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Is the old bike hobby growing or will it die out?

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Only ten more posts? You're not ready to move on yet Mr. Columbia, still needed down here at the CABE. You are a very positive asset & you're website is a fantastic source of information. Let's give it one more for the Gipper.

This is what a grotesque lack of sleep for an extended period of time will do for you. I recommend it to anyone with the desire to hallucinate and then ramble incoherently on web forums all night.
 
This is what a grotesque lack of sleep for an extended period of time will do for you. I recommend it to anyone with the desire to hallucinate and then ramble incoherently on web forums all night.

your ascension to a higher plain of bike is almost complete.. Bhaaahaaha
 
.........

theoretically it will die out unless the upcoming generation can see these works of art ...appreciate them and maybe have a chance at buying them.....im still waiting for my chance.....to get a speedoed out autocycle, aerocycle, dayton streamline, robin, etc......at decent rates of course.....
 
I was responding to several negative comments about the Wheelmen with the intention of pointing out that the flaws in their organization were more benign than was insinuated by some. The direct insinuations that they are deliberately discriminating against people of color or status of life is repulsive to me.

I've bit my tong quite a few times lately and still feel I've said too much at times. This is what happens with this type of technology. The impersonal yet too personal medium of web forums. We sit at our key boards without facing the person we are talking to. There are no real life ramifications in this perverse world of our making. We say things we never would to someones face. We are a brave lot staring at our glowing screens. I am as guilty as everyone else. For that I do apologize.

Getting back to the topic, I still maintain that the whole Highwheel/Ordinary thing is simply too complicated for most in the hobby and for that reason alone these bikes will suffer the fate/retirement I predicted. It will always be a niche in the hobby but always a small one.

There's no need to apologize. You are expressing your opinion & while I may not agree at times,
I respect your right to say it.

I do agree with you with regards to the impersonal/personal medium.


Btw: Any recommendations for healing a bleeding tongue which I have also acquired...:p

Regards,
Jake
 
I've been into old bikes since 1986 and there was a pretty good interest in bikes before that. Your looking at 30 years +. I am sure the interest will continue. The older guys back in the 80's may have thought the same thing, will this die out. We were the younger guys back then. Some of you may not of even been born yet. I believe hobby will continue to grow. Hopefully the preservation, and history will continue, we may see some variation on how people will do there bikes. Will they be restored, left totally original, or done to their own taste, just as things are now.---- Here comes the scab pick,----- I am somewhat afraid of the professional sellers who see the bikes just as dollars and NOTHING else. We are seeing it more and more especially with the internet opening things up to the world. They pick every bike apart and take it to it's last non wanted crumbs. I know we all need parts from time to time, me included. They have to come from somewhere, I always hope that the parts were just kicking around in someones shed or garage for years and years. It's like any hobby, cars, bikes, motorcycles, radios, etc. etc. It's a double edge.
 
I've been into old bikes since 1986 and there was a pretty good interest in bikes before that. Your looking at 30 years +. I am sure the interest will continue. The older guys back in the 80's may have thought the same thing, will this die out. We were the younger guys back then. Some of you may not of even been born yet. I believe hobby will continue to grow. Hopefully the preservation, and history will continue, we may see some variation on how people will do there bikes. Will they be restored, left totally original, or done to their own taste, just as things are now.---- Here comes the scab pick,----- I am somewhat afraid of the professional sellers who see the bikes just as dollars and NOTHING else. We are seeing it more and more especially with the internet opening things up to the world. They pick every bike apart and take it to it's last non wanted crumbs. I know we all need parts from time to time, me included. They have to come from somewhere, I always hope that the parts were just kicking around in someones shed or garage for years and years. It's like any hobby, cars, bikes, motorcycles, radios, etc. etc. It's a double edge.

Thanks Stoney.......for getting back on subject. I think any real old bike enthusiast feels the way you do, as do I and most here, but time is a fickle creature and after we are gone, we will have zero control over our hoards. One can remember when nice old original cars were cannibalized or turned into Rods. The same thing is happening to the old bikes....."rat rod" comes to mind, but again, no control, other than folks scarfing up good examples and preserving them, through restoration, or just leaving them alone as survivors. One thing I have noticed, when I break out my collection for friends and family, they are impressed in many ways. This hobby is a small niche compared to the old car hobby, I know, I've had a dozen old cars and trucks in the past 40 years and when you show these bikes, most ordinary folks unfamiliar with the hobby, have never seen anything like them, or they haven't seen one since they rode one as a kid. Every bike we find and keep is one less bike the greedy bastards can exploit for money and if I were a millionaire, that would be a quest of mine. Every time you hear "part-out" I would swoop in and buy it whole. But I'm not a millionaire, just a working stiff getting close to retirement that has a few prime examples of what we all love.
 
I for one think it will stay pretty constant since guys (and girls) love things that have wheels on them. I'm 29 and pretty new to the bike craze, but I love buying and fixing these old bikes. I teach my 3 year old son about bike parts and how to repair them and use the tools neccesary for building a bike. I teach elementary school and you wouldn't believe how many kids don't even know what a spoke is:eek: It's a great hands on hobby that in it's simplist form doesn't take many specialized tools or skills to do the basics but it's also one that can get specialized if you chose to explore things like painting, wheel building, hub rebuilds, etc. I enjoy it, and while I have no money to keep most of the bikes I come across, I atleast get to own a piece of history for a little while, get my hands dirty, and teach my son about bikes, tools, history, and things of that sort.

It's also great that there are different kinds of collectors to diversify the hobby. I'm in to ballooners, but you also have the middleweight, lightweight, TOC, pre war, guys as well so it's a vast hobby with many different paths to explore. Makes it fun!
 
I for one think it will stay pretty constant since guys (and girls) love things that have wheels on them. I'm 29 and pretty new to the bike craze, but I love buying and fixing these old bikes. I teach my 3 year old son about bike parts and how to repair them and use the tools neccesary for building a bike. I teach elementary school and you wouldn't believe how many kids don't even know what a spoke is:eek: It's a great hands on hobby that in it's simplist form doesn't take many specialized tools or skills to do the basics but it's also one that can get specialized if you chose to explore things like painting, wheel building, hub rebuilds, etc. I enjoy it, and while I have no money to keep most of the bikes I come across, I atleast get to own a piece of history for a little while, get my hands dirty, and teach my son about bikes, tools, history, and things of that sort.

It's also great that there are different kinds of collectors to diversify the hobby. I'm in to ballooners, but you also have the middleweight, lightweight, TOC, pre war, guys as well so it's a vast hobby with many different paths to explore. Makes it fun!


I am also 29 and its great that so many people in our group are into vintage bikes! I dont have kids yet but I was like your son watching my dad at 3 fixing old bikes, and later on I got to ride some cool old bikes of his. Then I started buying my own. People have to be hands on and teach younger people if its your kids, a niece or nephew, who ever! If we keep teaching younger people, the hobby like any, will keep going!
 
This is what a grotesque lack of sleep for an extended period of time will do for you. I recommend it to anyone with the desire to hallucinate and then ramble incoherently on web forums all night.

Congrats on your One Thousandth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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