Is the hobby dying again?

[Nashman]

Just looking at the threads,especially in the Break Room I would say the hobby is really slowed down. The same old threads keep going and are reallyon boring now Not many come up with new threads it seems.SOme of these threads are only commented by the same few members. Bike collectors are becoming as boring as stamp collectors.lol

I think the hobby is changing for sure. Dying, no, shrinking yes. The collectors of the real vintage stuff ( pre-war and 1950's/60's) are getting older, and frankly, croaking or losing interest or have it all. Yes, there is some new blood in the BMX/Mountain and last ditch effort in the 70's/non China racer bikes, European quality racers and special interest rides. Minty stuff and unusual will probably always have some market.

Todays generation ( as a generalization) born after...hmnn?...1970 don't understand the fascination of quality (often hand made) items from the past. They don't give a rats azzz. How many young people attend the shows or swaps? I was scoping the Ann Arbor shots the other day and was impressed with the pics. The thing is, average age looked...well..over 40+

The average age of a Cabe member is probably over 40. This is not a bad thing, but a fact. Look at the vintage car market. It's no different. I've made this comment before. Go to the HERSHEY car show and see what's changed in 30 years. Look at the people/ages. Yup...grey beards like myself.

Even 1960's/70's muscle cars are starting to level out. People in the buying/hobby age are 20- 30ish and buy on line, rarely antiques. I'm 62 and buy most stuff on line now. It's easier. I went to tons of show back in the 80's/90's all over the U.S. and some in Canada, checked out shops and markets in Europe.

Ford Model A's and T's unless mint are dead meat. Brass era teens.....unless mint...same deal. Why? Because people who remember or cherish them are too old to care or deceased. Of course there are exceptions. Look at high end auctions and car shows. Not many young buyers unless exotic cars/sports/Europeon examples.

I think the hobby is "holding it''s own" but lets face it, we love the old bikes but nothing good lasts forever. Collect what you like. Memories and money don't go hand in hand. Don't count on the younger generation to buy your stuff. The Cabe/vintage hobbies in general are great in so many ways, but to say the market is hot or growing in vintage anything is not the direction I see. I say have fun, and enjoy the people along with the search, and score. The next generation probably won't get the wonderful experience we have enjoyed.

 

[Saving Tempest]

We won't know until we're all gone.

 

[bikewhorder]

I think the biggest change over the past few years has been the viralness when something good does come up for sale. I think the good stuff has gotten especially hard to find and when it does surface you need to be super quick and deep pocketed. Not that this wasn't always the case but it's been amplified ten fold. When I 1st got into this hobby about 15 years ago I used to score amazing deals at auctions and local listings. But I can't remember the last time I found something I got really excited about and it didn't sell for way more than I would have been willing to pay.

 

[Mr.RED]

I don't think the hobby is dying by any means its just taking a new direction. But then again I guess it depends on what style of bicycle you collect also. People that are saying the prices are high well we can thank shows like American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Storage wars cause now any Tom, Dick or Harry who discovers a old Sears gas pipe 10 speed thinks they hit the lottery.

 

[Goldenrod]

The CABE and Ebay should provide a base for the hobby? It is not worth anything if you can't sell it?

 

[Nashman]

I think the hobby is changing for sure. Dying, no, shrinking yes. The collectors of the real vintage stuff ( pre-war and 1950's/60's) are getting older, and frankly, croaking or losing interest or have it all. Yes, there is some new blood in the BMX/Mountain and last ditch effort in the 70's/non China racer bikes, European quality racers and special interest rides. Minty stuff and unusual will probably always have some market.

Todays generation ( as a generalization) born after...hmnn?...1970 don't understand the fascination of quality (often hand made) items from the past. They don't give a rats azzz. How many young people attend the shows or swaps? I was scoping the Ann Arbor shots the other day and was impressed with the pics. The thing is, average age looked...well..over 40+

The average age of a Cabe member is probably over 40. This is not a bad thing, but a fact. Look at the vintage car market. It's no different. I've made this comment before. Go to the HERSHEY car show and see what's changed in 30 years. Look at the people/ages. Yup...grey beards like myself.

Even 1960's/70's muscle cars are starting to level out. People in the buying/hobby age are 20- 30ish and buy on line, rarely antiques. I'm 62 and buy most stuff on line now. It's easier. I went to tons of show back in the 80's/90's all over the U.S. and some in Canada, checked out shops and markets in Europe.

Ford Model A's and T's unless mint are dead meat. Brass era teens.....unless mint...same deal. Why? Because people who remember or cherish them are too old to care or deceased. Of course there are exceptions. Look at high end auctions and car shows. Not many young buyers unless exotic cars/sports/Europeon examples.

I think the hobby is "holding it''s own" but lets face it, we love the old bikes but nothing good lasts forever. Collect what you like. Memories and money don't go hand in hand. Don't count on the younger generation to buy your stuff. The Cabe/vintage hobbies in general are great in so many ways, but to say the market is hot or growing in vintage anything is not the direction I see. I say have fun, and enjoy the people along with the search, and score. The next generation probably won't get the wonderful experience we have enjoyed.

Yeah, this is all close to what I said back in Oct. Just one man's opinion. I've collected "general antiques/heavy on bicycles/toys" for 35 years. I used to have a large collection of full size vintage outboard motors made in Canada and the U.S.A., and die cast outboard replica's made in Japan, and a couple of vintage full size boats, and dozens of vintage/mostly wood made in Japan toy boats. I still have one vintage outboard, several of the toy boats and one toy outboard, but I saw the hobby kinda dying as I also lost interest.

I sold off most of what I had marine related. I'm still into vintage tinplate toys ( mainly cars) but that hobby is in a decline as well. More supply than demand. I collect stuff I like without a payday in mind if and when I sell. It helps if you can recoup money you spent, but not usually the outcome unless rare and in high demand, or have 2 or more people that just "need" it. Just watch an auction. I think bicycles are art, much as the other things I like, and think I'll always have some. Riding them is just a bonus.

 

[hm.]

The hobby is strong here.

 

[Jimmy V]

I'm still fairly new to the bike hobby. (10 years or so). I have never spent more than $300 on a bike. Not that I haven't wanted to. Some of that is due to my wife not understanding how someone could spend $1000 on an old bike... I have a lot of fun with what I have. I buy what I can afford, and I'm not in it for money. I may be buying some bikes from a friend who wants to thin his herd. I'll have to sell off some stuff and maybe not fully disclose some of the purchase prices.
To me the prices on most of the pre-war bikes or most ballooners is high, too high for me. Will these rolling beauties be appealing to people in 20 years?
I can see that as we age out of the hobby or at least slow down the prices could come down. It's true with vintage cars. But at least with bikes just about anyone can have a collector bike, not true with cars. Hopefully that will help keep the hobby alive.
I know that I'm having fun with bikes, and have met a lot of good people as a result of the hobby. The bike swap meets seem well attended, even if we are mostly selling to each other...LOL.. When I visit So. Cal. I love doing the vintage bike rides. You guys are enjoying the hobby to the max! Ridden, not Hidden indeed!
And others on the CABE are doing it too. I'm thinking that I'd like to get that something like that going here too. It promotes the hobby, and you meet good people, get exposed to great bikes, and see the beauty of the place around you.