catonec 

I love new technology and computer designed bits.

I drink all sorts of kool-aid. carbon, electronic shifting, Campagnolo, clipless (speedplay), low spoke count.

many things spat back up. Brooks saddles, steel road frames, aero bars, bike mirrors, SHIMANO, dt shifters, barcons,

and the rest that I have no real interest in trying. recumbents, ss/fg (except bmx), english 3 speeds, beach cruisers, c/v, leather saddle bags, moustache bars, fully loaded touring,

Velognome 

Faux Painted lugs on a tigged frame or faux painted welds on a Fillet brazed frame

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

painting welds on a fillet brazed frame is way edgier.

-holiday76

I just got back from a serious training ride. By that I mean I walked my race bike up a hill (overpass) while thinking about Thomas the Train.

-holiday76

I don't buy that "support your lbs" crap.I buy all my parts directly from china, on the Internet. I have a track frame brazed in an open hearth Dick Power style. Actually his name was Jesus Power and it wasn't a hearth, it was an oven at pizza hut. He might have been here illegally but I don't drink that koolaid either.

conradpdx

The Portland Addition:

Fixies: tried it and hated every minute of it. I like to ride bikes, not have my bike ride me.

Bakfiets: really, just get a good used trailer that can be removed from a normal bike. I mean really an extra grand for a wood box.

Xtracycles: See Bakfiet replace wood box for long board skateboard.

Lycra: This is C&V no need to explain.

650b: of course I ride with 650A so why bother.

Group Rides: See lycra, add moo.....

Carbon: not interested in a bike with an expiration date, or one that slowly degrades in sunlight.

Al frames: Aluminium is best suited for beer cans, Al frames make me cry when thinking of the beer that hasn't been made and stored.

Alloy wheels: Yeah it rains in Portland, but my squealing brakes saves me from having to ring the bell when passing people.

Narrow handlebars: I kinda like to control the bike I ride.

Flip flop hubs: wouldn't gears just kinda save a few minutes on each trip.

Tall bikes: you-hooooo look at me. It's the purple hair of the bike world.

People thinking that a vintage frame turned fixie is worth more than a bike with all the original components. Is that Raleigh Professional with a crappy BMX hub really worth $300 more than the Professional as it was?

Anything with more than 10 gears (pass for mountain bikes that actually see trails).

Suspension: Had a 93 Raleigh MT 800 (see a trend here) with a front shock, and other than when riding on the trails wish I had skipped it.

Did I mention Lycra yet.

I'd like to think I'm done, but I'm getting older and crankier every day.



Would love to try Ti sometime, also would love a Brompton and will get one once I win the lottery. Would love to ride a Penny farthing. And hope to make a tadpole recumbent someday. Not really into derailers and am looking to build up a S&A 8 speed drum brake commuter on an old Stumpy frame.

Sixty Fiver

China makes vintage bike parts now ?

Sixty Fiver

I still don't own a Ti or Carbon bike and will have to finish up those plans for building a custom recumbent before I get to enjoy riding one or rather, find myself forced into riding one as I still like those drop bars on those vintage handbuilt lugged frames.

I also appreciate the brifters on my new old racing bike which is custom, lugged, and of fairly recent production.

Reynolds 

Carbon
Fixed
Suspension
Aluminum frames/forks
Hydraulic brakes
Tubeless
But I have 2 IGHs, a Campagnolo, and wouldn't mind trying out a recumbent.

Novakane 

Alright, I'll play... I'm a retro grouch though, so there's lots of tech that's been made that I do not care for...

Indexed shifting - I've been tasting the koolaid lately on my Miyata 1000, but it came with that and it's my nicesest bike (also @ 1990 my most modern) so I wouldn't say I'm any sort of convert. I grew up with coaster brakes (didn't we all?) and lusted after freewheels and drop bars that I used to see go by daily on the country roads. I've been friction shifting since the '80s and have absolutely no problem with it. Seriously, how hard is it to listen to your chain and determine if you're in gear or need to trim a little? If the SIS died for some reason on the one bike that has it, I'd not put any effort into replacing it with another indexer, I'd just put frictions on it and move on. The fuss of getting the indexing tuned is just a PITA to me and time I'd rather spend doing something like riding.

Fixed wheel - not going to happen, with a few exceptions I despise what is generally done to these bikes in the vein of being "cool". I don't care for cool, and I *really* like coasting down hills. If I have drops and a freewheel, I'm happy - I like to get low and feel like I'm flying down hills. Can't do that on a fixie with straight bars, and my double-surgery knee would never forgive me either. I am open to the idea of a single speed however, as long as it has low bars and can coast.

