Old Bicycles have spoiled me with Craftsmanship unheard of today!

[bricycle]

TOC (circa 1900), and even some pre-WW2 products were made with true care, detail and love that has long disappeared from items currently manufactured. Oh, some may claim otherwise and may be true, but over-all modern goods really pale by comparison.
Example: Craftsman tools... set I had in early 1970's (and my fathers tools) really took a beating, and came back for more. Now? plating peals off and slices your fingers.
I love the detail that went into the TOC bikes. Pedals were made to last a hundred years, beautiful styled lugging, filigree stencils on well painted frames. Bent wooden handle bars that would eventually keep their shape into the next millennium. Hangers that would defy damage. Beautiful decorating on carbide lamps, bronze bells and grip ferules. Outlandish claims and Guarantees from manufacturers, law-a-way plans, and easy payments graced magazines, fliers, brochures and newspapers.
Ahhh, those were the Days my Friend. bri.

 

[barneyguey]

More, Faster, cheaper!! Disposable!

 

[gtdohn]

TOC (circa 1900), and even some pre-WW2 products were made with true care, detail and love that has long disappeared from items currently manufactured. Oh, some may claim otherwise and may be true, but over-all modern goods really pale by comparison.
Example: Craftsman tools... set I had in early 1970's (and my fathers tools) really took a beating, and came back for more. Now? plating peals off and slices your fingers.
I love the detail that went into the TOC bikes. Pedals were made to last a hundred years, beautiful styled lugging, filigree stencils on well painted frames. Bent wooden handle bars that would eventually keep their shape into the next millennium. Hangers that would defy damage. Beautiful decorating on carbide lamps, bronze bells and grip ferules. Outlandish claims and Guarantees from manufacturers, law-a-way plans, and easy payments graced magazines, fliers, brochures and newspapers.
Ahhh, those were the Days my Friend. bri.

And they were only between $8.95 & $18.95 out the door

 

[the tinker]

I laugh when I hear about modern building materials and methods being "better" than yesteryears products. I became a carpenter the summer 1969. Before that, I worked as a kid with my dad who was a builder. Back in the 40's and 50's and to about 1970 , the town my dad built in, their codes were tough. That guaranteed a well built home. Every piece of framing had to be Douglas Fir. Even the studs. None of this "easy nailing whitewood" that is used today. All the roof and floor sheathing was doug-fir plywood , with 3/4 inch oak floors. No drywall was allowed, unless it was "Double" 5/8ths. Think of that for a second. Drywall the entire house.....twice, or use plaster.
No pvc pipes allowed. Copper or galvanized, usually copper. Every wire , including low voltage [ door bell ] wire had to be in steel conduit pipe. All electrical boxes, metal. And don't get me started about how good oriented strand board is, compared to a decent grade of exterior plywood. The stuff is junk.
20 year Roof shingles? That's a joke today. The EPA has taken the guts out of them, and now they don't last.
"Hardy Board Siding" that has been touted as the best thing as canned beer, It's junk. Before I retired, I went back on homes that we sided with it, following the manufactures guidelines for installation, to the letter. Nothing but problems with it. Customers very dissatisfied. And on and on and on.
Labor and material costs have doomed quality. The other thing is, I had to serve a 4 year apprenticeship to become a carpenter, to obtain my journeyman certificate. It took me at least another four years to become a true craftsman. Now .. anyone who can hold a hammer calls themselves a craftsman.
It's no different with the bikes. Who can afford ten grand for a custom bicycle? I have taken terribly rusted old Schwinns apart, without breaking anything. Over tighten something that is new today, just a little and it snaps off, including the wrench your'e using. God help us......

