[CR]A different way of looking at what is old and what is new

(Example: History:Norris Lockley)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Bianca Pratorius" <biankita@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:34:50 -0400
Subject: [CR]A different way of looking at what is old and what is new

It was recently mentioned by a list member that it is absurd to think that something from the late 90's could be collectable on the basis of it's older age. I agree, and here is something that I use to reinforce that. .... If something was manufactured during the Nixon or Ford administration then in my mind it is very very old (mostly because that is when I was in my prime in high school and college and it seems like that was an awful long time ago - as long ago as the President's visit to China and the first time I ever heard of acupuncture. If a bike is from the Carter administration than it's kind of old but not very old because I can recall everything from that time, like the first time I voted in an election. If it is from the Regan or first Bush administration than it is just at the absolute limit of what could in any sense be considered old because it doesn't seem like all that much has changed since then.. not the fashion nor the movies. If it from the Clinton administration than I can hardly think of it as old at all because that seems like it was just yesterday. Using this as a guideline exactly corresponds with what many on this list view as a collectable bike too. When listmembers start talking about bikes from the Kennedy or the Johnson administration, I think of those as being as old as I could possibly be interested in because they still have some of the blush of the modern world on them what with the threat of the atom bomb and the sound of Vietnam era helicopters on TV. But when I start hearing about bikes from the Eisenhower administration or before, I just can not relate. It was a time when almost no one had an air conditioner in their house and most movies were still in black and white.

Indexed shifting means little to me because friction is just as fast and even more reliable. Aero brakes is nothing more than a different cable routing ... what's the big deal? Campy Victory doesn't seem like such a big change either. If that marks a special phase in bike history than I'm missing it. But brifters and toothpaste welding around the frame tubes... that seems like a world I can not accept and don't want explore. If I had my way, we would put the last year for the classic rendezvous with the first sighting of those items.

Garth Libre in Miami Fl USA