Old style elegance

Labarum said:

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but do folk agree with me that the classic road bikes with horizontal top tubes, fairly narrow tubes and old style stems are far more elgant that todays offerings?

I like that look too. The classic look is quite rare these days too, meaning a bike that looks a bit different to the modern "norm" of sloping top tube/ fat tubes/ integrated headset etc.

I have been pondering over my next bike for ages now. For a good "modern classic" light, beatufully finished italian frame, I am drawn to the gios cinquantenario.

gios.itprima.phpOpen ↗

alumunium frame, but narrower drawn tubes, standard headset, and polished rear chain/ seat stays, coupled with a carbon fork. The look of a classic, but nice and light and the beatiful gios blue.

(I am biased about gios as I currently ride a steel gios lite, 7 yrs old, but getting itchy for a new steed)

In addition to the slender look, what I find so very attractive about the classic bikes is the greater finish and attention to detail that is put into them.

My space age carbon bike could have been punched out with a cookie cutter, for all the detail they put into it. A couple of decals, and a plastic head badge that was glued on. A nice bike, a very fast bike, but a bit lacking in the soul deparment if you catch my drift.

The classic racers I own have chromed head tube lugs that are filleted into the frame, chromed rear stays and a chromed fork. Campy dropouts on the frame. No excess material on the brazing - the joints are smooth and tight. Paint that is still mirror smooth after 30 years. A head badge that is a genuine badge - multicolored and hand painted. Stainless steel spokes that still glitter in the sun.

These weren't produced by a faceless corporation. A master craftsman built these bikes with pride, and it shows. Even 30 years later.

In my opinion you just can't beat the beauty and craftsmanship of an old classic lugged frame.

I agree, Although I love the new high tech bikes, there is something about the old hand made lugged designs using double butted tubes...etc, that create the old world charm of cycling.

They just don't seem to make today bikes with the same attention to craftsmanship detail as they use to. A typical example is today's road bike stems, they look like they could be used on off-road bikes just as well. I miss the sculpted Cinelli's and Modolos as such 🙁

Remember the fillet brazed mountain bikes?

Classic times I romanticize however I do like New Tech as well 🙂

bentbrian said:

In my opinion you just can't beat the beauty and craftsmanship of an old classic lugged frame.

I would not ride anything else.