Okay, the consensus appears to be “just ride”, and I’m down with that.
I’m 38 and officially back on a bike, and the fact that I have dropped almost 10lbs so far is affecting more than just my riding (the wife likes a thinner me, we’ll leave it at that). Still got 30-40 to go, so things are looking up!
But, back to the OS / NS thing. The question was asked where do you draw the line: I’ve heard it said pre-85 is OLD OLD School, but does it really matter? And then there is mid-school, and on and on. But, to answer back about its a way to charge higher prices by everyone collectively collaborating and validating the rarity of an item, well, market conditions affect prices of any item. If you have 30 people that want to buy a 20yr old set of never used Z-Rims, well, there is some value there if they don’t make them any more and you want them. I just paid $31 for a Redline NOS handlebar pad for my early 80’s PL24 cruiser build. Its a rare item and thats what it cost to get it (the last one on ebay went for $50, so I feel lucky at $31).
So, you be the judge, did I overpay because it’s “Old School”?? They don’t make it anymore, so how else was I going to get it?