As one of the few folks on the list under 40 I'll chime in. Most of you know I'm 36 and have been collecting classic bikes for 15 years. My interest hit it's peak about 10 years ago and I was into EVERYTHING. I was working for a now defunct legendary classic shop in Seattle The Bikesmith at the time. I wish I still had some of the bikes I owned in the 90s. Since then my tastes have matured and I've gotten my 34 year old wife hooked on old bikes. Now if a bike was built after I was born I'm just not interested. Like Charles talks about below how his tastes have gone further back in time, Mitzi and I are the same.
I know quite a few folks under 25 who are really into bikes of the 70s and 80s, some are even lurkers on this list. There are a lot of young folks who like bikes that existed before they did. Over the years I've passed on so many frames and bike parts to help kindle their passion and it's worked. For those that complain that the shop rats of today have no interest in the classic stuff I ask, have you ever made a gift to them of a cool old classic part you won't use. Got Campy rear you're not gonna use pass it on. That part may never see a bike, but it will be studied and a connection to a past time will be made. There are a bunch of list members who spent time as a shop rat, so remember back to those days.
And to you young folks on the list, meet your elders. Go to Chuck's Rose Bowl rides and Velo Rendezvous gathering, or Dale"s get together in Greensboro. Subscribe to VBQ and don't just look at the pictures actually read it. Ask questions and don't be discouraged if someone blows you off or doesn't want to share info just find someone else. You guys are our future. If you can't get the information and pass it on to those younger we'll be have same lack of information on bikes from the '70s and '80s that we currently have for pre-war bikes. best, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives somewhere between shop rat and master framebuilder in Vancouver, B.C.
On Friday, Feb 24, 2006, at 09:05 US/Pacific, C. Andrews wrote:
> Don G. wrote:
>
> You won't find many 1985 bikes selling for $3600 because
> most of the
> buyers are too young to be nostalgic and too poor (age 36)
> to have the
> deep pockets for this.
>
> *********
>
> At the risk of belaboring the obvious, I think Don's right
> about this.
>
> What intrigues me though, is what'll happen when all those
> guys who are in their
> mid-30s now, hit their early 40s. Will they want an early
> 70s Colnago? Or will
> they go nuts over things like the mint Ciocc Designer that
> hangs quietly here at
> Chez Charles? Not to mention things like that panto'd Somec
> that sold recently
> for what? 1500 bucks? I could see that bike going for
> double that price in
> 5 or 6 years...
>
> Once they've had their fill of end-of-the-friction-era
> bikes...then maybe they'll
> get interested in 70s and 60s bikes..it'll probably be
> similar to us 50-ish guys
> developing a taste for pre- and post-war bikes. Only the
> top marques will
> get attention though, just as it is now.
>
> Charles Andrews
> Socal