Vintage? Antique?

[BARTO]

Morning all,

As I review CraigsList for bikes, I often type in Vintage as part of my search and get to view tons of peoples un used older bikes...in my opinion not vintage. What's the cut off for vintage? I think it's 25 years for cars...mayby the same for bikes? Dunno...any thoughts

How about antique...what's the difference between Vintage, Antique and simply old??

BART

 

[ChimeraCycle]

Imo antique bike is something made pre-bike boom.
Vintage is anything from the begining of, or before the big box (walmart) takeover.

 

[roadwarrior]

I have discovered when looking for certain parts for bikes on EBay that if you just type in the part name you get squat or a plethora of new items, some not even close to what your looking for... Put the word "Vintage" or "Antique" in front of it and you usually get what your looking for. They have become tool words for selling.
Use this as a guide...
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/thesaurus-category/american/old-of-things

 

[DJ Bill]

On Craigslist vintage can mean anything from a true antique to something bought last week from Wally World that looks kinda like a bike I saw in a movie once. It really is meaningless but it does help filter out the modern stuff I don't have any interest in. Old, Antique, and Classic are all the same way nowadays.

The proper use of the word is irrelevant with so many Picker and antiques Road show folks thinking they are as good as the Auction Kings.......

 

[Schwinnspastic]

My idea of vintage or antique differs from the norm or what some in the antique business consider as antique .
To me a vintage bike falls between 1950-1982 and antique would be pre 1950 , I don't buy into the big box theory at all since big box stores have been around a long time selling bikes ! Sears, Montgomery Ward, Macys along with a bunch of others were all big box / department stores yet you don't generally here someone say that a Hawthorne Duralium is a big box bike but it was sold through a large department store.
just my 0.02
Mark

 

[roadwarrior]

My idea of vintage or antique differs from the norm or what some in the antique business consider as antique .
To me a vintage bike falls between 1950-1982 and antique would be pre 1950 , I don't buy into the big box theory at all since big box stores have been around a long time selling bikes ! Sears, Montgomery Ward, Macys along with a bunch of others were all big box / department stores yet you don't generally here someone say that a Hawthorne Duralium is a big box bike but it was sold through a large department store.
just my 0.02
Mark

Funny, I had originally put in similar dates to what I considered "Vintage/Antique" and they were quiet similar to what you have. I believe those of us that work with the actual vintage and antique in the hobby be it bikes, cars, models, or motor cycles have a better understanding of what these terms mean over the novice that just happens to inherit or have items and don't have a clue to what they actually have.

 

[horsefarmer]

Great thread! Yes, It's difficult to find what you are looking for online. You are searching with other peoples sometimes misleading and sometimes outright deceptive descriptions.
And the pictures! fuzzy, awkward angles, and who hasn't seen the ads where the seller cant even take a pic in the daylight, or pull the item out of a jumble in a choked garage.
That's why I enjoyed my trip to the Ann Arbor show and swap this year.
It's all out in the open, all bike stuff, pick it up and look at it, touch it and talk about it. If the price is too much, (and it often was for me) that's OK just move on. There is always that last walk around, when everyone is packing up - still have a few bucks - make an offer, they don't have to drag it home and you have a new treasure! The best thing - no waiting, no shipping $ and if you damage it its your own fault, LOL.

 

[Bicycle808]

If I'm looking for something specific, I'm likely to completely ignore terms like "vintage" and "antique", as they tend to be vague/poorly-defined lingo used by sellers to promote the item(s) s/he's selling. I'm more likely to to be searching for something very particular, and basically EVERYthing bike-related that i'm going to look for used could arguably be described as "vintage"-- I don't search for "vintage mountain bike"; I'll more likely put in terms like "Stumpjumper" or "Panasonic mountain cat" or "1987 MC6500". I'm not going to type in "antique Schwiinn"; I'm looking more for "1962 Schwinn Tornado".... (and i'm always sure to misspell Schwinn a couple different ways; a lot of bikes get listed as "Shwinn" or "Schwin" or "Shwin"....)

As for cut-off dates to describe bikes as "vintage" or "antique" in discussions outside of online F/S ads? I don't bother with that kind of semantics debate. We can usually pinpoint a specific year for a bike, and at the very least, we can nail the decade. Is it a "vintage" mtb? I dunno, but i can tell you that it's an "Early 80s MTB"... Folks can decide what's vintage/antique/old school/ modern etc for themselves..

 

[BARTO]

Great thread! Yes, It's difficult to find what you are looking for online. You are searching with other peoples sometimes misleading and sometimes outright deceptive descriptions.
And the pictures! fuzzy, awkward angles, and who hasn't seen the ads where the seller cant even take a pic in the daylight, or pull the item out of a jumble in a choked garage.
That's why I enjoyed my trip to the Ann Arbor show and swap this year.
It's all out in the open, all bike stuff, pick it up and look at it, touch it and talk about it. If the price is too much, (and it often was for me) that's OK just move on. There is always that last walk around, when everyone is packing up - still have a few bucks - make an offer, they don't have to drag it home and you have a new treasure! The best thing - no waiting, no shipping $ and if you damage it its your own fault, LOL.

Gotta agree with you Horsefarmer.....spread it out and let me look (still love digging)....swap meets and tag sales are the best. Thanks for all the input...guess I'll just deal with it when offered a vintage 2001 bike

 

[deorman]

Vintage = what year the vino was bottled. example: 89 - 90 vintage Pinot Noir is at its peak.

 

[Bicycle808]

Vintage = what year the vino was bottled. example: 89 - 90 vintage Pinot Noir is at its peak.

Yes, that's how the word "vintage" is defined as a noun... folks using it as an adjective are tryng to combine the concept of "old" with the concept of "expensive"...

 

[ChimeraCycle]

Heh heh. Grammatical

 

[roadwarrior]

Buyer: "You want $300 for that?! It's all rusted and there are dents on the corners."
Seller: "There's no extra charge for those."

 

[B607]

To me, an antique is 100 yrs. old or older. Vintage is 30-100. Gary

 

[BARTO]

Myself born in the late 50'summer consider vintage as something manufactured in the late 40,so thru the 60's....then plastic started showing up. Antique, well I just don't know. Based on CeeBee'so note....both have many definitions......but all your comments make me feel like I'm in good company.....