How Old??

[sunshinecoast_rider]

What age is considered a retro bike?- 10 or so years old and onwards?

Btw I also picked up a 1991 Shogun on the weekend with Mavic rims. Needs some tlc. Will post up some pics when I start that project.

[MountGower]

G'day Ritchie

It's not like cars where there are set age groups such as 30 yo classics etc. It's a much use, little understood term. I think perhaps if the bike was originally 7 speed or less with down tube shifters then you'd get away with it. Pre STI or pre 8 speed that is. Rear spacing of 126 or 120mm perhaps. It's highly subjective.

I think I saw that Shogun. They are a good bike. To stick with the theme, if it has STI shifters and 8 speed you could say it is from the beginning of the modern era.

[il padrone]

Any one of 27" rims, screw-on cluster, or non-aero brake levers if fitted as original equipment makes for a retro guarantee

[LuckyPierre]

Way back when we started the 'Retro' forum, we said: "... A couple of simple conditions - no carbon and no aluminium frame components should just about do it. Even I wouldn't want to be stuck with steel rims - but if you've got 'em, flaunt 'em.
Alan from the Canberra Bicycle Museum says that the term 'vintage light' is the usual one for what many (some?) of us are talking about - bikes of the 1970's and 80's. He says that vintage light classes usually exclude indexed gears, which became available in 1985. That means Tojo wouldn't fit, so I'm sticking with 'retro' and making up our own rules!" It's right there in the very first post.

il padrone is right, so is MountGower, but don't sweat it - there's no 'age limit' as such.

Would a shiny new Colnago Master X-light count as a 'retro' bike? Check out p5 in the current Bicycling Australia (mine's all soggy with drool).