I work out on a Velodrome near my home in South Florida. My 1981 Team Fuji was stripped by bike strippers and I was off to purchase a replacement this year. I was supprised to find out that new road bikes may be very functional, but they are aesthetically horrible. Oversize lugless welded tubes, slant top tubes, ugly welded stems, futuristic wheels, plasticy brake-gear shifters, laughable paint jobs and high prices to boot. Was I the only one who found this stuff ugly? My present new old bike is a 54 cm Raleigh Prestige, 531-c Reynolds tubing. It was purchased for $550.00 as new old stock (never ridden). The stem and bars are Cinneli. The seat is a lovely example of embossed black leather with two Inlay Cinneli metal badges on either side of the seat. The bike was made the first fortnight of 1986 in England according to the serial number. The wheels are mavic ma40 rims. The hubs, bottom bracket, deraileurs and downtube shifters are all Suntour Superbe Pro. The chain is Sedisport and the freewheel is a Regina Titall seven speed (13,14,15,16,17,18,19) aluminum and titanium gears. The dropouts are Campy and the brakes are Royal Grand Comp 400 (aero routed cables). The paint job is red with maroone chain and seat stays giving the bike a Classic older look of restraint and beauty. The feeling I get when riding this new cherished possesion is one of superiority and refinement. Secretly (not anymore now) I feel a better person for having gone with less trendy, intrinsically beautiful machinery-art. In Miami, and in a popular shop the owners and the customers must have seen this bike on the rack for months, and passed it up for more expensive aluminum rockets. This bike feels every bit as stiff as the aluminum bikes I tested without that dead, harsh, clunky feel that aluminum is given to. When I ride this bike I feel enriched and nourished and lucky. I know that this is a more modern and somewhat Japanese version of a true classic race bike, but I bet the feel is very classic and very similar to some older race bikes built in the same vein. I am in the process of dailing the bike in and getting all the bearings rebuilt with fresh grease. This is the nicest of all five past road bikes I have owned. If anyone has experience with similar bikes I would love to hear about it. Garth