I have four completely or mostly restored and much loved classic steel bikes. An honest assessment tells me that exactly none of them are pre 1984. All have aero brakes, two have indexed shifting, and all have Look clipless pedals. No one has sent me any hate mail for my transgressions. Instead, most everyone including Dale has offered me help and valuable encouragement in my projects. Why is this so in a group that respects the 1983 cutoff? The answer is that I do not focus on or discuss the aspects of my bikes which would tend to alienate or piss off other listmembers. Instead we discuss what we all have in common. My bikes have threaded headsets and cup and axle bottom brackets. My bikes have single pivot brakes. None of my bikes has eight rear cogs and all but one is a six. All my bikes have dt shifting and there are no carbon fiber parts or modern aluminum frames in the bunch. The wheels and spoking is all essentially the same being 32 or 36 three cross that can be seen on the older bikes. At first glance my bikes seem to have a lot in common with the classical ideal, but we don't mention the differences, we speak about our commonalities. The list practices a don't ask don't tell policy about the Look pedals and the aero brake levers and the indexing. We share so much, why concentrate on what separates us? I have seen other listmembers' bikes and many of them have the same unmentionables too. A few bikes are so amorphous that we still don't know if they make the 1983 cutoff or not. Viva the year bending liberal attitude! It works for me.
Garth Libre in Miami Fl USA