Yeah, something like that bike was exactly what I was thinking.
When I said older bikes, I meant that older bikes were pretty commonly painted similarly. Now everything is carbon, usually matte black, and covered in graphics.
Your bike is more of an exception IMO.
$500 is not bad…
There is the standard 24"/125 mm, which is used for racing up to 10km. For longer races, we’ve had the standard 700c/29" wheelsize at the last 2 Unicons.
It’s really light…with short cranks it doesn’t feel like your legs are moving at all, even as you’re gliding along at 24-25km/hr. I can ride this all day without getting tired.
It’s probably something you see on chromed steel bikes rather than aluminium/carbon/titanium, old or new. My Cervelo Superprodigy was the last of the steel bikes raced by a professional team (CSC at, I think, 2004 Paris to Roubaix), and I can’t bear to sell it, even though I spend most of my time on a Ti Litespeed now.
A lot of custom bike builders use steel…easier to work with and the high end tubing is pretty good.