

The Wheelman') said:

Thanks. Most people who gave an age here said 20 years, and that seems
to be the usual consensus of others on the forums I Googled.

My daily mount turned twenty this year. I don't consider it a classic
because it was a generic, though decent, Japanese made, lugged, butted
cro-mo MTB of the period. Though the model name is still used by the
importer, its status has slipped down the product line. Add to that
fact its only remaining original components are the crank arms and
fork. Perhaps if it had been a restoration project, some would
consider it a classic. I just think of it as the "joe-bike". Others
call it "old school" despite its indexed shifters and clipless pedals.
It does have a period head lamp and a "classic" Brooks boinger.
--
zk

Ken M said:

The Wogster said:

Much of this has to do with the accessories, a steel road bike frame
built today and a steel road bike frame built in 1974 look pretty much
the same, however the 1974 bike has downtube shifters, 5 sprocket
cluster, pedal clips, tubular tires and those things are what make it
a classic.

W

Yeah some of the older "classic" components do make a big difference in
the look of the bike. But I would not want to ride a bike with those
parts on an everyday basis. Maybe once and a while for the nostalgic
feeling.

Like anything classic, it's for those special days when you feel like
looking back on a time when you were, thinner, had more hair, fewer
wrinkles, and could leg press 500lbs. Nobody had heard of helmets, or
specialty bike clothes, when you didn't need to worry about rent,
mortgages, kids college funds, but worried about whether your zits were
acting up enough that you couldn't ask that hot girl for a session on
the dance floor.

Let me think back, it was 1978, I was 17, (quit doing the math, I admit
to being 44), I had shovelled snow and cut grass for little old ladies
for 3 years, but I had enough cash to buy a "good" bike with my own
money. A Sekine, skinny tires, dark red colour, gumwall tires, 10
speeds. I rode it everywhere, heck it was basic transportation for the
next seven years. It actually travelled by train, twice, so I could use
it at college. I did all my own maintenance, and it looked about as
good when I sold it, as when it had been new, even though there were at
least 70,000km on it.

W

The Wogster said:

Like anything classic, it's for those special days when you feel like
looking back on a time when you were, thinner, had more hair, fewer
wrinkles, and could leg press 500lbs. Nobody had heard of helmets, or
specialty bike clothes, when you didn't need to worry about rent,
mortgages, kids college funds, but worried about whether your zits were
acting up enough that you couldn't ask that hot girl for a session on
the dance floor.

Let me think back, it was 1978, I was 17, (quit doing the math, I admit
to being 44), I had shovelled snow and cut grass for little old ladies
for 3 years, but I had enough cash to buy a "good" bike with my own
money. A Sekine, skinny tires, dark red colour, gumwall tires, 10
speeds. I rode it everywhere, heck it was basic transportation for the
next seven years. It actually travelled by train, twice, so I could use
it at college. I did all my own maintenance, and it looked about as
good when I sold it, as when it had been new, even though there were at
least 70,000km on it.

W

Now that nostalgic!

Ken

--
Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. ~John F. Kennedy

The Wogster said:

Much of this has to do with the accessories, a steel road bike frame
built today and a steel road bike frame built in 1974 look pretty much
the same, however the 1974 bike has downtube shifters, 5 sprocket
cluster, pedal clips, tubular tires and those things are what make it a
classic.

Stop it! You're making my '73 Astra blush!

Bill

__o | Look to the past and remember no empire rises
_`\(,_ | that sooner or later won?t fall.
(_)/ (_) | --Al Stewart

[email hidden] (Chris Zacho "The Wheelman"😉 wrote in news:15836-
[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In your opinion, (assuming it met all the rest of your qualifications of
course) is there a certain age a bike has to be before you would qualify
it as a "Classic"? How old would it have to be? 10 years old? 15? 20?

- -

I have a bike older than a girl I just hired. Geez.

It's an 85 Trek 400, definitely a classic, So 20 years is pretty good.

--ag

andy gee said:

I have a bike older than a girl I just hired. Geez.

I have two bikes 9one bought new, the other 1.5 years old) older than most
folks on this newsgroup. (Vintage 69 and 71, to be precise).

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Let's not escape into mathematics. Let's stay with reality. --
_`\(,_ | Michael Crichton
(_)/ (_) |

Ken M said:

The Wogster said:

Like anything classic, it's for those special days when you feel like
looking back on a time when you were, thinner, had more hair, fewer
wrinkles, and could leg press 500lbs. Nobody had heard of helmets, or
specialty bike clothes, when you didn't need to worry about rent,
mortgages, kids college funds, but worried about whether your zits
were acting up enough that you couldn't ask that hot girl for a
session on the dance floor.

