Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
Eh?
They are machines designed to do a job, nothing more. They don't have souls any more than knives or forks do.
The bicycle zenith
- Thread starter rydabent
- Start date
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They are machines designed to do a job, nothing more. They don't have souls any more than knives or forks do.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I'm glad you didn't say spoons. Spoons have souls, obviously.
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
But only desert spoons. Not those little ones you stir your tea with.
Punkawallah
Über Member
Heretic. The gods of cycling will surely strike you down.
matticus
Guru
<insert joke about Wetherspoons seeming like an oasis ... >
But most people agree that the lugged steel frame bikes of the late 80s were works of art. I really havent checked, but there must be a few small frame builders left, that turn out lugged frame bikes with their fantastically beautiful lugs. But todays plastic bikes, and yes they are plastic, plastic reinforced with carbon fiber, are all pretty much look a likes
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
I doubt that very much. Many cyclists might think that (I'm not sure it would even be "most" cyclists). You might well even get most on here to agree.
But I don't think many non-cyclists will think of ANY bicycle as a work of art. And there are far more non-cyclists in the world than cyclists.
There is actually a lot more variation in Carbon frames than there ever was in steel tubed frames.
You have made it obvious from this and other posts, tat you are very much a fan of old fashioned bikes, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But trying to suggest that they had more variation than modern bikes is just silly.
And epoxy resin, which is what holds the strands of carbon fibre together isn't really "plastic" in the sense usually used.
Jameshow
Veteran
Spoons has souls .. Well our one does.. pour fella never made it out alive.
Punkawallah
Über Member
’Blood and souls for my Lord Martin!’
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I would agree there were some beautiful bikes in past decades and some flat out ugly ones. I own two beautifully designed and stylish modern bikes. To me they are every bit as easy on the eye as bikes from decades back.
Clearly you're a retro fan but please don't be so utterly dismissive of the modern bikes which give many of us a great deal of pleasure. By doing so you undermine and detract from your own view.
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raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
Bit late to the thread but (as many know) I'm a fan of older bikes and tech come to that but I can see what the OP is on about, bikes used to be handcrafted works of art now they're very generic with Carbon frames being fugly IMO and as for black components. 
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
ALL the older brazed and welded steel frames looked exactly the same. And gleefully pointing out some distinctive lug work as a "Difference" is being pedantic in the extreme.The only difference was the way they were painted, and while I'll concede that to my eyes the colour schemes were prettier back then that is nothing to do with the materials used, merely a product of changing fashions,
Punkawallah
Über Member
Hence ‘zenith’?
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
TBH you probably wouldn't notice after a bit of riding. I ride bikes with both types and it doesn't take long to reprogram the reflexes. I sometimes find myself automatically reaching to the down tube on my posh bike and then wondering "why did I just do that"
