a.twiddler
Veteran
There's something to be said for a bike built for a purpose rather than something you adapted for a purpose because that's what you've already got. Probably bikes used for racing in the far distant past have what we would regard as relaxed angles and forgiving geometry by modern standards. Everyday bikes were even more relaxed because of the roads they were designed for. So maybe not so much fashion but their form was dictated by their function. They were meant to be everyday transport, fixable to a large extent but even they were eventually disposable, to be replaced by something similar, or more aspirational. Maybe even a motorbike (which again originated as functional transport rather than a fine weather plaything), or even a car. It seems to be part of a cycle (pardon the pun) as you can see repeated in the developing world.
Old bikes in my limited experience seem to be stable, easy to ride and maybe a bit heavy. Modern examples are things such as "Dutch Bikes" or versions of traditional English 3 speed bikes that some manufacturers still produce. An actual old bike is nice to have because of its history but you can have something newer which gives you a similar riding experience.
It shouldn't be forgotten that the bicycle industry was at the root of modern mass production systems for motorised vehicles moving from the manufacture of sewing machines to bicycles then diversifying. So creating consumer demand is not something suddenly new and evil but part of a continuum that started at the end of the Victorian era. Creating and meeting demands goes back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution, and perhaps the railways can be blamed, together with the catalogue companies, if you want to blame somebody, for promoting and making easily available factory made products that were almost impossible to get a generation or so before that.
So fashion is tied in with consumerism. The exploitation of human acquisitiveness is nothing new, but today we are more aware of the ecological and climatic cost of producing and disposing of things. It is to be hoped that that knowledge will be enough to change the ways of manufacturers and consumers for the future. Meanwhile, let's just enjoy our bikes, new or old.
Old bikes in my limited experience seem to be stable, easy to ride and maybe a bit heavy. Modern examples are things such as "Dutch Bikes" or versions of traditional English 3 speed bikes that some manufacturers still produce. An actual old bike is nice to have because of its history but you can have something newer which gives you a similar riding experience.
It shouldn't be forgotten that the bicycle industry was at the root of modern mass production systems for motorised vehicles moving from the manufacture of sewing machines to bicycles then diversifying. So creating consumer demand is not something suddenly new and evil but part of a continuum that started at the end of the Victorian era. Creating and meeting demands goes back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution, and perhaps the railways can be blamed, together with the catalogue companies, if you want to blame somebody, for promoting and making easily available factory made products that were almost impossible to get a generation or so before that.
So fashion is tied in with consumerism. The exploitation of human acquisitiveness is nothing new, but today we are more aware of the ecological and climatic cost of producing and disposing of things. It is to be hoped that that knowledge will be enough to change the ways of manufacturers and consumers for the future. Meanwhile, let's just enjoy our bikes, new or old.
