Do you still use your retrobike for its original purpose?
- Thread starter 16simon
- Start date
Mike
Retro Guru
Gave my Fuquay another good thrashing today and it seemed to do quite well, right up till the front puncture! I would have finished ahead of a lot of expensive machinery.
I'll find out next weekend whether the bike was any good or not as I'll be on my new Alu/Carbon Scott Cyclocross Comp (with the Fuquay as a hot spare).
I'll find out next weekend whether the bike was any good or not as I'll be on my new Alu/Carbon Scott Cyclocross Comp (with the Fuquay as a hot spare).
I tend to ride distance events these days (Audax) - my road bike (1994 Litespeed Catalyst) is great for these being supremely comfortable.
I suspect that much of the current fashion for stiff bikes comes from historic marketing hype associated with the switch to Aluminium (which was more profitable for bike makers) - what you gain in power transfer you lose in fatigue, even assuming that the power transfer is real (some evidence suggests energy return and the frame acts only as a spring, giving a burst later in the pedal stroke).
Even though it has 1994-6 Record and Chorus bits on it, I still enjoy riding it all winter, so I guess it's still being used for its original purpose. I have never raced or TT'd even a kilometre.
In the winter I ride a lot at night, and for that I have a drop bar tourer built from a 1990 Marin Palisades frame, so that is definitely not used as originally intended!
I suspect that much of the current fashion for stiff bikes comes from historic marketing hype associated with the switch to Aluminium (which was more profitable for bike makers) - what you gain in power transfer you lose in fatigue, even assuming that the power transfer is real (some evidence suggests energy return and the frame acts only as a spring, giving a burst later in the pedal stroke).
Even though it has 1994-6 Record and Chorus bits on it, I still enjoy riding it all winter, so I guess it's still being used for its original purpose. I have never raced or TT'd even a kilometre.
In the winter I ride a lot at night, and for that I have a drop bar tourer built from a 1990 Marin Palisades frame, so that is definitely not used as originally intended!
Good to see that some people are still using their old irons for the original pupose. There are even events to cater for this - the old skool TT series as Whippet pointed out, and l'Eroica in Italy.
If it doesn't rain on the 22nd November, I've decided to ride the SERRL winter series race at Hog Hill on my Gazelle and see how it fairs in the heat of competition
Otherwise it'll be my proper race bike, which is a 2004 Principia Ellipse (the last year they were made in Denmark) - that must be verging on retro-ness.
If it doesn't rain on the 22nd November, I've decided to ride the SERRL winter series race at Hog Hill on my Gazelle and see how it fairs in the heat of competition
Otherwise it'll be my proper race bike, which is a 2004 Principia Ellipse (the last year they were made in Denmark) - that must be verging on retro-ness.
