This string of messages has been going on for so long that I have been ignoring them of late. But then, I have an experience that makes me want to weigh in on the topic.
Yesterday, I am half way thru a 60 mile ride in tropical St. Paul, out in the middle of nowhere. I am riding my bright red,SR equipped, oh so Italian Guerciotti when a guy on a Litespeed pulls up next to me and we start talking. He shares that he is only recently seriously into cycling and the Litespeed is his first real bike. We get to talking about equipment, etc. and he is fascinated by the equipment on the G as he has never seen anything like it.
A few miles pass and since we are about the same height, we decide to swap bikes for awhile. I must confess I have never ridden a Litespeed for any distance and had rarely ridden anything with brake lever shifting. The Litespeed was light, and responsive and the 10 speed freewheel certainly offered lots of shifting options. The conversation turned to price and I dam near ran off the road when he told me that it cost in excess of $4000. I could not get off that bike fast enough for fear of dumping it and having to replace something.
When I told him that my G cost about $700 on eBay, he could not believe it. He confided that he liked the ride much better than the LiteSpeed and would probably be looking for something of similar vintage to replace it. Hopefully, this list has gained another member and the vintage bike world has added another rider who at the minimum, can appreciate what existed in the past.
Kevin "my whole collection is worth less than a Litespeed" MacAfee Swampy St. Paul