 

[vincev]

Would Americans afford a bike made the old fashioned way? Some would and others would have to steal them

 

[Duchess]

Labor isn't as cheap anymore (and when it is, it's not the labor of craftsmen like back in the day and we don't have craftsmen much because the economy is so different—people largely need to be more multi-disciplined or technically knowledgable and cannot devote the lifetime it takes to master a craft and pass that down. The few that are left are either squeaking by in a niche or commanding a ton for their rare expertise) and bicycles today are considered either hobbyist status symbols or toys by most, limiting the prices that can be charged at the low end (quality) and the stressing of lightweight over durability for the more wealthy high end customers that replace them every year or so in order to keep up their ability to willy-wave their wallets with their frenemies in the riding group. TOC bikes—before cars took off—were a luxury and a primary means of transport instead of a horse. A lot of why they last too, is virtue of their materials—steel, if kept from corrosion, can last indefinitely (and bikes are easy to isolate from the elements due to their weight and size). Components were also over-engineered for strength, not out of consideration for the end user, but because they didn't have the modern engineering capabilities that allow for components to be built closer to the strength requirements for their anticipated use so that they can be made lighter. There's also the effect of only seeing the better stuff that remains today as the junk didn't make it. Pre war, especially, if something didn't have a use or wasn't really loved, it got turned in to scrap drives and dropped on Nazis (didn't drop it on enough of them, it seems). My Iver Johnson feels quality because it was, but the couple of middleweights I have from the 60s are junk—flexible riding and terribly made with the most minimum welds on stamped and cheap rolled steel parts—the Pacifics of their day (though more stylish)—but they're here because they were made of heavy steel and largely stored out of the weather (though the thick steel can certainly withstand a good amount of corrosion before perforation, but that's why it's a 40 lbs. bike instead of the 27 of a modern cheapish steel frame in a larger size with better brakes and gearing). They made hundreds of thousands of them, so while they're not uncommon to see today, the great majority are no longer around.

I think the tools are a better comparison as the designs and uses are the same as they ever were and the uses are more specific than a bike, which has to balance more compromises, like weight vs. durability. Tools even 30 years ago were much better made. Last time I returned an early 90s Craftsman ratchet that broke after massive amounts of abuse (that's not even that long ago, dammit!), the POS modern equivalent had replaced steel parts with plastic. For that, I might as well just buy whatever crap is on sale at the box stores (which is what I do now, but not Harbor Fright!—I bought a set of screwdrivers and the outgassing from the rubber on the handles stunk up my house, necessitating me putting them on the semi-enclosed porch, which they stunk up for over a week . . . but I saved about $2! Good work, Steve.). Sure, there's Snap On, but their quality has diminished also and they have always been overpriced for the non-professional (with less competition at the higher end due to everyone lowering quality, they can cheap out and pay higher dividends to shareholder parasites who don't give a rat's ass about long term profits and cannot fathom the idea of pride in the product because they have none and they produce nothing themselves).

Wow, a hornet stings me a couple of times, leaving me sitting around with an ice pack and out pops a rant!

 

[Frank and Pam Skid Kings]

Planned obsolescence. They want you to buy everything a second or third or fourth time. Unfortunately it's what makes the world economy work in this day and age. But... it's also why we are all into all of this cool stuff from time pass that we are. Feel sorry for people that have to have everything new and shiny !

 

[bricycle]

Planned obsolescence. They want you to buy everything a second or third or fourth time. Unfortunately it's what makes the world economy work in this day and age. But... it's also why we are all into all of this cool stuff from time pass that we are. Feel sorry for people that have to have everything new and shiny !

I hate new and shiny! ('course I hate mouse urinal stuff too...)

 

[MarkKBike]

This is true with all items. I will never forget the day I purchased my first house over 20 years ago, as a house warming present my dad gave me his old lawnmower, and purchased a new one for himself. (The one he gave me lasted longer than his next two).

When I moved into my second 1940's era house it came equiped with two garage door openers. Shortly after moving in one went out and I replaced it with a new one. The new one has already broke and has been replaced, the other original one that came with the house is still working. When I took the new broken one apart to see what was wrong, I was shocked to see stripped out plastic gears (A Craftsman).

Products made today are only designed to outlast there warranty period. Products made back then were made to last longer than you.

 

[bricycle]

My first foreign car 1979 (Mitsubishi made Colt) tranny lasted until a week after my warranty ran out (but 500 less than my mileage allowance), luckily they covered it.