Isn't it a scary thought, but

[legrandefromage]

Thats the thing - most cars are killed off via expensive MOT quotes. Its false economy to keep buying new just because it would cost £400 to have 'Murtle' running for a year again.

When I'm fixing a perfectly good bike but it will cost £60, its usually 'I can buy a new bike for that'

Which is why I dont repair bikes anymore :roll:

 

[GLB]

Lewis 1641: Good point son. Maybe if there were a bike scrappage scheme we'd all get rich! My retirement funded hooray!

I think actually I wouldn't like it much if the only "classics" around were £3k shiny LD150's. Somehow I'm happier finding that someone on the Saracen Lovers Anon thread bought a very recent and obviously scrappable 1989 Trekker for £15 making my 1988 Classic Trekker worth, ooh what? £16?

(My original plan when I retrieved my Trekker was to have something I could paint with black emulsion and not worry too much about leaving locked up outside the shops. Then I discovered www.retrobike.co.uk!)

 

[GLB]

Fagin: precisely the argument I use to justify my continuing with my W reg Skoda. Mind you I'm a bit bitter and twisted because the dear thing is precisely 8 weeks too new to have qualified for scrappage, so you need to take that into account.

MOT due in a month or so and some rattles from the front end so I reserve the right to change my views when I get the bill...

 

[fagin]

Another issue with new vs old.

It's still easy enough to keep older cars (and bikes) on the road as the technology is relatively simple, and essentially mechanical, so worst comes to worst new parts can be made even if it costs a bit. (Or bodged)

Give it a few years - fly by wire, everything computer controlled, batteries etc. The average mechanic already has problems, they'll never cope with the newer generation of cars when they come out of warranty.

 

[fagin]

Fagin: precisely the argument I use to justify my continuing with my W reg Skoda. Mind you I'm a bit bitter and twisted because the dear thing is precisely 8 weeks too new to have qualified for scrappage, so you need to take that into account.

MOT due in a month or so and some rattles from the front end so I reserve the right to change my views when I get the bill...

Bugger tell me about it. New brakes up front (calipers and discs, new exhaust and the anti roll bar had fallen off, so some serious welding)

My credit card is feeling older than I am.

 

[GLB]

Fagin, does the argument about being able to replace, or make new parts hold up for bicycles? For example - My 1988 Trekker needs new sprockets: the cassette is fixed on the free hub body by the 13T top sprocket screwing on, rather than the current system of a lock ring. Maybe the splines are the same, haven't got round to checking yet and maybe I can sort something out with a new cassette and use the (virtually unused!!) 13T sprocket to lock it. I think the 1" threaded headset may be a bit notchy too and I wonder if I'll be able to get a new one. If the hub cones are worn, will I be able to replace them? Maybe I'm being pessimistic, I'm a bit new to the joys of rebuilding Shimano. Certainly when I rebuilt a 1965 Moulton back in the mid 1980's I was able to get some of the unique suspension parts from Michael Woolf at Moulton Preservation (and could get even more parts from him now), but that's a bit of a special case.

Of course, with the right equipment and skills anything on a bike can be made or mended, but I haven't got the skills! This sort of forum is of huge value in getting advice about what can be done and what can't.

I wouldn't knock Shimano for a second, but I do rather feel that the downside of their constant development and real improvement is a larger degree of built in obsolescence. When I was a lad Campag was Campag and it didn't change much for decades. (Maybe rose tinted retrospectacles.)

Maybe a cottage industry will grow to produce some of these quaint old bits like hub cones. It certainly exists in the old motorbike world.

 

[barry2017]

Cyclists do have a parallel of the car scrappage scheme. It's called Cycle2work.

I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, TBH. Whilst I think it's great that you can get a really good bike at a low price, I think it devalues bikes in general.

On a couple of forums where I am also a regular, there's very often new people asking the same questions about which £1000 bike they should buy. This is fine, of course, but I can't help but think maybe it's better to buy a couple of lower end bikes before you spend that kind of money. You can decide for yourself then.

 

[legrandefromage]

Fagin, does the argument about being able to replace, or make new parts hold up for bicycles? For example - My 1988 Trekker needs new sprockets: the cassette is fixed on the free hub body by the 13T top sprocket screwing on, rather than the current system of a lock ring. Maybe the splines are the same, haven't got round to checking yet and maybe I can sort something out with a new cassette and use the (virtually unused!!) 13T sprocket to lock it. I think the 1" threaded headset may be a bit notchy too and I wonder if I'll be able to get a new one. If the hub cones are worn, will I be able to replace them? Maybe I'm being pessimistic, I'm a bit new to the joys of rebuilding Shimano. Certainly when I rebuilt a 1965 Moulton back in the mid 1980's I was able to get some of the unique suspension parts from Michael Woolf at Moulton Preservation (and could get even more parts from him now), but that's a bit of a special case.

Of course, with the right equipment and skills anything on a bike can be made or mended, but I haven't got the skills! This sort of forum is of huge value in getting advice about what can be done and what can't.

I wouldn't knock Shimano for a second, but I do rather feel that the downside of their constant development and real improvement is a larger degree of built in obsolescence. When I was a lad Campag was Campag and it didn't change much for decades. (Maybe rose tinted retrospectacles.)

Maybe a cottage industry will grow to produce some of these quaint old bits like hub cones. It certainly exists in the old motorbike world.

I'm cheating a bit as I've had the exact same Trekker as you...

Shimano is VERY backwards compatable

Your freehub could be 7 spd, a 7spd cassette will pop straight on once you've removed the 6spd uniglide jobbie, the Deore thumbies on your Trekker have the extra click for 7spd

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

even if its a 6spd, a 7spd freehub bolts straight on with the permission of a spare donor wheel or hub

A 1 inch threaded headset is widely available:

http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=A0826

Shimano cones are interchangeable as axle widths are the same.

Give me a couple of hours and I could make your Trekker 27 spd using just a cassette, chain and freewheel

 

[GLB]

A couple of hours and a little bit of cash too I suppose LGF...

Just the sort of tips, reassurance and sources that forums like this are so valuable for. Very many thanks. Once I get the spanners on it I'm sure it'll start to make sense.

 

[fagin]

I'm not an old bike expert, my real love is old cars, but due to a sad set of circumstances and the resultant poverty, I can't afford the classic stable I would like.
But in the old classic car business there are two reasons for continuing availability of parts:
The value of the car - it is viable to have one off parts made if the result will be stupidly valuable, eg classic Bugatti.
There is enough of a following to remanufacture parts in relative bulk (or at least tool up for them, eg MGB

Or enough in the scrapper to salvage parts - unfortunatley the part you need is probably the part they were there for in the first place, eg any bit of body work on a 70/80's Italian anything.

I don't see enough widespread interest, or value, in bikes to keep that sort of support going, so older cheap bikes will slowly return to where ever LGF finds them, and a few really nice ones will increase stupidly in value and become ornaments.

I don't really care. I ride a (cheap basic) modern for the more serious stuff, a middle aged nothing special road bike, and a £34 retro off Ebay. I was going to upgrade everything and make it fancy, but it's nicely ratty, all original (except for an old Flexstem and more comfortable bars I had lying around) so I can't be bothered.

I enjoy the riding.

My 2c