Classic & Vintage - Riding vintage with the Carbon Fiber gang.

Tomorrow I'm going out on a group ride. Last week everyone on the ride had carbon fiber whiiz-bang bikes with all the gadgets, computers, and watt measuring hubs. I love riding my vintage Rickert amongst the CF crowd. Anyone else get the thrill of riding a classic bike with all the hi-tech gearheads. Actually a couple weeks ago I rode briefly with some guys who had older bikes, 80's vintage. I'll see who I run into tomorrow, I'm bringing the camera along to take some pics.

I hope you get some nice shots of all of them waaaaaaay behind you!

Yawn.

Bikes are bikes. Riders are riders. It does not matter.

Of course we can have another swell reverse snobbery post anyway I guess.

I hope you get some nice shots of all of them waaaaaaay behind you!

Ha, not likely. I'm usually holding on for my life. Only rode once this week, 15 miles, but that means I'll have lots of energy.:rolleyes:

Yawn.

Bikes are bikes. Riders are riders. It does not matter.

Of course we can have another swell reverse snobbery post anyway I guess.

Its Bike Forums, its always about the Bike. And on C&V arent vintage bikes better? Gotta thumb your nose at the modern gearheads once in a while.

Bikes are bikes, riders are riders. It does matter, whatever IT is. It's fun to ride both, and fun to ride a C&V steel bike with CF folks.

Often, they are surprised to learn of the C&V ride quality, and no reverse snobbery is involved.

I like them both, but many CF riders simply don't know about C&V bikes, thinking age=obsolescence.
It's fun to educate them, and often, they decide to get one. And you often get to know the riders better.

I see no downside.

Its Bike Forums, its always about the Bike. And on C&V arent vintage bikes better? Gotta thumb your nose at the modern gearheads once in a while.

Sure - but these type of threads are popping up on a weekly basis.

Yawn, indeed. Just go ride your bike. Your bike doesn't care if you make someone look bad.

OK fine. Go back to identifying Peugeots and Huffys.

my sustained top speed on the flats is nearly a full mph slower

This part is a bit surprising, IMO: Why do you think this is the case?

I just got back from my Sunday morning ride with my daughter. I rode my Trek 5000 and had a great time. Am I going to be banned from the C&V forum?
If it helps, my daughter was on a 1991 Trek 830 and managed to ride me into the ground. I promise I will take my Hetchins out tomorrow if you decide to let me stay.

i just got back from my sunday morning ride with my daughter. I rode my trek 5000 and had a great time. Am i going to be banned from the c&v forum?
If it helps, my daughter was on a 1991 trek 830 and managed to ride me into the ground. I promise i will take my hetchins out tomorrow if you decide to let me stay.

Banned

...I'm bringing the camera along to take some pics.

Got those pics coming soon?

I don't have a whiz bang bike so when I go out on group rides I usually have a bike that is older than anyone I ride with... I think they humour the old guy by letting me pull as much as I do and let me get to the top of climbs first just to make me feel better.

They're good kids and they have also developed an appreciation for vintage bikes.

Got those pics coming soon?

Kodachrome has to be taken in for photofinishing ya know...

Heh. I found this thread very relevant, because I've been considering taking advantage of the local bicycle club's free training sessions for women who want to give racing a try. The instructions say that in order to participate, one's bicycle "must be a road bike". But what exactly is meant by this nowadays? Is a French lugged steel roadbike from the 70s even acceptable? What about if it's a mixte? I know this must seem like a ridiculous question, but the whole scene is alien to me, so I've no idea : )

Pics, sucks without 'em.

