Evolution

One of the things I like:

Two Fine Bicycles in the Park double workstand. Handmade frames built thirty years apart, both lugged steel, at about the highest-possible level.

The Waterford has oversized tubing and a threadless headset, matched new components carefully selected for the intended use, not a scratch anywhere, and I predict will be a great bike. The Gordon has standard tubing and a threaded headset, mismatched scrounged parts carefully selected for the intended use, scratches and dents everywhere, and IS a great bike.

Here's another comparison:

Two brand-new 2011 model Masi bicycles. The black one is a product of selective breeding, having been built in the traditional steel-with-lugs style but in the more modern format of oversized tubing. The white carbon one is the result of punctuated equilibrium, springing from the sea-change of Carbon Fiber Mass Production. Again, both very good bicycles, but illustrating a dramatic branching of the evolutionary thread.