I think that there are several things going on here. First off cycling has changed in the last 30+ years. Back then an adult on a bicycle was participating in a fringe activity (at least in my area) and knew most like minded folks in the area. This meant acknowledging other riders you met on the road. Also high end equipment wasn't as widely available as today, you had to seek it out. This led to conversations about the bike.
Today cycling has become a fitness activity. There is a whole class of riders who consider a bike to be a generic piece of fitness gear. They don't care about the hardware, they don't care about how to maintain it, and they don't have any cycling skills other than hammering. These are the people who can drop me on the slightest hill or hammer the flats at 25 mph but they can't ride a straight line or miss a pothole. For them its about the workout not the bike.
If you should encounter a racer and actually have a conversation about the bike all they will ask is how much does it weigh. They ride a manufactured commodity and the spec sheet is all that matters.
So Marcus, you shouldn't feel snubbed, you just encountered riders with different priorities. Better that they ride bikes than drive their pickups on the back roads intimidating cyclists. We have all of these various characters around here.
Norm Lafleur
Ashfield, Ma
USA
>I went out Sunday with some teammates for the Make-A-Wish ride. As is
> usual in such a case, mine was the oldest bike, the only steel bike, the
> only european bike, the bike with the fewest speeds, the only bike with
> sew-ups, the only bike with toeclips. You get the idea.
>
> This was the first long ride of the year. It had been billed as a 30-35
> miler, but we rode 47 according to my friend's computer. It was nice in
> the sun, but when the sun went behind a cloud, and the wind picked up as
> it is wont to do here in Michigan, it felt pretty chilly.
>
> I was pleased to be neither the oldest, nor the slowest rider. I was
> riding my 1974 Italian Masi Gran Criterium, and it felt great.
> Psychological or not, I like Italian bikes. I don't claim to be a
> particularly skilled rider, but I felt like I was descending better than
> my teammates, not, I think, due to higher overall mass; what I gave away
> in bike weight I made back in rider weight. I was also able to climb
> better. Yes we do have hills in Michigan. Some of it was shifting. My
> teammates often seemed to select a too-low gear on the hills, making it
> easy to pass. I led as much as I could, and was thanked for it. Certainly
> a boost to the ego.
>
> At one point the front group stopped to let the others catch up, and while
> were standing there a man rode up in the opposite direction on an
> Assenmacher. He stopped, and we talked for a minute. I said nice bike,
> and he said thanks, it's an old one. He said that it was getting hard to
> find parts for it. For evidence he pointed to the Weinmann hood on a
> Campy lever that was held together by masking tape. I suggested he look
> into the CR list. He said thanks and rode off. No mention of my bike,
> which to me would have been the obvious and courteous thing since we were
> discussing old bikes. Maybe he was anti-Masi. I am told such people do
> exist. The other thing that struck me is that the people with whom I rode
> were not particularly interested in bikes the way we are. No discussion
> of new parts or brands, or of plans for upgrades. Maybe it was just that
> day. Maybe no one had a new bike, or plans for a new bike, but the lack
> of bike discussion was noticeable. Perhaps bikes are becoming generic,
> and thus not very interesting in and of themselves.
>
>
> Best regards,
> Marcus Helman
> Detroit, MI