Old versus new bicycles

[vincev]

I also enjoy old things BUT new is better especially in automobiles No more tuning,setting points,etc. Besides oil changes,new cars last for a couple hundred thousand miles if oil and filters are kept clean,The drawback is that a dealer or a mechanic who can afford computer programs every year are necessary and costly,

 

[Monarkman]

I’ve been riding mtb since 1987 and my personal opinion is the upper mid level to higher end bikes have improved SOOOO much, in performance, ride quality ( who remembers the late 80’s big tube Cannondales with no suspension and how harsh they were?)

I think trying to make things lightweight comes with a durability challenge in the long term.

I still prefer the old bikes, im still rocking a 1999 Specialized S-Works M4 full suspension bike that works well,but, had a chance a few summers ago to ride a new Specialized, Niner and a Yeti……..and WOW! what a total difference in the entire experience cutting up the single track.

I find a good quality hydraulic disc brake to be an amazing braking system, not only the ease of pressure, especially on long rough down hills, but they also save scratching the rims up if in mud like the is rim brake pads did. Don’t get me wrong, I still love a good quality rim brake, but quality hydraulic discs are so smooth and strong.


it seems nowadays that the $1000+ range is considered lower end compared to a real high quality $3500+ bike that will have better quality components . I may be wrong on this, as I am fairly out of touch with the newer higher end bikes of today.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[Tour De Luxe]

It’s funny how “car guys” love the old stuff. Sure, I’m nostalgic for my ‘61 Olds that got 10mpg and required a tuneup every 10k miles. My Toyota truck has 150k miles with only 1 sparkplug change. Yes I change the oil every 10k miles on the Toyota vs 3k on the Olds. When I had a VW in the 70’s it would eat distributor caps and rotors so fast I always carried spares under the back seat. My Prius with 100k miles gets 3x the fuel economy of that ‘73 VW, plus it has never left me broken down on the side of the road. The old VW required a complete engine rebuild about every 50k.

I don’t have any carbon reinforced plastic bikes, but I do have some semi-modern Alloy bikes from Cannondale and Trek and my old 1984 Schwinn Le Tour with rim brakes. The Cannondale stops on a dime, but the tandem Trek struggles with the rim brakes. The old Schwinn thinks about stopping with the old centerpull brakes. I have a 2015 Ghost MTB with hydraulic disk brakes that is fantastic.


While I would love to have an old Schwinn heavyweight, the modern bikes (and cars) are far superior in performance and reliability.

 

[BB11]

When I got back into riding after a too long layoff o bought a Trek Hybrid. I was not very happy with it, I then bought a Rivendell in ‘97 and set it up with Campy components. I soon went back to friction shifting and stocked up on NOS Suntour components which I still use. Using 650b wheels and fatter tires now and still using many components that have been on my bikes for 10 + years, they go from one frame to another. I have my spare parts pretty much complete as the price of Suntour anything is pretty much through the roof. I have no regrets with my frames or component choices. I am not a mechanic and I can still do the minor stuff myself.

 

[Skunkrivercycles]

My Toyota truck has 150k miles with only 1 sparkplug change. Yes I change the oil every 10k miles on the Toyota vs 3k on the Olds.

To be fair, one of my "old cars" is a 1977 Toyota pickup...I rebuilt the 20R in 2020 and have basically had to do nothing to it since. Daily service, lots of driving at 75-85 mph. Even recharged the AC with R12 and its been reliable for two seasons now (and ice cold)...I just like the easy serviceability and it's small, nimble and fun to drive. Definitely a reason Toyota is such a huge name in trucks now. They've been doing it right for decades.

 

[all riders]

What stuff are you talking about specifically? Modern Campagnolo is still fully rebuildable. The quality on modern Shimano stuff, the highest-end of which are still made in Japan is fantastic aside from some of the carbon cranksets which are known for delaminating (which I'm sure they have fixed since Shimano still to this day honors some warranties from the late 90s). I'd put their current drivetrain offerings way above the stuff they were making in the mid-2000s which felt incredibly flimsy by comparison. SRAM's warranty department is so good that they'll replace parts free of charge and not even request that you return the defective part. These companies have enough to lose that they really don't try to put out absolute disposable trash unless we are talking about the absolute bottom end of the bike segment, and anymore very little of that is made by reputable manufacturers anyway aside from like $4 non-series Shimano derailleurs, which the replacement cost is less than 1/8th the cost of repair even if they were rebuildable. Shimano to this day, even on thru-axle hubs sticks with fully adjustable and rebuildable cup-and-cone style bearings rather than the cartridge bearings most manufacturers have gone to.

Working on these bikes in 30 years will be no different than working on bikes from 1992 in 2022. Unlike cars or motorcycles, there are standards that stick around in the industry. Most bikes STILL use the standard BSA threading for bottom brackets which is over 100 years old now. 9/16" pedal thread is still standard. Cable heads have not changed in decades. Rear axle spacings have varied, but if you can still get S7 size tires in 2022, there's no reason one or two manufacturers won't keep oddball thru-axle threadings and lengths in stock when there will be buyers. Suntour cassettes and accushift parts are the only thing that has gone fully extinct from that era, but any Shimano replacement drivetrain will work way better, even at the low end of the spectrum.

Sounds like just a blanket statement about the current state of "things" like electronics, etc...but it really doesn't apply at all in the bike industry.

Hey, I worked in a bike shop in Iowa(city) in the 70's and different one in the 80's and your point is taken--But in the 70's BSA and 9/16 were not really standard. lots of French and Italian machine on the road then. The square taper on a BB spindle wasn't standard either---this went on into the eighties and really became standardized then, in part, because most makers. started to offer at least a few high-quality, low-cost models FROM JAPAN ---the weak Japanese Yen standardized bikes a good bit less than 100 years ago. The following Triple post is probably a good indication of how I would do with modern components!!!

What stuff are you talking about specifically? Modern Campagnolo is still fully rebuildable. The quality on modern Shimano stuff, the highest-end of which are still made in Japan is fantastic aside from some of the carbon cranksets which are known for delaminating (which I'm sure they have fixed since Shimano still to this day honors some warranties from the late 90s). I'd put their current drivetrain offerings way above the stuff they were making in the mid-2000s which felt incredibly flimsy by comparison. SRAM's warranty department is so good that they'll replace parts free of charge and not even request that you return the defective part. These companies have enough to lose that they really don't try to put out absolute disposable trash unless we are talking about the absolute bottom end of the bike segment, and anymore very little of that is made by reputable manufacturers anyway aside from like $4 non-series Shimano derailleurs, which the replacement cost is less than 1/8th the cost of repair even if they were rebuildable. Shimano to this day, even on thru-axle hubs sticks with fully adjustable and rebuildable cup-and-cone style bearings rather than the cartridge bearings most manufacturers have gone to.

Working on these bikes in 30 years will be no different than working on bikes from 1992 in 2022. Unlike cars or motorcycles, there are standards that stick around in the industry. Most bikes STILL use the standard BSA threading for bottom brackets which is over 100 years old now. 9/16" pedal thread is still standard. Cable heads have not changed in decades. Rear axle spacings have varied, but if you can still get S7 size tires in 2022, there's no reason one or two manufacturers won't keep oddball thru-axle threadings and lengths in stock when there will be buyers. Suntour cassettes and accushift parts are the only thing that has gone fully extinct from that era, but any Shimano replacement drivetrain will work way better, even at the low end of the spectrum.

Sounds like just a blanket statement about the current state of "things" like electronics, etc...but it really doesn't apply at all in the bike industry.

What stuff are you talking about specifically? Modern Campagnolo is still fully rebuildable. The quality on modern Shimano stuff, the highest-end of which are still made in Japan is fantastic aside from some of the carbon cranksets which are known for delaminating (which I'm sure they have fixed since Shimano still to this day honors some warranties from the late 90s). I'd put their current drivetrain offerings way above the stuff they were making in the mid-2000s which felt incredibly flimsy by comparison. SRAM's warranty department is so good that they'll replace parts free of charge and not even request that you return the defective part. These companies have enough to lose that they really don't try to put out absolute disposable trash unless we are talking about the absolute bottom end of the bike segment, and anymore very little of that is made by reputable manufacturers anyway aside from like $4 non-series Shimano derailleurs, which the replacement cost is less than 1/8th the cost of repair even if they were rebuildable. Shimano to this day, even on thru-axle hubs sticks with fully adjustable and rebuildable cup-and-cone style bearings rather than the cartridge bearings most manufacturers have gone to.

Working on these bikes in 30 years will be no different than working on bikes from 1992 in 2022. Unlike cars or motorcycles, there are standards that stick around in the industry. Most bikes STILL use the standard BSA threading for bottom brackets which is over 100 years old now. 9/16" pedal thread is still standard. Cable heads have not changed in decades. Rear axle spacings have varied, but if you can still get S7 size tires in 2022, there's no reason one or two manufacturers won't keep oddball thru-axle threadings and lengths in stock when there will be buyers. Suntour cassettes and accushift parts are the only thing that has gone fully extinct from that era, but any Shimano replacement drivetrain will work way better, even at the low end of the spectrum.

Sounds like just a blanket statement about the current state of "things" like electronics, etc...but it really doesn't apply at all in the bike industry.

Hey, I worked in a bike shop in Iowa(city) in the 70's and another in the 80's and your point is taken, BUT in the 70's, BSA and 9/16 were far from standard. There were too many French and Italian rigs on the road--even the square taper on the BB spindle was not standardized(different % angle). This went on into the eighties and was, to a great degree, changed by the fact that many makers around the world started to offer some good quality, low-cost models built in JAPAN---the Weak Japanese Yen of the 80's standardized bikes (and catapulted shimano) considerably less than 100 years ago.

 

[Skunkrivercycles]

Hey, I worked in a bike shop in Iowa(city) in the 70's and different one in the 80's and your point is taken--But in the 70's BSA and 9/16 were not really standard. lots of French and Italian machine on the road then. The square taper on a BB spindle wasn't standard either---this went on into the eighties and really became standardized then, in part, because most makers. started to offer at least a few high-quality, low-cost models FROM JAPAN ---the weak Japanese Yen standardized bikes a good bit less than 100 years ago.

Which shop did you work at? Thats cool. And I know in the '70s you'd be likely to find BSA, French, Italian, Swiss and American bottom brackets. Plus oddballs like the sealed bearings in the Viscount bikes. But BSA has been around for 100+ years which was the point. You could easily get a bottom bracket compatible with a "normal" modern bike in 1975. Much more standardized than just about any other transportation industry.

 

[J-wagon]

( who remembers the late 80’s big tube Cannondales with no suspension and how harsh they were?)

Like these cannondale 1985 SM600 yellow 24" rear, 26" front and 1986 SM500 gray. Rollercam brakes.

 

[Skunkrivercycles]

A customer of ours has that exact same SM600! Yeah, Cannondale ride quality has come a LONG way. Even past their attempts to get improved ride such as the uuugly elongated dropouts on their late 80s road bikes...🤢

 

[detroitbike]

45 years working in a shop and owning one since '84 the new stuff is atrocious .
Even 20 years ago the made in Taiwan stuff worked and lasted pretty good .