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

[bikeworkshop]

the modern fad for what seem to me, to be extremely low spoke counts, I just don't get at all.
fair enough on some high end weight weeny race wheel, but even budget shimano's have like 16 spokes these days

fewer than 32 spokes, you'll struggle to ride with 1 broken on a rimbrake bike.

Disc is more forgiving, and rim materials are way stronger than 30 years ago.

So there's not much incentive to keep 32, except for its beautiful symmetry.

28 or fewer -
It's cheaper
It's lighter
It's more aero

Personally I've not got a single bike with <32

Apart from twmbb obvs:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/colnago-master-gilco-96.480011/
Which has hardly got any

 

[dirttorpedo]

The "super deep drop" twin pivots are noticeably weaker than the "deep drop" ones, and you're still quite limited to tyre size - a lot of people are fitting 700x42, 45, 27.5x1.9 on their on/off road tourers.

And then you wear your rims out, and find that size is obsolete!
The newest mavic open pros are now available in 24 and 28 hole....only.

Time for a clever spoke pattern

I broke a spoke on my touring bike last summer and afterwards was worried the modern 32 hole factory built wheels weren't strong enough for loaded touring. The bike (a Miyata 1000) came stock with a 42 hole rear wheel back in the 80's which got me searching for a nice 36 hole modern wheel , thinking about having the 32 spoke rear wheel rebuilt with stronger spokes or switching back to the 42 hole wheel with an upgraded 6 or 7 speed freewheel and giving up on the luxury of a modern 9 speed cluster

 

[bikeworkshop]

I broke a spoke on my touring bike last summer and afterwards was worried the modern 32 hole factory built wheels weren't strong enough for loaded touring. The bike (a Miyata 1000) came stock with a 42 hole rear wheel back in the 80's which got me searching for a nice 36 hole modern wheel , thinking about having the 32 spoke rear wheel rebuilt with stronger spokes or switching back to the 42 hole wheel with an upgraded 6 or 7 speed freewheel and giving up on the luxury of a modern 9 speed cluster

A lot of unbranded stainless spokes have a touring life of 2 years.

A wheel built with even a basic mavic a319, 32⁰ dt butted spokes will be stronger than a 25yo 40 or 48 spoke wheel.

(A freehub gives a lot more bearing support than a freewheel)

Materials have come a long way, although often that's leading us ways we don't want or need to go.

Do check your spoke count though, 42 would be very unusual.
Almost all spoke counts are divisible by 4, unless you've got some radial stuff happening on one side

 

[dirttorpedo]

A lot of unbranded stainless spokes have a touring life of 2 years.

A wheel built with even a basic mavic a319, 32⁰ dt butted spokes will be stronger than a 25yo 40 or 48 spoke wheel.

(A freehub gives a lot more bearing support than a freewheel)

Materials have come a long way, although often that's leading us ways we don't want or need to go.

Do check your spoke count though, 42 would be very unusual.
Almost all spoke counts are divisible by 4, unless you've got some radial stuff happening on one side

Ya, you're right. The catalogue spec is for a 40 hole rear hub not 42.

 

[legrandefromage]

How about the opposite? My neighbour bought two new Specialized road bikes. Don't know where from but 2024 models, cable disks, 1x etc. They asked me to give them a once over as they weren't happy with how the bike shop had set them up.

They were AWFUL.

Like riding glass, everything just felt like it had been paired down to within a millimeter of its life to save something or other. Even the creaks from the saddle sounded lightweight

Anyway, kept my thoughts to myself and quickly found a rod brake bicycle to ride and cleanse myself of all that modernity