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Post by franco on Oct 19, 2020 22:09:29 GMT
I called in Evans Cycles a while ago , it’s one of the biggest bicycle retailers in the UK with all the modern bikes. There wasn’t anything that appealed, it left me cold, then I saw a Dutch Bativus steel city bike with Shimano alfine hub gears. It looked like my Viscount Colorado with modern parts and it was the only thing in there I’d consider buying. £800 quid though! I could upgrade an old bike for half that amount.
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Oct 19, 2020 23:39:03 GMT
I have nearly finished building a new, but not modern bike. This video describes it. With it, I have classic steel, downtube shifters and a modern 9-10 speed drivetrain. I have an extra (new in box) 56cm frame ($250 + shipping) if anyone is interested. The frames list for $449.
Cheers Jim
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ks1u
Viscount
Posts: 76
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Post by ks1u on Oct 20, 2020 3:25:02 GMT
A few years ago I wanted a new triathlon bike to replace an older Quintano Roo Kilo I sold. I looked at the wicked high prices and saw everything was carbon fiber. I thought about the potholes here and realized if I had one crack in a tube it would be useless. I bought a used titanium frame from the early 2000s and for less money than a new bike put on DI2 shifting. Granted the frame is not a classic, like the Aerospace GP I'm working on, but I now have bikes of Aluminum, steel and titanium, but no cloth and epoxy. I'll admit, though, that my electric skateboard is carbon fiber.
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Post by blackwizard on Nov 14, 2020 6:49:21 GMT
I bought a 2009 BMC SL01 Roadracer for £392 from E Bay, alloy frame with carbon forks and stays, full Ultegra groups set and Fulcrun Racing 7 wheels, it’s an out and out racer and I’m loving riding it. My ride buddy is using a £5000 plus bike with Di2 shifting and disc brakes and cannot hold my wheel despite being 10kg lighter and 25 years younger. You can find modern bikes out there cheap, this one looks like new and even came with the original handbook and is a corker, you just need to look.
Vintage are great, I love the history and the character and my collection has the oldest being 1925, a lovely enjoyable bike for a gentle pootle around the lake in summer but not for Lancashire hills or London traffic. You choose a bike to suit your needs, that’s not to say old bikes are better or worse than modern as they all belong to a certain rider and time and I’m sometimes baffled by forums where people decry modern bikes possibly after never having had one. If we never has advancement we would still be using single speed as the derailure or SA style hubs would have been condemned by purists.
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Post by wheelson on Nov 14, 2020 15:35:05 GMT
Of course blackwizard is right in many ways, advancement is important in the bike world as it is in almost every aspect of our lives. There is a thin line, however, between change for the better and change just for the sake of change.
I have a love affair with bikes, having started my working career in an old fashioned bike shop in 1966. Since my engineering retirement 10 years ago, I'm back in a bike shop as an independent contractor. Needless to say, I've seen a lot of bikes and bike component designs come and go. As with the classic bikes we all love, some of the new bike technology is questionable at best.
Working in a bike shop I've always had the luxury of trying out all the latest stuff and applying it to my own needs. Even though I've ridden many of the latest carbon fiber electronic shifting disc brake bikes, I do not own one simply because they're not appropriate for my needs. My bikes tend to be test beds for my riding style and conditions. My newest bikes are a late '80s steel Specialized Allez, an '80s Nashbar steel touring bike, and a '90s Cannondale H600 hybrid. Since my current riding conditions are on rail trails and canal towpaths, I tend to go with wider tires and touring bike configurations. The Allez is the road bike exception and it gets ridden mostly on road and rarely on a trail. The C'dale is the true test bed, going back and forth from drop bar and flat bar configuration, loaded touring to flat bar hybrid. These 3 bikes are standardized on 8 x 3 gearing, one with bar end shifting, two with "brifters", Shimano A2300. That model brifter were chosen because it is a good design (see above, good technology vs bad technology), allowing a broken gear cable change without losing your religion.
Other new technology in our shop is airless tires and e-bikes. I'm running 700x40 Tannus airless on one set of wheels, interchangeable on the Nashbar or the C'dale. Excellent performance, great for a commuter tire or for everyday use by a 72yr old physically compromised bike rider. Good technology. E-bikes are getting huge and unfortunately questionable technology. Availability is far outstripping support and I'm afraid there will be many disappointed owners in the next few years.
So probably more than you want to know. I totally agree that the best course is to go with slightly older and proven technology like blackwizards 2009 BMC and let the newer stuff settle a bit. There's a lot of good stuff out there but with respect to quick to market technology, "there's many a slip between the cup and the lip".
Best, John "wheelson"
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Nov 15, 2020 5:50:52 GMT
I abstain from using my tubular wheelsets as flats are too hard to fix; I might try an airless tire if they were made for tubular rims.
Cheers Jim
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Post by wheelson on Nov 15, 2020 10:55:07 GMT
I abstain from using my tubular wheelsets as flats are too hard to fix; I might try an airless tire if they were made for tubular rims. Cheers Jim Jim, At least to my knowledge there are no airless tires for tubular rims, as well as the old rims that have no lip for a tire bead. While the ones we use (Tannus) have no bead as such, the use a series of inserts that snap into the rim lip and lock the tire on. Good system, I rode some 700c x 40’s on a Velocity wheel set on pavement in 90+ dF temps with no squirm and on the trails as well. A blessing to me as my current physical challenges make changing some tires difficult bordering on impossible. I’ll probably get an airless set in 700c x 28’s for my Allez. I only have one set of tubular wheels saved for special occasions like DFR9 ; - } No goat heads here, just typical road junk and thorns. Best, John “wheelson”
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Post by brianbutler on Nov 15, 2020 22:17:39 GMT
Right, silk tubulars and goatheads don't mix.
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