Howdy, Greg. Welcome to the list.
Regarding your 1983 question; the list-keeper bumps the limit every year to keep it 20 years back, but there were some interesting forces at that time:
--The Vitus 979, introduced in 1979, was gaining prominence to become the first aluminum bike accepted in large numbers into the peleoton;
--Assos introduced lycra in 1979, and by the early eighties it was everywhere;
--Shimano's "New DuraAce" was introduced in 1985, if memory serves, ending the Campy NR/SR reign and popularlizing indexed shifting;
--Aero brake levers were popularized by Alexi Grewal in 1984; in fact, a whole aero mini-revolution occurred around then;
--Time trial "funny bikes" and "cowhorn bars", corallaries of the aero fad, are introduced;
--Alexi's bike also popularized the "fade" paint job, which one could fairly consider the bicycle mullet;
--Look's Clipless pedals were introduced in 1985;
--Mountain bikes were ascendent, bringing with them tig welding, "oversize" everything, and a downhome-punk aesthetic;
--Specialized introduced the Turbo line of tires, and Mavic the GP4 high-performance clincher rim, offering an alternative to sewups.
These aren't all bad trends, but did in aggregate spell the end of one era and the beginning of another.
Kris Green
Olympia WA