Do you notice extreme negative views of none retrobikers when you say you are trying to work with an older bike?

[retrobiker273891]

These types of people seem totally brainwashed by the 'new = good' and anything you mention about wanting to put some work into an older bike they will immediately jump to it being because it is old, obviously, and how the best thing you can do is send it to the tip without even giving a fair hearing on what the issue is.

I notice this as the general view when posting on a none retro bike forum. The supportive, useful comments, will be in the minority with most just off hand rejecting your requests for advice on servicing your older bike as a fool's errand being the common fare.

I get that that is logical when I was talking about my British Eagle which was probably considered a 'clunker' even when new but I seem to even be getting that same dismissal when I ask about the Bravado I just bought.

People just saying 'oh it has clearly been left in a shed for years and not looked after you need to strip it and throw away everything and throw them away'.

 

[novocaine]

the industry thrives on breeding this attitude. you have to feed the beast otherwise it dies. the fact you can't get forks that are much older than 5 years serviced, because the mechanic's (sorry, fork service technician) don't know how says it all really.
learn for yourself and ignore the haters.

 

[Betsy]

I wouldn't worry about it.. it's just hive mind mentality, posting about an old bike on a 'new bike' forum would garner the same response as posting about tea on a coffee forum or posting about CDs on a vinyl forum.. like minded groups are the same the world over.

Yes, they should be more open minded but hey.. you also need to find the appropriate forum if you're going to find an unbiased answer to your questions.

 

[retrobiker273891]

I wouldn't worry about it.. it's just hive mind mentality, posting about an old bike on a 'new bike' forum would garner the same response as posting about tea on a coffee forum or posting about CDs on a vinyl forum.. like minded groups are the same the world over.

Yes, they should be more open minded but hey.. you also need to find the appropriate forum if you're going to find an unbiased answer to your questions.

Sure but never having really had any dealings with bike communities, just happily riding my bikes solo around the place, I had no idea there would be discrimination between the different bikes. I thought a bike is a bike, wheels, gears, chain, brakes, frame.

What is that called, bike ageism?

I presumed asking a technical question about a bike on a general bike forum would be absolutely on topic but as you enter these communities you quickly see it is most times not the case!

 

[markoc]

Horses for courses. There are divisions in every "scene".

Take cars for example. Classic, mid-school, old-timer, wagon lovers, shedders, drifters, stance, modders and tribal manufacturer fanboys. All united by a love of cars, but very very different in their own right.

Try going onto a stance forum and posting about contact patches and trad geometry and you'd be as welcome as a fart in a lift.

 

[Betsy]

Sure but never having really had any dealings with bike communities, just happily riding my bikes solo around the place, I had no idea there would be discrimination between the different bikes.

What is that called, bike ageism?

It's called the internet.. there is discrimination between everything here

 

[al]

I don't really know any new bike people, and certainly wouldn't waste my time and effort conversing about retro bikes with them.

I have no interest in their stamped out plastic tat, just as they probably wouldn't be arsed about my old w*nk!

al.

 

[Black_puma]

These types of people seem totally brainwashed by the 'new = good' and anything you mention about wanting to put some work into an older bike they will immediately jump to it being because it is old, obviously, and how the best thing you can do is send it to the tip without even giving a fair hearing on what the issue is.

I notice this as the general view when posting on a none retro bike forum. The supportive, useful comments, will be in the minority with most just off hand rejecting your requests for advice on servicing your older bike as a fool's errand being the common fare.

I get that that is logical when I was talking about my British Eagle which was probably considered a 'clunker' even when new but I seem to even be getting that same dismissal when I ask about the Bravado I just bought.

People just saying 'oh it has clearly been left in a shed for years and not looked after you need to strip it and throw away everything and throw them away'.

'new = good'
'Retro = better than good'

 

[bold stelvis]

almost any category of consumer goods aimed at especially men, and especially anything where 'performance' drives sales, tends to suffer from this - a need to constantly sell improvements on things that from an engineering perspective were effectively already solved.

one of things I love about 'retro' biking is reusing old things that were well made and can totally be made to function well again - I also think they look better and have intrinsically better engineering in terms of 'built to last' at least - but I realise to many caught up in the trend cycle anything old is just obviously useless or inferior because "progress"

the flip side of this of course is also that anything 'retro' or 'vintage' is evidently worth about 4 times more than it really is

 

[greencat]

Try posting about new or electric bikes here and see where it gets you...

Men are particularly boring about this kind of tribalism - and it works both ways. A male friend still insists that computers have not really been surpassed by the Acorn Archimedes he still uses everyday. Some old stuff is good and worth keeping hold of, others were by any objective measure a bit crap. All old stuff was once cutting edge and innovative - it's just that we were young and equipped with more open minds back then and regarded it as normal and/or desirable.

On the flipside I used to have a female friend who simply wanted the purple version of something. Selecting a new phone was gob-smackingly easy for her, and she was always happy with her purchase and used it until it fell apart or stopped working.