bobcycles
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
i heard an angry post,i beg to differ with your statement that everyone has an option of buying retro or vintage,thats not founded on fact,i feel alot of ppl can afford a $200,00 replica but not one of a"professional restorers vintage that prolly starts at$3500"as for as mike tooting his own horn are you not directly or indirectly tooting yours as well by BAD mouthing ppl who ride big box retro crusiers?also when you cal something junk have some specific examples to warrant your statement.i buy and refubish alot of 5 to 10 yr old inexspensive bikes that with less than $100.00 dollars worth of work work just fine for the casual rider,specific example'i recently bought a pacific schwinn,10 yrs old,original typhoontires,the brake arm was loose and turned up to the seat stay,took rear hub apart,no damage,regresed the entire bike,trued wheels,detailed,worked fine,original cost to me?$30.00,quite frankly im fed up with egotistical "professionals"bad mouthing anything but there high buck usually wall haning bies with generalized state ments about what ppl can affor to buy and what they should buy according to you.the high end restored bike is not in the demand it was 5 or 10 yrs ago,hope this post provides soom clarity for you!
I wasn't comparing highend rare restored bikes to RetroHell Chinese products. My point was that YES most people could buy vintage with MINIMAL effort if they wanted to go that route. And? YES they can buy vintage balloon bikes affordably .......plenty of entry level stuff out there for 150-300 dollars......or the equivellent of the lower end Retro bikes. The American consumer is pretty lazy overall and will buy into most any hyped product or fad. As for bad mouthing Big Box Bike (BBB!) riding folks...... The decision is theirs where to shop, what to buy etc. The point is that there is very little correlation between buying some retro cruiser and becoming a vintage bike geek obsessed with this old stuff. IF some people do find 'the hobby' we are involved in thanks to a retro cruiser? Great! I honestly don't think it happens very often.
As for Mike, no not a fan, I used to deal with him back in the 90's when he worked at bike shop in Iowa and his head was on straight, nice guy. He's become a caricature of himself thanks to the hollywood spin and YES I've talked to COUNTLESS retired people who were 'pickers' and had their livlihoods immensely damaged by the impact of the show.
Some one mentioned the Schwinn Panther he or Frank stole in one episode. To note: He also claimed the value of that bike at the end of the show to be FAR less than a good solid original Panther with tank. Something like....picked for 150.........value 250 or 300 from what I recall.
Anyway, I yawn at these marketing gimmicks the 'famous' embark on....but that's just me.
As for claiming I badmouth anything non highend or wallhanging? You have no idea what I buy or collect. For the last 3 years my rider has been a 1954 Ladies New World lightweight I won for 50 bux on Ebay. Love the bike.
Shipped to my door from Minnesota it was less than 120.00. I buy lowend all the time.....just focus on VINTAGE because I cherish that period in American manufacturing, and not just for bikes.
so pleeeeeeeeeze dude.
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