Why do you like vintage steel bikes?

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by thwart

Exactly.

Nice Lemond!

[choke]

I simply love the way they ride and their aesthetic. With one or two exceptions, modern bikes don't interest me in the least. I've been seriously debating selling what is arguably my 'nicest' and most modern bike to buy a couple of vintage bikes.

While others likely disagree, I think that DT friction shifters are great. I recently removed a pair of 10sp Ergos off of the bike I ride the most and replaced them with Retrofrictions.

[jr59]

Originally Posted by choke

I simply love the way they ride and their aesthetic. With one or two exceptions, modern bikes don't interest me in the least. I've been seriously debating selling what is arguably my 'nicest' and most modern bike to buy a couple of vintage bikes.

While others likely disagree, I think that DT friction shifters are great. I recently removed a pair of 10sp Ergos off of the bike I ride the most and replaced them with Retrofrictions.

You and the retrofriction and deltas.

Get off my lawn!

[choke]

Originally Posted by jr59

You and the retrofriction and deltas.

Get off my lawn!

Heh....guilty as charged.

[rustychisel]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

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.

Exactly this, and perfectly stated.

/thread

[Waldo]

Newly mine ~35-year old Austro-Daimler Ultima that pretty well lives up to its name.

[beeatnik]

OP, you prolly like steel bikas for the same reason that 90% of home buyers want an A-Frame, a Craftsman Bungalow, Mediterranean (on the West Coast), a Cape Cod or Colonial.

[fogrider]

I just love the ride! https://www.flickr.com/photos/727760...h/13865241975/

[paredown]

Originally Posted by fogrider

I just love the ride! https://www.flickr.com/photos/727760...h/13865241975/

I love that paint job--and on a good maker's frame too!

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by Waldo

Newly mine ~35-year old Austro-Daimler Ultima that pretty well lives up to its name.

I had those TRP levers on my RB-1 and they are as nice feeling as any of the current ergo levers to me. Great bike.

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by fogrider

I just love the ride! https://www.flickr.com/photos/727760...h/13865241975/

That bikes blends old school steel with new tech and looks bomber! Nice job.

[El Chaba]

It's the ride. I am no retrogrouch and truly appreciate the performance of modern materials/bikes....BUT.....We are WAY down the slippery slope of change for the sake of change (press fit bottom brackets anyone?) and in the quest for lighter this and stiffer that bikes have lost any semblance of BALANCE. Balance is what makes a bike great and results from years of refinement. Nothing matches the ride quality of a great steel bike.

[etu]

Originally Posted by El Chaba

It's the ride. I am no retrogrouch and truly appreciate the performance of modern materials/bikes....BUT.....We are WAY down the slippery slope of change for the sake of change (press fit bottom brackets anyone?) and in the quest for lighter this and stiffer that bikes have lost any semblance of BALANCE. Balance is what makes a bike great and results from years of refinement. Nothing matches the ride quality of a great steel bike.

1+
very nicely summed up.

[velofinds]

The style, elegance, and beauty are all unsurpassed. Really, custom framebuilders notwithstanding, they don't make 'em like this anymore:



I don't race (meaning I don't need the ultimate in lightness or stiffness, or anywhere close thereto), so I find that a classic steel frame outfitted with modern componentry serves about 99% (okay, maybe 98%) of my cycling needs. To me that really represents the best of all worlds.

[El Chaba]

This DeRosa is my all time favorite steel bike. It has the greatest ride and the handling is almost telepathic. It is not light at 21 lbs with tubulars...and the engineer types would no doubt laugh at the stiffness readings that it would register subjected to Tour magazine's test machine, but none of that matters. it has some mix of qualities that makes it awesome.

Speaking of awesome, various French builders used to like to build with very light tubing...Super Vitus or Reynolds 531 in 1-.5-1 or 1-.3-1 when the butted standard was .7 It made for a significantly lighter frame, but it also created a very special ride quality that is very hard to quantify. In addition to precise alignment it is likely the main factor in the "magical" ride quality that characterizes the bikes from makers like Herse and Singer. The collecters drool at the randonneuses, but a racing bike from one of those makers is something else....I have a sort of "special" Peugeot with .5 tubing. and there is nothing like it for fast riding over rough surfaces like tar and chip...