Let me think back, it was 1978, I was 17, (quit doing the math, I
admit to being 44), I had shovelled snow and cut grass for little old
ladies for 3 years, but I had enough cash to buy a "good" bike with my
own money. A Sekine, skinny tires, dark red colour, gumwall tires, 10
speeds. I rode it everywhere, heck it was basic transportation for
the next seven years. It actually travelled by train, twice, so I
could use it at college. I did all my own maintenance, and it looked
about as good when I sold it, as when it had been new, even though
there were at least 70,000km on it.

W

Now that nostalgic!

Okay, here is more of the story:

Funny thing about the train, here I am with a bike box, on a train that
consisted of a 2 unit RDC, and the conducter says to me, "Where you
gonna put that", I point at the luggage rack, said "up there, and your
gonna help me lift it". Yeah he did -- it wasn't heavy, about 25lbs,
but the bike box made it hard to lift in a confined area. That train is
long gone, the Liberals killed it, the Conservatives put it back, that's
how I had found that, the conductor that helped me, had passed on -- RIP
Chester... Then the conservatives killed that train, and the Liberals
have yet to resurrect it -- heck I hope they are going down in this
election anyway..... BTW the return trip, had a car that had a half
passenger half / mail car, and it went in the mail section.

The hard thing for classic bikes, is that often the bike sits in the
garage for most of it's life. To fix it up after say sitting in the
garage for 10 years, doesn't seem worth it, so it goes in the trash.
Right now there are 4 bikes in the garage, 3 are locked up. One belongs
to me, one to my brother-in-law, one to a friend of his, who broke his
arm while hiking -- long story as to why it's in my garage. These are
all fairly new bikes, that see regular use -- at least in warmer
weather. The forth bike belongs to the upstairs neighbours grandson,
looks like it's been there for a long time, and probably will stay
there, rusting in pieces. I asked the neighbour about it, the grandson
doesn't live in this country, so the bike is patiently awaiting it's
owner. If he ever does return, I'll offer to help getting it road
worthy again.

W

In article <[email hidden]>,

catzz66 said:

Ken M said:

Yeah some of the older "classic" components do make a big difference in
the look of the bike. But I would not want to ride a bike with those
parts on an everyday basis. Maybe once and a while for the nostalgic
feeling.

Ken

I'd opine 20 years old plus and old technology.

Finding parts can be a pain. I started off on a 20+ year old Fuji
Supreme. It was my first real road bike and was what caused me to get
to like road riding so much, but it was hard to find tires and tubes for
the now non-standard wheels. After my third flat and first tire ruining
blowout, I donated it to charity and got another bike. It would have
been fun to make a fixie out of it, but I didn't really have the time or
the inclination and the end of summer sales were going on, so I pulled
the plug on it. If I did it again, I might get an old no suspension
mountain bike and fix it up for bad weather riding but I would not
collect old bikes for the fun of it.

How were the wheels non-standard? 27"? It's poor bike shop indeed that
doesn't stock 27" wheels on this continent, and I can think of no other
tire size such a bike is likely to use that would be called obsolete.
Tubular? 650B??

Bicycles are an incredibly upgradeable technology. I own an early 1970s
Motobecane, a French bike, with all the incompatibilities that entails,
and then some (maybe a Swiss BB).

Even so, I expect to have no trouble when I convert it to STI 8-speed
next week to go with the cyclocross tires and levers. I'm going to
change the handlebars for safety's sake, too.

It's a rare post-war bike that can't be made rideable with parts
available in most cities big enough to support a few bike shops and
garage sales every weekend.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

andy gee said:

I have a bike older than a girl I just hired.

We gonna let that go unexplained?!? Wake up, people!!!

Bill "this a newsgroup or an oil painting?" S.

Chris Zacho The Wheelman said:

In your opinion, (assuming it met all the rest of your qualifications of
course) is there a certain age a bike has to be before you would qualify
it as a "Classic"? How old would it have to be? 10 years old? 15? 20?

Take your pick:
(1) Older than my bike.

(2) So old you have to significantly change something to keep riding it,
because replacement parts aren't available. 27" rims, 5-speed clusters,
etc.

Pat