Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Getting back into riding again after many years and taken a liking to the M7 cycleway in Sydney,on my rides I have noticed an absence or traditional frames passing me,it seem that the only bike to have is a Chinese carbon sloping top tube bike with thick rims and as many decals as can be fitted. Are all the steel luged and aluminium bonded,down tube shifting bikes sitting at home as preserved classics. One guy rode passed me the other day and remarked that he never saw a bike like that before.

We are out there but rare enough to be remarkable. Sometimes people seem a bit incredulous that I'd be riding a lugged steel frame anywhere except to a cafe
Enjoy your classic, it'll be around long after all the chinese carbon frames are in landfill.
Peter.

Yep, we're here The frame's 17 years old, and I'm hoping to keep it going for many years to come. The upgrade 3 years ago came in at 9.2kg, so it's OK even on the hills.

There's a Saturday morning ride for retro bikes & people who like/admire/lust after, retro bikes up here in Brisbane.

If there's not something similar in Sydney, why don't you organise something for fellow local retro riders.

Munga (up here in Brisbane) got some special Retro Riders jersey's done for a group of us up here, he was looking for people interested in getting some if he organised another printing. The jersey's are good quality, fairly cheap (when you consider the price that is charged for some of the better quality gear), he was removing the local Brisbane bits, so maybe you can organise a bunch down there, get your jersey's (so you show off your love of steel retro bikes) & get out there & spread the word.


Here's a link to the jersey post -

http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... 23&t=60373" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

yep, expect an ad for the jerseys next month.

Are you actually telling me that some people don't ride steel framed bikes??

How very strange!!!

I suspect a lot of us are riding bikes that are older than we are. Except Wazza.

HEY!!! That's harsh but true .
Ph Billet,
I have spent a fair amount of time in Sydney in the last 18mths and I usually stay around Milsons Point. I had noticed an increase in steel frames being used by commuters and not just fixes and single speeds so they're catching on

hmm, i'm a '76 model. i've got a '78 model, and the rest are '80's models.

I think the tamari might just be older than a 78 model. All the rest are frizzy fringed sport socked 80s beasts.

Plenty of vintage steel bikes on the DHBC Saturday Slowies ride. Usually at least Toff, Marc and myself on steel, as well as others on fixies, tourers and vintage racers. Occasionally the steel bikes have outnumbered the CF ones.

Good to see I'm not the only one into the traditional bikes, I think its just what you had in your formative years.

Some people don't get why you would rebuild something old when you can get a new one. I like my old steel frame roadie and fixie, but then I'm happy with it as a commuter and spend my hard earned on my good MTB because the current technology on a dual suspension bike is significantly better than yesteryears.

Dan wrote:I suspect a lot of us are riding bikes that are older than we are. Except Wazza.

And me of course - but that's more a function of my age than the age of my bikes . I'm about to start working on a bike the same age as me and that is getting old almost pre-historic .

I commute in Sydney on a classic steel frame and Brooks saddle but with modern gears and brakes. Sunday group rides and (very) occasional races are on a carbon bike , coffee runs to Manly on one of a couple of lovely 1970s oldies. If you want to come for a ride on the oldies up the Akuna Bay and West Head area, let me know.

Roger (Seaforth)

Dan wrote:I suspect a lot of us are riding bikes that are older than we are. Except Wazza.

Me Also I pre-date most of my bicycles but I do have quite a few older than me. I also have the happy co-incidence of owning a Carlton Catalina that was made in Worksop in the same year and month that I came into the world in London (June 1958 if you are interested)
Cheers
Richard

See! Not only does cycling make you fitter, it makes you look younger, too!

My bikes are all babies, earliest is mid 70's, I was a teen then.

Wish I had of kept that first Malvern Star that I had in the early 70's, probably be worth something now (no, not that much really), it was a ladies road bike with stem shift, that I welded a section of box steel into it so it looked like a mans bike. Was only a bare frame when I got it, now 40 years later I'm still building the damn things.

I need another hobby.

rogerrabbit wrote:. If you want to come for a ride on the oldies up the Akuna Bay and West Head area, let me know.

Roger (Seaforth)

That would be a cool place to ride, but I'm out in the south west,might have trouble keepping up ,rode the last Goulburn to Liverpool in 93 and finished in the main bunch,now 50 Ks is hard for me