Don G. wrote:
My childhood dreambike, at age 15 in 1977 was a SEKAI 2500 grandtour.
http://www.ece.ubc.ca/
I worked 82 hours over a period of 2-3 months (part-time and after school) writing educational computer software to be able to afford this bicycle.
- Don Gillies San Diego, CA
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I doubt this situation applies anymore. You can buy a very fine off-topic road bike, on sale, for around 500 bucks at most places, and that bike will perform *far* better in most relevant ways than our old bikes ever did.
I think it's a great time to be young and wanting a cool bike..the selection out there is enormous, for one thing. The performance is light-years ahead of the stuff we rode back in the day..
Even better, you can buy any number of on-topic bikes, used, in near-perfect condition, for a song..on ebay, on craigslist... A clean, late-70s non-panto'd Colnago Super will run around 1500 bucks...that is less than 400 bucks in 1972 money.. a real bargain. Even accounting for a collectible-premium, you're still paying less than you would have when the bike sold new...
And if you can find one of those great 70s japanese bikes like a Fuji finest or Nishiki Pro or a Centurion Pro..you can get those for practically nothing...and all those nice Suntour or Shimano parts will work better, in general, than the equivalent Campagnolo stuff of the period.
Truth is, with a little research, there's never been a better time to be looking for a nice bike, new, or used..on-topic, or off, even if you don't have a lot of money..
Charles Andrews
SoCal