Heh. I found this thread very relevant, because I've been considering taking advantage of the local bicycle club's free training sessions for women who want to give racing a try. The instructions say that in order to participate, one's bicycle "must be a road bike". But what exactly is meant by this nowadays? Is a French lugged steel roadbike from the 70s even acceptable? What about if it's a mixte? I know this must seem like a ridiculous question, but the whole scene is alien to me, so I've no idea : )

Well, gearing will make more of a difference than what your bike is made of. A mixte would be out of line, but a drop bar, skinny tired bike with gearing like 53/39 11/12-25/28 will make the distinction. If you wanna go, take your french bike, if they don't like it... well... poo on them.
-Gene-

Well, gearing will make more of a difference than what your bike is made of. A mixte would be out of line, but a drop bar, skinny tired bike with gearing like 53/39 11/12-25/28 will make the distinction. If you wanna go, take your french bike, if they don't like it... well... poo on them.
-Gene-

It's got drop bars and 32mm tires; the gearing I will have to check. Thanks : )

I took one bad picture. Found out that taking a picture requires some dexterity. Gettin the camera out of your pocket, turning it on, riding and paying attention to where youre going. Next week I'll try again.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d933b3127ccec7cdb6c256f200000040O08UcN27Zs3B7efCA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Nice bunch of guys and a girl, from Garners Cyclery in Northbrook, IL. They ride at a nice pace with some spirited bursts. Will ride with them regularly now. Anyone else in the area I would recommend this ride. Meets at Garners at 7:30 Sunday morning.

Once I put the purple bar tape on I finally got a response from a few folks in the group ride. It's all new CF fancy-bikes but me on my '86 steel. It is converted to 9 speed Ultegra though so I have all the modern amenities and 2-5 extra pounds, that's all.

I never cared what they think, just that I myself would sometimes internally covet their $ spent when I can't. But, that's my own problem, and I've gotten over it a long time ago. I am not in the rear and not at the front when the shaved-leg group shows up, but I am getting more fit and having fun, so it's a win-win.

BTW, I just picked up a CF TREK from '93 for $100 so maybe I can learn to act elitist soon.

I can certainly believe that a given rider will be slightly faster on a modern high-end bike than on a classic, but a 5% difference sounds awfully high to me, since I don't think being on my mountain bike, with its 26x1.95 knobbies inflated to 65PSI, slows me down by more than about 3%.

The variables are pretty easy to identify:
1) tire rolling resistance (easily equalized, unless you have smooth walled rims);
2) air resistance (those reduced spoke counts do admittedly help a little here, but one pays a huge penalty in durability, reliability, and the heavier rims' inertia);
3) weight (only on climbs or sprints);
4) fit to the rider (arguably most important of all, but again easily equalized if one buys the right frame size);
5) gearing -- with 18 or 20 or even 27 speeds, one can cover a wider range of ratios with a smaller incremental step, but I solve this by not carrying any super-high gears that I wouldn't use,anyway;
6) frame stiffness, which is an issue only when one is mashing the cranks, rather than spinning.

When I ride with my club, I have always felt that my own physical conditioning is what really counts, and I have never blamed the bike.

Yawn.

Bikes are bikes. Riders are riders. It does not matter.

Of course we can have another swell reverse snobbery post anyway I guess.

Good point, Otis; exactly what I was thinking. Especially the specter of 'reverse snobbery'. Ride what you've got, and let others do the same, right?

I ride only vintage rigs, but I can appreciate the engineering of the modern machinery. I also remember my own ideology back in the day: new was best! And today, I'm riding what was new back in my day...I imagine that 20 years from now the CF crowd will be on those bikes they're riding today, only they'll be vintage and new inovations in cycling will make them look old and outdated, too. However, if they're still riding them, that can only be a good thing.

I'll never forget where I came from...

I've experienced the same thing when riding my vintage steel versus my wonder-carbon. I chalk it up to riding position. The carbon bike has about 1.5cm more saddle to bar drop. I've passed carbon while I'm on my vintage steel and I've been passed by steel when I'm on my carbon. No big deal. The latter does kind of suck though...

tho it's almost impossible to isolate with any degree of certainty, extrapolating from my experiences with other wheelsets sharing similar features (campy eurus,neutron,proton & khamsin), the rim profiles would appear to make only a small top speed difference between the low-profile nucleons and the medium-profile, semi-aero shamals ( guesstimated @ maybe o.2- o.3 MPH). fwiw-the taller shamals ride like bricks



OK. I ride Rigida steel rims. How do they compare?:rolleyes: