Am I living a life of denial that my bike isn't vintage/retro/classic?
I never really though of my bike as being v/r/c/, but untill responding to a recent thread i'm inclined to think that it just might be. NOT that there's anything wrong with that! It's new to me, not being ridden untill this year.
If anything I could say vintage/classic, but with discs and the other contemporary bits it ain't retro.
So?
ALSO - what year do YOU consider v/r/c? (afterthought Q - sorry if it's been covered already)
I'd consider hmmm, up to 1996 as vintage right now...basically, 10 model years back or more. Course in a month or so it'll be 1997 or older. At which time my Amp would count. Not sure if my Catamount counts yet or not though, the design technically didn't change at all from inception in 1996 till the company shutdown, other than switching the main triangles from aluminium to chromoly. Probably should since its an URT, albeit as a singlespeed...and singlespeeding is a new thing still, not vintage/retro yet. Building a bike with a 3x7, or 4x7 drivetrain...that'd be retro.
Vintage - anything from the early days, the sort of thing you look at today and ask 'how did we ride the stuff we rode on a bike like that?'. Date-wise, probably most things pre-1990.
Classic - anything that has stood the test of time, but stands outside of what a modern bike looks like. Date-wise, I'd agree with D8, anything a decade or older, currently pre-1996.
Retro - something new/ modern that is inspired by older bikes. In many cases this could just be a racing hardtail with Vs and 80mm travel. However, keepers of the flame such as Steve Potts turn out 'Retro' bikes that can be virtually indistinguishable from the originals. Inherently retro has to be something new-ish, so the past three years or so.
Which leaves us with a no-mans land between 1997 and 2002 or so, in which bikes aren't classic or retro, just old. Which is probably where yours comes in
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