Why do you like vintage steel bikes?

[stephenmarklay]

I often wonder why I like old steel bikes. I really don’t have a long history of road biking, no real memory of the time when these bikes were being raced or even much interest in road cycling during that time. My first real consciousness about racing was Lemond at the end of his career and even then I was not “into” it really.

I loved bikes as a young boy and road BMX and even raced a couple times. I road everywhere on them. However, It was much later that I started riding on the road (in the early 90’s) and that was on a misfit garage sale bike. That bike was traded for another misfit bike at a pawn shop and then I was hooked. I was about 25 at the time I guess.

Then later in college around 1996 I bought a brand new Serotta CR and scored a full Chorus build locally. I think that was an early craigslist score which had just started up a year or two earlier.

I was hooked at that point. I still had no clue (I still don’t really) what I was doing but not knowing anything I loved the bike, and the Chorus stuff was like bike jewelry. I was going to school for Physics at the University of Washington and all I did was study and ride my bike around lake Washington (about 50 miles) whenever I could.

I still feel like a newbie now but I have not stopped riding since and when I see an old steel bike I get all dreamy eyed.

I especially like the bikes from the 70’s and 80’s that I see on here. Simple lines, lean and purposeful.

I have had Carbon and Aluminum and I have nothing bad at all to say about them but they just don’t do much for me.

The funny thing is I am not an old “car” guy. I like modern cars with good brakes and steering and clean exhaust.

Why do you guys like them?

[witcombusa]

This is a rhetorical question?

[msl819]

Originally Posted by stephenmarklay

I often wonder why I like old steel bikes. I really don’t have a long history of road biking, no real memory of the time when these bikes were being raced or even much interest in road cycling during that time. My first real consciousness about racing was Lemond at the end of his career and even then I was not “into” it really.

I loved bikes as a young boy and road BMX and even raced a couple times. I road everywhere on them. However, It was much later that I started riding on the road (in the early 90’s) and that was on a misfit garage sale bike. That bike was traded for another misfit bike at a pawn shop and then I was hooked. I was about 25 at the time I guess.

Then later in college around 1996 I bought a brand new Serotta CR and scored a full Chorus build locally. I think that was an early craigslist score which had just started up a year or two earlier.

I was hooked at that point. I still had no clue (I still don’t really) what I was doing but not knowing anything I loved the bike, and the Chorus stuff was like bike jewelry. I was going to school for Physics at the University of Washington and all I did was study and ride my bike around lake Washington (about 50 miles) whenever I could.

I still feel like a newbie now but I have not stopped riding since and when I see an old steel bike I get all dreamy eyed.

I especially like the bikes from the 70’s and 80’s that I see on here. Simple lines, lean and purposeful.

I have had Carbon and Aluminum and I have nothing bad at all to say about them but they just don’t do much for me.

The funny thing is I am not an old “car” guy. I like modern cars with good brakes and steering and clean exhaust.

Why do you guys like them?

I had no idea Craigslist has been around since the mid 90s!

[msl819]

But to answer your question it started about the same for me as you. We are about the same age. I bought my first real bike, a Muddy Fox MTB, from money cutting lawns when I was 14. It took me about 8 months to outgrow that bike. Then in high school I bought a buddies Nishiki road bike. I was amazed at
how fast it was compared to the BMX and MTBs I'd ridden. Fast forward to college and I go bitten by the MTB bug again. This time a Cannondale M500. But my love of old steel bikes didn't come until I was an adult. Like most of us here, I have bought and sold more than a few bikes but I always found myself drawn to old steel, especially lugged. I bought a Serotta off EBay on a "whim" and it quickly became my favorite bike. I have ridden other materials and they have been great bikes but steel to me is timeless and historical.

[icepick_trotsky]

I was born in 1985, and my favorite rider is a 1987 Guerciotti, equipped with C-Record. So, obviously I don't have a youthful connection to the bike to the era generally. In other words, it's from before my time, as are all the other bike I love from the mid to late 80s, the era that most speaks to me.

I love it for the heritage and the craftsmanship. Some old Italian guy made that bike with his hands, in a shop in Italy where he learned the trade the old way, apprenticing under the man who taught him, who himself learned it the same way from his teacher.

I love the heritage of the C-Record group, too. I'm riding the same group that Lemond and Hinault won the Tour on.

Rides like a dream, too. And nothing is as satisfying as a well executed friction shift.

[Steve in SLO]

Why?
They have style, ride smoothly, are a pleasure to work on, and are beautiful to look at.