Carbon fiber - I don't get it. My friend has a $5,000 cf racing bike and it weighs only a few pounds less than my chromoly bikes. I may be hauling a few more pounds, but it won't shatter on impact. Maybe it's my experience with vintage Simplex, but plastic in any form has no place in key points on the bike. Just my opinion. I heard a cf bike ride by the other day and I even disliked the *sound* of the stiff frame. Seems like a solution looking for a problem in my mind.
If light and expensive is your taste, go titanium. If my bike had carbon fiber I'd spend the whole ride being afraid of the darned bike and that's no fun.

Aluminum - while I'm complaining about stiff frame materials, I'd gladly take aluminum over plastic, but I've seen aluminum straight out crack on a mild impact, and I don't find aluminum bikes are really any lighter than good steel, just chunkier. Seems to me like frame makers are pulling a fast one on consumers with this material. Some how jumbo tubing is a selling point, but I can't fathom why. Alloy is fine on the components, even if they break it's replaceable but a cracked frame requires a whole new bike.

Belt/shaft drives - again, a solution looking for a problem. Are chains really a problem?

More than 10 speeds - frankly 10 is probably more than I need. I probably use a third of the actual combinations at best. I do like the bikes from the '70s that came with them though, so I stick with 10 gears. I've tasted the 12 and 21 combos and find it has no advantage that works for me enough to swallow the koolaid.

26" wheels of the modern variety - small, wide tires. Blech. Need I say more? I am considering fixing up a set of 650A for my new (1979) beater so I can get some traction and fenders for winter this coming season. Sort of 26" but not as fat.
Same goes for 29'ers, I don't see me slapping fat tires on a 700C wheel anytime soon. I tried to re-live my MTB days for a while, but the koolaid didn't take.

Since SIS is a weenie device in my mind, electronic shifting is naturally right out.

Campy - sorry, some may not agree, but the nicest C&V campy RDR looks like no match for a Cyclone. Plus all of my bikes are Japanese/ Japanese-Canadian/ Japanese-British, so there's no room for Italian bits in my stable. I do like the look of some Campy cranks and seat posts, but I'm not gonna spend money on them.

I did drink the Tektro aero lever koolaid, however.

Basically if it came out after 1980 or so, my interest dwindles significantly.

dyander

I'm with Tom, I'm too low budget to spend much time sniffing around modern kool-aid, I got my old bikes working again and they ride as well as they ever did. No doubt modern tech is making a great advances and I am ready to take a sip of the newer indexed brifter drive train and dual pivot brakes as long as I can put it on a steel frame. Any tips for a good donor bike/groupset to look for?

puchfinnland

I have not tried

brifters
a carbon bike
full suspension MTB

what I would really like to try

a recumbent
a lightweight velocar- and would like to build one

Velognome 

Cuz that's me...... edgy

On topic, one of the heels fell off my Florshiem Wingtip the other day...so I was thinking about taking the other one off an using them (the shoes ) for riding...wadda ya think or clip or clipless?

Amesja

Electronic shifting is something I don't see myself ever getting.

I have enough of an issue keeping my cell phone charged and working from day to day. I don't want to worry about batteries or having a "dead bike."

Poguemahone

I pretty much haven't tried anything that costs a pootload of dinero. I'll try it when it becomes cheap or I find it at Goodwill. Which are the same thing.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

having never tried clipless for myself that is what I would recommend wholeheartedly.

I do suspect that Florsheim shoes are rather bourgeois though....Grant Petersen would much prefer you to wear Hush Puppies. Go buy a pair and wait for the heel to fall off of one then ask again.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

In that case I highly recommend not ordering the Prime Rib, and stay away from C&V Wines.

jjames1452 

Recumbent Bicycles
Carbon Fiber:

It is in my marriage certificate that if I ever purchase a CF or Recumbent that my wife is to shoot me!
(there's like 14 or 15 other clauses allowing the same that she put in)

-holiday76

News flash - fat middle aged old guys on vintage race bikes are no less cool/dorky/out of place than the same people on a recumbent .

photogravity

Go with clips... the soles on those things are slicker than deer guts on a doorknob. I don't think you don't want a foot slipping off the pedal.

fender1

I prefer to hoard lots of relatively low value, useless bike related crap, call myself a collector/retro-grouch and throw stones at what I have never tried.

buldogge

^^^I'm glad you said it...saved me the trouble.

scotjonscot

I'm seriously reconsidering this whole "wheels" thing. Who needs this new-fangled technology when you have legs that work just fine for walking and running.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

What's your favorite Flavor of Kool-Aid?

I like Red.

KonAaron Snake 

Best comment on the thread. Granted, that's like winning the gold medal in race walking.