"Isn't modern bicycle technology absolutely wonderful?"😍

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Love is not always
Performance Related

I'm in with a chance

 

[bikeworkshop]

Mechanical disc brakes are the best brakes in the world

I would challenge you to try my xt/xtr hydros on Minty, or 105/hope rx4 on the tiBride, and then tell me that again
I definitely have the best brakes in the world, and
"I don't see ... any Cables at all... Captain."

 

[ChromeChainstay]

bring back dura ace 7400, and big steroid bodied riders. my favorite days of yester years

 

[legrandefromage]

Revisiting this thread still gets that vein a'throbbin' and a pulsin'

Cycling is suffering from its own marketing bullshit.

Endless repetition of '' technology'' and the rather insidious threat that you are (yes, you) inadequate because you are still riding that?? You should be riding this! (insert any particular 'this')

Playing on that insecurity for the last 20 years has ruined it (here, I lay that responsibility firmly on the shoulders of STRAVA)

Personally I don't give a flying **** about what brakes you have. If a designer can't make a lever push a piston properly then they are incompetent Same with shoving a chain up and down a cassette

Simply wanting to go for a a ride seems to be illegal these days without the thought police eyeing up you and your choice of bicycle / apparel

I notice that after not buying magazines in the early 2000s, I started riding what I had and not what worrying about what I should be buying next. Then the fun actually started. I looked behind me and saw the great swathe of cycling gear that was sloshing around, old high end kit, out of fashion (before retrobike.co.uk) and it was a lot more fun

Personal fitness too, that got better and, wait for it, what I was riding, oh shit, DIDN'T MATTER.

Once I got over that crippling insecurity, cycling was back to what it was always envisaged by a few bright folk whose message had been drowned by the forever grinding marketing machines that say i am wrong.

 

[Tootyred]

Think cycling is a perfect model of, and says a lot about the consumerist culture we seem to breed.

Your told you can't be happy till you have the latest thing.....its always been thus, but, we now have advertising for a generation who can't tell B.S. from reality!

It's all truth, it's all news, its all to be believed, just because its on a screen.

Sad, as it also catches some older bods too!

LGF is correct; It doesn't matter what your riding as long as you're enjoying it. But sadly, that's a seemingly lost art in all parts of life.

Seems more important that others "like" your life than you.....

 

[bikeworkshop]

bring back dura ace 7400, and big steroid bodied riders. my favorite days of yester years

Does the
"modern bicycle technology"
of the thread title extend to the pharmaceutical products that the pros consume?

Wikipedia definition:
"Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way."

So that looks like a Yes.

Tina and I were watching the history of the tour de France dvd
(ends with Lance's Downfall)
that I got through retrobike ()
and will offer on shortly.

You can see how the styles of gaining an advantage changed over time,
and with that, the rider's bodies

Not many would call the doping, masking, exemptions, excuses "wonderful" but I suspect fewer pros die as a result,
so the cheating/testing regimes are possibly safer than they used to be.

And think of those commentaries,
when yet another rider knocks minutes off the fastest ascent of a huge mountain:

I hear Paul Sherwen's voice echo through the years:
"That's incredible"
"It's unbelievable"
"He's Superhuman!"

So someone was full of Wonder!

 

[pwebb]

Need to define what 'better than' means in this context... ...easier to mass manufacture? Heavier using low grade materials? made of cheap interchangeable parts that are easily sourced from china? Pig ugly but who cares it's only a bike? Versus: ....mechanically more efficient, work better in wet conditions, don't get clogged up with mud, have better tire clearance, allow a wider variety of wheel rim types, sizes and axle widths,
For me, all of these are in part relevant but light weight and good looking parts made from top quality materials and NOT mass produced in China are the number one through four selection criteria and I fear we are not progressing on any of those fronts.

 

[Imlach]

Mass produced and cheap means more cyclists! Always have. The it is only a bike crowd are usually the ones that use their bikes the most

 

[Imlach]

Give me pond scum or give me death.

I hope a knock off of me will be available from China someday

 

[pwebb]

It sort of has existed for some time, remember this ? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21043693
Now you can go watch cat videos on YouTube and browse retrobike for vintage bike parts