I just don’t get how some people can be that into it..

Having owned two ostensibly ‘retro’ bikes since they were new and riding since before 1990, I do agree that some retro stuff is pretty and full of ‘back-in-the-day’ nostalgia.

But I just don’t get how some people can be that into it.

I mean, seriously, for example – this guy has a collection of 25+ mint, limited edition Flites, with tags on!:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130201

For **** sake!

It’s like train spotting, or stamp collecting. 😕

People in liking different things shocker.

Next week. Is the Pope really Catholic?*

*Yes. Yes he is.

Predictable STW response in all of 2 minutes, whoop-e-do.. next! 😛

Think classic car ownership. Takes all sorts.

Collecting things is different from using them.

..yes, true it IS a bit like classic car ownership. Now you are educating me.

Seems an odd thing to collect to me. Retro bikes, yeah I can get that. Unused saddles? WTF?

It’s a mild form of mental illness, try to be understanding.

I think it’s cool. It’s way different to classic car use/ownership IMO (having had both!).

I also respect someone who has a geeky hobby and isn’t bothered what folk think of them for it.

I’ve got a new bare wall at home, internal, that needs something on it, they would look the good in a 5 x 5 formation

It’s not that weird that he collects Flite saddles. That he admits to it and post pics on the web, that is pretty freaky..

(Nice Clark Kent frame though)

I’ve got a new bare wall at home, internal, that needs something on it, they would look the good in a 5 x 5 formation

Nah, put them up like flying ducks (a la Hilda Ogden).

retro is not cool……………wise up to it.
most stuff from the past is not as good as present day stuff…………rose tinted oakleys are not good either.

I say live and let live, so people like to re-live the past a bit, collect older bikes/parts and it brings them sort of enjoyment, well good for them, beats bitching about “Geeks” on an internet forum frequented mainly by IT professionals…

Ask a fair few of the people on Retrobike and you’ll probably find most of them ride the bikes. A big part of it is being able (as a grown up) to now acquire the bits you really liked the look of but couldn’t afford to own when you were a youngster…
Living out a minor dream from your youth how utterly harmless is that? Still lets pick on them as they haven’t spunked a months wage on some Fox forks that’ll need servicing in a month… The fools!!!

Don’t understand the collecting thing… but I did build a fantastic retro machine a few years ago. I discovered that the fun was in finding the parts and building it how I thought I wanted it. Once I had it complete the riding was interesting but ultimately less rewarding than on modern bikes… so I sold it and now have a bike I am happy to thrash rather than one I have to tiptoe with.

Interesting and good fun though such projects are, not as much fun as riding.

Still lets pick on them as they haven’t spunked a months wage on some Fox forks that’ll need servicing in a month… The fools!!!

no, but then in a decade or so we might ‘fork’ out 2 months wages on an old pair fox forks that need servicing every month 😉

hands up moment – I am a retrobiker – I have a few, including a 90’s Bontrager that you’d have to pry from my cold dead fingers!

And for me it is very much like classic car ownership – appreciating the old classics (and using them), the thought and time that went into them but it also serves to remind you how far things have come on as well.

I say live and let live

Me too, which is why we’re allowed to take the piss on here.

The two bikes I’ve ridden this year are;

A Claud Buttler tourer of indeterminate age (it was reprayed in the late 70/early 80’s, but is probbaly much much older).

A singlespeed steel hardtail with tiny disk brakes and borked forks that feel suprisingly elastometer like.

Took the (modern) road bike out for a spin the other day, didn’t fill me with the same sense of fun. Soemtimes simple is good.

The thing is, having only owned my first bike with disc brakes last year, I always figured that I probably was a retrobiker too – and being also a bit obsessive-compulsive, I should find some of the weirdness that goes on on Retrobike completely au fait.

But I just can’t understand why some people who are ostensibly mountain bikers, just like myself, devote so much of their time and energy to this stuff. Shouldn’t they be riding bikes more? – Instead of creating concourse museum pieces, or amassing a collection of perfect saddles.

Shouldn’t they be riding bikes more? – Instead of creating concourse museum pieces, or amassing a collection of perfect saddles.

Are you kidding? Have you somehow missed the countless “look at my new bling bike”, “should i buy pink or gold parts to coordinate with my new frame?” threads on here? Retrobike is hardly the best group to level that criticism at.

Hmm, get out & ride bikes instead of creating museum pieces…

Well 46 Retrobike riders were out on their bikes a couple of weekends ago at Thetford.

Have you been on a ride with that many riders before that wasn’t a race or timed challenge?

Have you been on a ride with that many riders before that wasn’t a race or timed challenge?

Yes.

Once again I seem to have fallen foul of not consulting a focus group for feedback before carefully constructing a STW thread (title), ever mindfull of the miriad of rhetorical pit-falls I could topple into.

