Bikes are like music. Everything old is new again. The machine that gives you your first neural "high" is a classic 20 years later, no matter what. And of course we should let those people join the list, and of course the classic date should move forward once per year.
- Don Gillies San Diego, CA
Very true, but, once again, all that applies to today's situation. The Ross Barracuda that carried me over road and trail for years since my folks bought it for me at the Bloomfield Bike Shop in Bloomfield CT is certainly within the limits of the CR time frame, and certainly it's a "classic" sting-ray, but it IS a sting-ray. Non a classic lightweight. It's not on-topic for the CR now, and it never will be, unless the list changes into something that it isn't now. And there are already forums for sting-ray fans; they don't need our space.
And, again, any bike built since 1983 that largely conforms to the methods and styles that existed before 1983 is already on-topic: e-RITCHIE, Curt, Brian, Freddy, Peter(s), and many others on this list build hundreds of them every year. The "1983 cutoff" has always been extended to include these machines and the people who craft them. The "line in the sand" is indeed a squiggle.
So I really don't see any point in extending the date of what constitutes a classic if newer bikes that largely meet what must surely be a broad, mutually agreed upon (and in any case, dictatorially imposed. Benevolently, of course! ;-) definition of what is "on-topic." My Ross is not, but the gaspipe Chiorda (Ballila centerpulls, etc) that followed it certainly is, albeit of little _real_ interest to the list.
The 1983 date is arbitrary, but elastic. Clearly it's based on fundamental changes in the industry and sport that occurred about that time, but they were not all-encompassing, so the 1983 cutoff isn't, either. Never has been.
Personally, I think we're doing just fine in terms of on-topicalty, and the policing thereof. If you have a handbuilt 20-year-old mountain bike, especially one from a "known" builder, then I could see bringing it up. But, by and large, I think most would agree that MTBs, BMXes, balloon tires, cruisers, Big Wheels (those noisy plastic tricycle things), unicycles, and the like are not topical on the Classic Rendezvous.
Just my, er, looks like about $1.28 in total,
Dennis Ryan
Louisville, KY