[Tickdoc]

My story is different. I fell in love with my sisters schwinn varsity, but it was way too big for me, so I rode bmx. ( mountain bikes were in their infancy and only found in ca and co at this point, unbeknownst to me)

Fast forward and I saved for Italian steel for four years as a teen then with none available local, bought an aluminum cannondale (black lightening)

I rode that bike for years and eventually sold it to a friend. It was a bone crusher, but way lighter than anything else I could afford and as young as I was it didn't matter that it was a rough ride.

Then I didn't ride at all, until kids came and soccer eventually ruined my knee. The combination of needing rehab and needing to lose baby weight ( much harder for a guy, I Think!) led me to an Internet bike. I didn't want to spend much money on my first back into the sport road bike, so the aluminum motobecane was perfect, but then I got hooked again.

Next came a cervelo s3. It was a great bike....fast, comfy, it had sram red which I thought was far superior since it is all I saw in the peloton on tv. It was a great way to get into group riding and gain endurance.

Then eBay browsing I stumbled on a steel ciocc that was built as a modern retro roadie with all campy mix. Finally I had a worthy Italian steel bike! It was not heavy but not light either. I'll never forget that first ride.....heavenly.

It is still my favorite ride. Smooth, snappy, quiet, solid, ......heavenly. It just does everything so right.

So now I have five or six bikes in rotation; two steel, two ti, one carbon, all campy. All are good bikes, but to answer your question it is the snap of steel combined with overall smoothness that is so intoxicating. Each power stroke is rewarded with a spring forward to the next unlike other materials. Steel really is real. I think the magic is in the fact that there is just enough flex to help propel you forward that makes the power transfer so right, (when done right). Combine that with solid dampening and that is the magic formula, Imo, ymmv.

[oldpotatoe]

Looks great
Rides like a dream
Lasts forever..

1990 Merckx Corsa
1990 Merckx MXLeader
1985 Ciocc

[Hilltopperny]

After my bmx and mountain bike days as a youth I got my first road bike which was aluminum. My step father was an antique dealer and came across two puch Austro-Daimler royal x 100th anniversary bicycles. They just so happened to originally come from the serotta bicycle shop in Saratoga ny. I took one out for a ride and it was a game changer. It was smooth, looked fantastic and it was fast! I started riding on the mornings with the local guys and really enjoyed it. I then started buying different vintage steel bikes as they were a fantastic value.

[KidWok]

Ride like buttah! None of this modern 20% stiffer 20% lighter mumbo jumbo. My repainted Merckx Professional:



Tai

[Ernesto]

What Tickdoc wrote in bold is exactly why I ride vintage steel. I started riding a Serotta Colorado II this year and it has been amazing. Smooth, powerful and resilient all at the same time. It's an amazing ride. The same can be said for my Steelman Stage Race, though I find the Serotta smoother. I love them both.

[soulspinner]

Originally Posted by KidWok

Ride like buttah! None of this modern 20% stiffer 20% lighter mumbo jumbo. My repainted Merckx Professional:



Tai

Awesome and proper.

[Mzilliox]

I like vintage and modern steel. I like craftsman. I like artists. i like fine tools. i like materials that seem a bit more natural.

[echelon_john]

My first really 'nice' bike was a Holdsworth Professional with Campy Nuovo Record, Arc-en-Ciel rims, Concor saddle, Cinelli bars & stem. I was 14 years old, it was 1984, and it was the most elegant bike I've ever owned.

Since then I've been chasing that ideal. I've had (and have) plenty of other bikes in different materials, and raced Cannondales for years because they were cheap, stiff and easy to replace.

My Della Santa is the closest I've come to the beauty & elegance of the Holdsworth; this is after several attempts to love Mercian (1 custom for me, 2 bought second hand) and a few others.

To me it's the aesthetic, the nod to the style of race bikes that were de rigeur when I first started racing, and something that puts all the other important things (fit, ride quality, finish, 'art') before the unholy grail of measuring a bike's quality in grams and ounces.

(And if anybody has a mint Rossin Ghibli or De Rosa Primato with the flat fork crown in a 63-64cm I'm your man...)

[john903]

I am definitely biased toward steel bikes because that is what I grew up with and only ridding these last 38 years. I think you and others have hit the nail on the head with key phrases like simple lines, lean, purposeful. Some others stated style, ride smoothly, pleasure to work on, and smooth snappy, quiet and solid. I think these statements cover new as well as vintage steel. What will be interesting is in 35 years will the people who grew up on carbon bikes be saying the same thing about their carbon bikes? I think so because there are some great riding carbon bikes and how a bike rides can be subjective. Anyway great question and ride what puts a smile on your face.