I’m not knocking the WHOLE retro thing, in fact I’m not really down on anything, man. I’ve even been temped to join Retrobike on one of their rides from time-to-time (on my 1997 Giant MCM carbon with Look Fornales forks, Nuke Proof wheels etc., etc.,) It’s just that I can not understand how some people get sooooo wrapped up in the utter anal-retentive collectivism of it, simply for the sake of collectivism.

I was hoping that someone might be able to offer some light on it, such as, maybe..

‘Oh yeah, don’t dis it man, I happen to own 64 pairs of white mint Onza Porcupines, that I have painstankingly collected around the world from eBay over the last 6 years. They’re my favorite tyres, I just love them, I love knowing that they exist and I own them.. plus I know that I’ll never have to buy another pair of tyres again, even if that’s because I never ride anywhere’

Y’know… that sort of thing 😉

But instead, mostly, it’s been the ususal STW mud-flinging *sigh*. I really do tire of this place at times…

There are those compulsive collector types in all walks of life, I don’t really get it either!

BTW I hope you don’t think I wasn’t coming across as defensive/aggressive, it was just a simple question, I wondered if you’d been on such a large ride, it’s chaotic fun to say the least isn’t it.

pretty:

but yes, no, whatever. if this bike was mine i would ride it.

i don’t like it just because it’s old (i think…), but it’s also beautiful.

odd though, if i had to label myself, i’d say i’m a mountain biker. i do like old road bikes, but really not interested in old mountain bikes.

hmm, interesting…

Never mind his saddles- check out his Whiskey Town Racer 😯
I always wanted one of them
Ive still got a pair of white Porc’s waiting to go on something retro one day

I’m with Ton on this one.

Also, being a pedant, retro is usually taken to mean brand new goods designed & built to look old, but with none if the drawbacks and pitfalls of it being old. What you’re on about are just old bikes.

ahwhiles – spotted! Weston Park museum – I saw that too!! Today also, maybe..?

I set today’s record on the bikes, although, maybe you beat it 😉

Orangista… non-defensiveness accepted! Large rides are all fun and good, definitely! A lot of waiting around shivering, though..

mildred – if you’re being pedantic, then surely my previous use of collectivism is probably wrong also. 😉

well, as a founding member of the gentleman’s club, i thought it was important to give it a go, but without being seen to try too hard, or break sweat.

mildred – if you’re being pedantic, then surely my previous use of collectivism is probably wrong also.

Yes i do but then im special needs (according to my wife). My understanding of collectivism is something like a kibbutz or shared allotment, or a philosophical stance that opposes individualism. I think you were right on the whole anal retentiveness of it all though.

I too just dont get it; a few years ago I sold a kirk evolution that was ridden about 3 times& was exactly as it left the shop. The person who bought it did nothing but moan. This wasn’t original, that wasn’t original, did I spec the tyres at the shop because they weren’t the same as those in the brochure. Oh please **** off!!!!! I actually offered a refund but he said he’d settle for a £20 token of goodwill. I explained he’d lost all goodwill on the 30th email. The thing is, it only cost him £80 posted, and it cost me £30 to post!

At least it isn’t detailing vacuum cleaners:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=434131

^^^^ 😯 😆 😆 😆

dude, that detailingworld place is mental. he even took a photo of the dyson in a carpark. fairplay to him for the effort. ahh, the beauty of being human.

http://www.viceland.com/wp/2010/11/collections-of-weird-shit/

i don’t think you’re having a dig at retro per-se just collectors of whatever in general, no?

I’m over nostalgic when it comes to bikes. I think modern kit is briliant, but part of me want’s to ride kit from my past which is probably not that abnormal. The weird bit is wanting to experience the sort of bikes and equipment that guys rode back in the 40s and 50s.

Messiah has it though. I can remember the pre ride excitement before taking out my old Campag equiped Gios -the chrome, the pantographs, the cut outs the beauty. The ride was pants however. Was the same with a Kona mountainbike I restored to near original.
Still I persue my love of old steel road bikes right up to this day.

Must sleep now, court in the morning….again.

It’s just that I can not understand how some people get sooooo wrapped up in the utter anal-retentive collectivism of it, simply for the sake of collectivism.

People have always collected stuff – mostly men do it. Stamp collecting was fairly normal a while back, as was train spotting, aircraft spotting – just collecting numbers. People collect mint condition toys still in their boxes. Are you that baffled by bike collectors just because you happen to ride a bike? I’m happy that they are happy and that it involves bikes. Bikes should make people happy.

People who collect stuff are preserving history for the next generation and I like them for that. It would be a great shame if bikes were just chucked away or scrapped and neglected as soon as something new and better came along. I love my old bikes, but regard them as bikes to be ridden – sunny days only though, it’s not right to drag the old ones through the mud. I enjoy the contrast of riding 90s bikes and modern. For me the 90s was the most interesting decade, with a huge pace of development from crap to brilliant.
There are people on Retrobike who spend far more time restoring and building than riding – but some of the end results are beyond belief. Every man needs a shed and a hobby and I can think of far sadder things than a few old bikes and bits!