Thank god for retro bikes
- Thread starter Abaca
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ultrazenith
Senior Retro Guru
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To a certain extent, I'd say cycling has become the new golf.
Re:
I'm rubbish at golf, and long ago tired of the old boy's club at work chatting about deals done on the golf course. I prefer the fact that you are now much more likely to find someone at a corporate event to chat with about cycling. So, can I offer that as a positive?
Edit to add : I didn't mean 'corporate event' to sound arrogant - the ones I get to aren't that flash - believe me!
I'm rubbish at golf, and long ago tired of the old boy's club at work chatting about deals done on the golf course. I prefer the fact that you are now much more likely to find someone at a corporate event to chat with about cycling. So, can I offer that as a positive?
Edit to add : I didn't mean 'corporate event' to sound arrogant - the ones I get to aren't that flash - believe me!
shinobi
Senior Retro Guru
Re:
Never tried myself but i have mates who do and some of the gear prices are on a par ( see what i did there ) with MTB stuff , going back to Abaca s original post one of my kids bought me an MBUK a couple of weeks back and i was stunned at the prices of some of the kit in there . :shock:
Paul
Never tried myself but i have mates who do and some of the gear prices are on a par ( see what i did there ) with MTB stuff , going back to Abaca s original post one of my kids bought me an MBUK a couple of weeks back and i was stunned at the prices of some of the kit in there . :shock:
Paul
Re:
I'm in the larger bracket of cyclists. Was upto the first of this month 21 stone 5.5lbs. Luckily I'm 6'4 and have broad shoulders so I didn't look that much of a fat twat. I have (now) just the one bike which is my 456c and love it. Ok I'm not overly quick on it up the hill and along the flat bits. But I've been riding for 20 years now with a couple of breaks for glandular fever and a nasty bout of Cellulitis. I can recover as quickly, if not quicker, than a couple of my mates who spend most of their spare time in the gym. I am getting faster and also lighter. Since the 1st of this month I've lost 1 stone. through just eating the right foods and a bit of portion control. But being bigger has never made me enjoy myself any less what ever I was riding. Even on my retro rides I always enjoyed it. It was never really about the fitness.
I'm in the larger bracket of cyclists. Was upto the first of this month 21 stone 5.5lbs. Luckily I'm 6'4 and have broad shoulders so I didn't look that much of a fat twat. I have (now) just the one bike which is my 456c and love it. Ok I'm not overly quick on it up the hill and along the flat bits. But I've been riding for 20 years now with a couple of breaks for glandular fever and a nasty bout of Cellulitis. I can recover as quickly, if not quicker, than a couple of my mates who spend most of their spare time in the gym. I am getting faster and also lighter. Since the 1st of this month I've lost 1 stone. through just eating the right foods and a bit of portion control. But being bigger has never made me enjoy myself any less what ever I was riding. Even on my retro rides I always enjoyed it. It was never really about the fitness.
ultrazenith
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I buy MBUK too whenever I'm back in the UK for a holiday, and I've been gobsmacked at how expensive things are now. I also notice a few mags, including MBUK, subtly deriding retrobikes these days, along the lines of 'look at the ridiculous stems / frames / brakes / gear shifters people used back in the 90s!!' OK, so the magazines need to sell the latest products and promote the desire to constantly upgrade and buy the latest technology, otherwise they're out of a job, so I can't really blame them.
In a recent What (or Which?) Mountain Bike, there was a nice article on frame materials, which gave a good account of current cutting edge technologies and materials, but which downplayed steel (essentially, saying steel peaked with 853 and has had its day). As someone who cares about the planet, and our children's future, I am concerned that the mountain biking scene has become so consumerist that bikes are now considered so disposable - you buy a new bike every year, or every two years, and alu frames by their very nature aren't built for longevity, they will eventually crack, people know this and will bin an alu frame way before it shows signs of fatigue. The same goes for titanium, despite still being thought of as indestructible by many, and one just has to look at the scarcity of used ti frames here without cracks to see they are not truly made to last. Based on all this, I see things eventually going full circle as cyclists wake up to the environmental impact of their cycling products and steel eventually becomes trendy again.
This has gone way off topic, sorry, but my conclusion is that by choosing to be retrobikers we are not only saving money and reliving past glory days, but we are also reducing our environmental impact and carbon footprint
shinobi":d4phywgv said:
I buy MBUK too whenever I'm back in the UK for a holiday, and I've been gobsmacked at how expensive things are now. I also notice a few mags, including MBUK, subtly deriding retrobikes these days, along the lines of 'look at the ridiculous stems / frames / brakes / gear shifters people used back in the 90s!!' OK, so the magazines need to sell the latest products and promote the desire to constantly upgrade and buy the latest technology, otherwise they're out of a job, so I can't really blame them.
In a recent What (or Which?) Mountain Bike, there was a nice article on frame materials, which gave a good account of current cutting edge technologies and materials, but which downplayed steel (essentially, saying steel peaked with 853 and has had its day). As someone who cares about the planet, and our children's future, I am concerned that the mountain biking scene has become so consumerist that bikes are now considered so disposable - you buy a new bike every year, or every two years, and alu frames by their very nature aren't built for longevity, they will eventually crack, people know this and will bin an alu frame way before it shows signs of fatigue. The same goes for titanium, despite still being thought of as indestructible by many, and one just has to look at the scarcity of used ti frames here without cracks to see they are not truly made to last. Based on all this, I see things eventually going full circle as cyclists wake up to the environmental impact of their cycling products and steel eventually becomes trendy again.
This has gone way off topic, sorry, but my conclusion is that by choosing to be retrobikers we are not only saving money and reliving past glory days, but we are also reducing our environmental impact and carbon footprint
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