"Isn't modern bicycle technology absolutely wonderful?"šŸ˜

A lot of newer stuff though wears out faster, and can be awkward to repair or source parts for.
This was intertwined with the consumerism in the cycle industry.
I run quite a few new bikes and have never had issues sourcing parts (apart from
covid)

Letā€™s take my gravel bike for example as thatā€™s my oldest bike.

Itā€™s 2020 - and is on around 14k miles now.

In that time itā€™s used 4 chains , 1 set of jockey wheels , 1 BB , 1 headset bearing , 2 sets of pads and 3 sets of tyres.

None of the old 90s stuff lasted as long in terms of miles as any of that.

Iā€™m still on the original cassette (itā€™s close though) and chainring.

Hubs have never been touched and itā€™s ridden all year round.

Only issue I had was leaking GRX calipers which I swapped out for Hope RX4+
 
Hydraulic hoses, routed through the headset bearings...
20231209_120705.jpg makes a 10 minute job take up to 2 hours, and when the holes in the carbon frame are too small to get the Olives through, you might even need 2 new lengths of hosešŸ¤”.
At least we all know that push fit bb creaks like a rotten tree in a gale.

... but its aero! And looks sleek!
Buy it online though, because a bike shop might tell you to avoid it if you want to keep the bike more that 12 months or service it yourself.
 
Hydraulic hoses, routed through the headset bearings...
View attachment 834391 makes a 10 minute job take up to 2 hours, and when the holes in the carbon frame are too small to get the Olives through, you might even need 2 new lengths of hosešŸ¤”.
At least we all know that push fit bb creaks like a rotten tree in a gale.

... but its aero! And looks sleek!
Buy it online though, because a bike shop might tell you to avoid it if you want to keep the bike more that 12 months or service it yourself.
I have to deal with this at least once a week and compared to old stuff, I agree, it's a royal pain in the posterior! :) It's here to stay though and although I feel for the customer with the increased labour costs and I moan about it every time. It's the price you pay for that sleek look and the micro marginal gains that some people seem to want. We also make it clear that that's what you're in for when we sell a bike with it.
 
Hydraulic hoses, routed through the headset bearings...
View attachment 834391 makes a 10 minute job take up to 2 hours, and when the holes in the carbon frame are too small to get the Olives through, you might even need 2 new lengths of hosešŸ¤”.
At least we all know that push fit bb creaks like a rotten tree in a gale.

... but its aero! And looks sleek!
Buy it online though, because a bike shop might tell you to avoid it if you want to keep the bike more that 12 months or service it yourself.

2 hours?

Admittedly Iā€™ve only 1 bike with intergrated cables (Colnago C64) but it took nowhere near that time to route the cables. And Iā€™m pretty sure you remove the olives to push them through donā€™t you?

Quick disconnect hydraulic cables will also surely make bearing swaps fairly quick too. Iā€™ve not done that yet but certainly not worth worrying about once a year or 2 years.
 
The issue generally is there's not really anywhere for excess hose to go in the bar/stem/frame and once the olive is chopped off to pull it through the bars, the hose is then too short and needs replacing, some bikes require crank and BB removal to get at the routing, it all adds time/money. :)

I personally love old bikes but I'm not a luddite, I own a modernish 29er with full 12 speed XTR, it's great. There's room for all of it in my opinion.
 
Isn't modern bike technology wonderful? yes, it largely is. A short list:

Post 2015 geometry
narrow wide chainrings
clutch rear mechs
tyres
hydraulic disc brakes
dropper post
External BB/cranks
lock-on grips
Lower gears
1x
Bolt thru axles
 
Back
Top