Seperate site for the road section?

[fagin]

I spend quite a lot of time in both sections - are you sure you would want the extra work?

A separate site would probably lose its friendly atmosphere. There is also a potential problem of bike snobbery creeping in as yet another Raliegh POS is shown off which keeps the spirit of RB alive but dilutes the high end or rarities.

I'm an accidental Greeny, any bike that is resurrected from the grave is one less cack BSO Tesco purchase so I dont mind the odd BSO in the MTB/ Road sections but there are those who dont and could spoil it for others.

Agree keep it as it is.

Retro bikes in our household are a rather nice Spesh Hardrock rescued from the dump, a £5 Ebay roadie (bargain of the year) and 99p Muddy Fox frame, now more or less a bike, with lots of random parts dangling off it.

Makes a fun change from modern MTB's used for more serious riding

Pretty much all ratbikes as opposed to retrobikes, but this is a great forum. Relatively new here, but have 'met' some really nice people (hope to meet them properly at some point), bought some useful stuff, learned a bit, and enjoyed it a lot.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[velomaniac]

Would not visit road bit if it was a seperate site, more likely check out CTC forums. I like older bikes of any genre and the title Retrobike suggests this so keep as it is or improve upon existing format

 

[mavesyn]

Fairly new site to me, and already my favourite.
Keep the forum, as is. But maybe give the roadbikes,
a bit more of a look in, on the front page, maybe a
road bike of the month, etc.
But generally keep up the great work.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Some interesting comments once again. Also hope the move of the road secton up the forum helps.

Maybe the real problem is the Roadies already have good enough places to go that better serves there purpose.

I'm not 100% sure that they do. Anyone else comment on this?

More a open question from me. What's the competition/complimentary sites. I'm sure there are some Vintage sites around.
Sure to be links to them here. But I think it's more established as road racing has been around a lot longer. Maybe in the local clubs for older people.
http://www.velo-retro.com/links.html

or maybe 'general chat' needs to be pulled out so that BoTM, though currently general 'retro', is not lumbered in the MTB chat which is pretty much general chat now for most of the time rather than specific 'Retro MTB' chat
I know we have Off Topic but its hidden away down the bottom. Bring Off Topic to the top, call it General Chat or something better and keep MTB specialist, Road will follow and maybe eventually BMX will as well.

Interesting. It's not my perception that retro mtb chat is general chat. Myself and the other mods do work to try and keep in vaguely on topic. Putting OT lower down was deliberate, this is a bike site after all.

I should probably have expressed it better,
My thinking is Retro MTB is currently MTB and General Bicycle chat. If there is a question about bikes, not specifically a road question, it's asked in there even if it is with reference to modern parts, information, can I run a 9 speed chain on an 8 speed setup and is often cross platform or just in general has something to do with bikes.
I was thinking more have a 'General Chat' which is 'General Bike chat' (not Off-Topic to the site chat and, we should still keep the off-topic near the bottom as well )
Place this before all others at the top and the general bike information can go in there, even modern questions (though please for the love of trees, keep it related to it's use on old bikes )
Then we can have the real Retro chat where it should be and 'general bike talk' will not by default end up in MTB section.

It's even used by the mods as a general section. BoTM/PoTM/coolwall/evets calendar link/how much worth/broken parts/introduce these are all general things and not normally targeted directly at MTBers and the Road section needs access to these while not being branded as 'MTB'

But a general chat needs to be before everything otherwise people will not see it first so not go looking for it.

So splitting it out, put Retro/Vintage MTB and Road dedicated talk on equal levels.

 

[njgoldby]

I like both together. I look at both sections depending what mood I am in.
I like to feel part of the larger family.
I only log in if I am going to reply to a thread as I'm a casual at work browser. Don't know how this effects the monitoring of members usage.

 

[Wheelnut]

I think there would be more classic/retro users to the road section site if it were given more prominence on the home page.

At present it feels like an MTB site that just happens to have a road section. Perhaps that puts some people off who are not into MTBs.

Although there are one or two decent classic road bike websites (notably classiclightweights.co.uk, to which I am a contributor), this is the only forum dedicated to older road bikes, as far as I know. I feel sure that the road section would gain a far greater numbers of visitors if it wasn't hidden way down the page.

So my view is to either make it more obvious that the road section exists, or give it a dedicated site.

 

[Old Ned]

Leave it generally as it is John. As you know I have a foot in both camps even if the Road side is stronger at present - but things can change, especially if the weather gets better and the trails dry up!

There are other Road biased sites out there (Classic Lightweights, Classic Rendezvous, Velobase etc.) but none of them are a Forum where anyone can join and enter into the spirit of 'retro-ism' at any level. They are all very good for getting info but not for chatting, asking questions and arranging rides. I think RB is pretty unique in this and all the better for it.

I know I've really enjoyed being a member, meeting people on rides, showing off my bikes (of both persuasions) and it's something I hope to continue doing without having to split my allegiance into MTB or Road.

I'm also trying to do my bit publicising the site by racing under the Retrobike name and telling people about the site at any opportunity.

 

[john]

OK. Having listened to feedback have made a few changes to try and put the road section on a more even footing with the MTB section.

Understand FCs point however think I'd prefer to have each almost a mirror of the other.

You will note a move up the site, a BoTM (which I will run regularly, promise), introduce yourself thread and a mag scan section. If there's anything else people would like to see from elsewhere in the site incoroprated here just lmk.