What's so special about Syncros

[Neil G]

Syncros was proper rare and beautifully engineered to start off with, I went to the factory in Vancouver around 1990 and they showed me round, to a 15yr old obsessed with MTBing it was a dream!

Not sure abotu the quailty now, just doesn't seem to have the wow factor anymore

 

[sinnett177]

I thought I was the only one who did'nt get it, but it seems i'm not.

I think the well made bit about Syncros is a myth for a start off, a bit like Hope stuff excellent in places but finished off with piss poor bolts and fastenings. My first experience of Syncros was a canti brake cable hanger, the bolt was made from the softest weakest aluminium known to man and you guessed it was made for a 2mm allen key! I find things like that totally unacceptable, especially as you pay top whack for Syncros bits.

As for looks, yes ok I agree it is nice looking. Nothing special but nice.

Price was expensive BITD and I think thats why there is much of it is around today NOS. IMO BITD most people avoided it because there were parts of equal or better quality around cheaper.

In summary I can live without it.

 

[inglepingle]

I loved the original syncros stuff. i think it looked ok, but it was expensive and therefore me me at the time unobtainable - thus desirable.

maybe thats it - its like a Porsche i would love one, but i'll never afford one.

 

[utahdog2003]

No offense, but asking this question demonstrates your youth.

Too many younger folks don't have a familiarity or an understanding of the quality of the original Canadian Syncros parts. Original Syncros parts were very well made and thought out. At a time when aftermarket parts had begun to earn a bad rep for durability (or lack thereof, i.e. Kooka) Syncros came into the fray and offered great parts and an understated look that said all business. Syncros was never the same after they were purchased in the late 90s by one of the evil empires of the cycling world, and they later folded, only to be reorganized into the bastard junk vendor that currently hocks complete crap. Were it not for the molesting of the Syncros name by the crap components being labeled by the brand today, we retrobikers would be paying an arm and a leg to get our hands on some of the best mountain components ever made. THAT is why folks in the know go ape for the original Syncros parts. For many, there is no other.

Syncros was then what Thomson is today. You meet a guy on the trail today with a Thomson stem or post and you know that he's solved that component question on his build for good, and he's got no reason to defend his purchase up and above just saying, "Hey, it's a Thomson." Back in the early 90s, "Hey, it's Syncros" meant the same thing. Owning either Syncros (or Thomson today) means no justification needed here, thanks...you can keep your red KORE crap post or your flexy Ringle Moby with it's myriad of recalls, or your purple Hershey 'Naked' hubs or your Nuke Proof garbage. Syncros was all you needed. Hammer and Cycle.

Very few companies to me represent the image of dependable aftermarket components better than Syncros. Race Face, Cook Bros, Syncros, WTB, IRD...none of them dicked around with CNC derailleurs or little floppy brake levers made out of dry spaghetti noodles. They were the real deal.

Hammer and Cycle.

 

[hamster]

Thanks, at 42 I'm only too glad for people referring to my yoof.

It's just that BITD it seemed WAY overpriced (maybe another of our £ currency falls didn't help) and FFS how much faster will a £100 stem make you go over an £15 one???

Sorry, I'm fairly at the functional end of the scale. "If you want to lose 2 kg off your ride, go out on the bike more and drink less beer" is generally my motto.

 

[dbmtb]

Sorry, I'm fairly at the functional end of the scale. "If you want to lose 2 kg off your ride, go out on the bike more and drink less beer" is generally my motto.

Syncros kit wasn't particularly light IIRC.

The original Cattleprod quill stem was probably the best thing they ever did. It was THE stem to own in 1993 and thereabouts.

The Ahead version was a stupid design though, notorious for crimping steerers and rendering them unusable.

By 96 or so when they had headsets, bottom brackets that were not up to the job - at least not in northern europe, things just went downhill.

 

[hamster]

Keith Bontrager said "Light, Strong, Cheap...pick two"

SO Syncros was only one of these (Strong) ???? :shock:

 

[pinguwin]

reasonably priced

£116 for a front hub, £103 for a stem, £147 for a bottom bracket, and all this in 1995!

Being from the U.S., these weren't the prices that we paid. Syncros stuff was expensive but not anywhere near the costs you listed. I bought a pair of cranks in 1993(?) (first year they came out) and they were $350 but I got the pair wholesale, so yeah, not catalog prices. Wholesale aside, it was nowhere near that silly expensive for U.S./Canadia folks.

 

[utahdog2003]

It's just that BITD it seemed WAY overpriced (maybe another of our £ currency falls didn't help) and FFS how much faster will a £100 stem make you go over an £15 one???

Sorry, I'm fairly at the functional end of the scale. "If you want to lose 2 kg off your ride, go out on the bike more and drink less beer" is generally my motto.

Your cost examples apply across the board in bicycles...why buy a Yo Eddy when a nice steel Bridgestone would get the job done? You got the Eddy because you wanted handmade and quality. You bought Syncros back in the day for the same reason. Today you don't need a Thomson post either, but I'm not going to ask you why it's there if you have one.

You didn't buy Syncros to get the lightest. They weren't feather-weight parts, but they were nicely made, performed great, and looked the part.

reasonably priced

£116 for a front hub, £103 for a stem, £147 for a bottom bracket, and all this in 1995!

Being from the U.S., these weren't the prices that we paid. Syncros stuff was expensive but not anywhere near the costs you listed. I bought a pair of cranks in 1993(?) (first year they came out) and they were $350 but I got the pair wholesale, so yeah, not catalog prices. Wholesale aside, it was nowhere near that silly expensive for U.S./Canadia folks.

Yeah, I had a Cattleprod and a Cattlehead BITD that were 59 bucks from a mail order joint in Montana called 'Airborne MTB'. Hardcore post for 79, a ti post for 129. All well in line cost-wise with the garbage from KORE and others, but infinitely nicer stuff.

Syncros wasn't infallable though...their chainrings were rampless at a time when even Real and Avitar rings had ramps, the whole scratch off white sticker logo thing was pretty stupid, and the Steer-horns bar ends were dorky. Overall though, I'd rate Syncros stuff very high.

 

[pinguwin]

the Steer-horns bar ends were dorky

Actually, in terms of comfort and function, I found the Steerhorns to be the best in the world.