RetroBike gone quiet..

[legrandefromage]

300LX is your friend

 

[Gaddmeister]

Re:

Knowone is fed up with classic cars? Mountain bikes should surely be the same? They are all things people had, wanted or worked with. They are heritage.

Things do go quiet in any scene?

 

[Spanky22b]

I think the people who think it has are the ones who spend most of there time stripping and flipping and now it's harder for them to do. The rest,we just enjoy this site for what it's for,enjoying seeing bikes from all different eras upto 1997,that part will never change.

 

[The History Man]

And riding them. Don't forget riding them. 39.1degC

 

[Wold Ranger]

Re: Re:

Various reasons IMO but it's been on the decline for at least a year so is not seasonal. My observations are:

1- Less interest in the low to mid range gear then before. Those of us who have been around a while are bored of LX/DX builds. Same goes for mid range bikes. I think the market has matured and the scene has been around a while meaning it's probably peaked.

2- Too many people trying to make a business out of old bikes and trying to push the price up for any old tat. This has put people off.

3- Demographic of members. Many of us are at the stage of life where other things get in the way of hobbies so we have less free time for old bikes.

4- Most of the best stuff has already been pulled out of the garage and the gems have been found. Also, with a larger amount of people looking the bargains don't stay a bargain for long. Gone are the days of the badly listed M900 equipped bike selling for buttons as used to happen regularly in the past. The thrill of the chase was part of the fun.

5- As the market has matured the lust for top end stuff has increased. This has pushed the price up so many simply can't justify the cost of the stuff they want and as mentioned have been there and done that with the lower level gear. Compare what a Yo Eddy sold for 5+ years ago compared to now to see what I mean.

6- Simply less people are building and there's less interest in the hobby. It was not long ago that if you didn't log on for a few days you'd have a couple of pages of updates at least on both pre 97 chat + builds. Now you could be off a week and only have one page to get through.

7- Less building, more riding as mentioned. Add to this that people are riding what works rather then what looks best. Have a look at the ride aftermaths in the sections for proof. Rather then period correct and perfectly restored bikes you see a lot of decent frames with decent old suss forks with mid to late 90's Shimano gears. People are using what works best rather then what looks best. If you build a functional bike rather then a period correct show piece you're less inclined to bother with a build thread and others are less inclined to comment.

8- Most bikes have been built and shown, in every configuration you can think of so there's less inspiration and less interest in builds. This being the case there's less people looking for parts. I've been here a good while now and it's rare for me to see a bike that has not been done before.

That's my 2p worth.

All pretty valid, but the main reason is most riders are going over to road and modern too. With the wetter climate, people are leaving MTB in droves, sick of spending more time cleaning than riding or spending big bucks on a bike retro or modern, to watch it get wrecked by riding muddy trails. I have good friends in the bike trade that cite this as a growing trend over the past 3 years.
Modern road bikes are just so good to ride, with technology moving far faster than MTB ever did and prices are tumbling of really great road bikes.
I drive with my job every day and the amount of roadies out there during the week, all year round must be at least 10 if not 20 times what it was 3 years back and the numbers in cycle clubs bears this out.
Organized Sportives and Etapes are all assisting this, I have loads of ex MTB pals who all ride road now and regularly do 100k or 100 mile weekend rides all year round and regular 50 milers on an evening.
I do feel MTB is pretty much winding down to a minority branch of the hobby now and road has taken all the shine off it.

 

[ultrazenith]

MTB to road converts: traitors! :twisted:

 

[Gaddmeister]

Re:

Is this not since the tour de France last year?
Riding all day on an MTB and an hour cleaning should hardly be a deterrent!
As for wrecking bikes? Should be out riding more to improve ;-)

 

[jono63]

All just fashion - give it another couple of years and Wiggins retirement and there will be shed loads of carbon this and carbon that road bikes being sold off.

Mountain biking just doesn't have the same profile at the moment but it will come back up and all those ridiculous "boutique" road shops with their £130 plus "fitting" sessions will disappear!

 

[Spanky22b]

And riding them. Don't forget riding them. 39.1degC

Yes,sorry about that

 

[ishaw]

It has gone a bit quiet on here for sure. My own situation with kids, mortgage etc is prohibitive when it comes to finding time to ride bikes, let alone tinker, fettle and build. I am sitting on a stash of builds that I once had aspirations of completing, but doubt now I will. I still find it hard to let anything go though, just in case that changes, but a garage full of unbuilt bikes and bits is starting to get annoying. I'm still happy with the retro bikes I have built and ready to roll (RTS, STS, Saracen, DBR, Oramge and Dynatech), and also happy with some newer acquisitions (Airnimal Joey, Cannondale CAAD 10 Black inc - Di2 is great when the battery isn't flat, and Pipedream Scion), so it is fair to say I have a mix of old and new.

The banter isn't what it was on the forum, can't quite place why or what is lacking, but there are fewer threads that I fancy jumping in to than there used to be, maybe lots of them are similar to ones that have gone before?

That said, I am still an avid user of the forum, just spend more time reading than replying.

I may well be active on the sale forum soon, as the garage needs a bit of space, and while I have said I have projects I don't want to let go (I regret moving the pace on, it turned out very nice indeed in the hands of the new owner), I do have an unhealthy collection of 'spares' for 'spares' and stuff that I had plans for at some point, but have no longer, and it would be better to be used and abused as intended than to gather more dust.

Summer generally means a pick up in traffic as people want to get out and/or build bikes to use in the sunshine, no one wants to get their lovely retro steel wet now do they.