Originally Posted by
Murray Missile
And wheels, saddles, etc.
Actually the wheels weren't that bad, they generally came from the factory with 36 spokes regardless of the size of the bike. I still have a set of Torelli Master Series wheels I had built with 36 DT Revolution spokes on the front and 36 DT double butted Competition spokes for the rear, I can't recall the gauge but they were the thinnest gauge of the 2 Comp spokes offered at the time. I never had any problems with those wheels, and a lot Clydesdales rode on 36 spoke wheels without issues, Tandem and touring bikes sometimes came with 40 spoke wheels at least on the rear wheel.
I didn't think the saddles were that bad either, heavy compared to todays saddles, but the all steel seat rails held up great whereas today the ones with CF rails break, and the AL rails bend, but the padding in those old saddles didn't last as long as the ones do today while the covers back then lasted longer then they do today.
Weird stuff like pedals today don't last anywhere near as long as the old clip pedals did, and neither do todays shoes, todays shoes are lucky to make it 5 years, whereas I still have a pair of clip style shoes I've had since 1981 and are still wearable...well they would be still wearable if my feet hadn't gotten wider!
Overall I believe bikes from the 80's especially were built way better for long life application then they are today...as long as you didn't need the largest frame made and weighed a lot. Geez, I remember testing riding a slew of bikes in 1984 before I bought a Trek 660, you would be surprised as to how many of them were flexy has you cranked on the power going up steep grades, that was the reason I stayed away from the Trek 760 with 531P tubing as well, it flexed like crazy but the later found out it had a 165 pound rider weight limit and I weighed 160 at the time. Tange Prestige had a weight limit of 150 pounds. The worst flexing bike I tested was a Peugeot PY10, I didn't even take it up a grade and that darn thing was flexy like a wet noodle, so I took it back to the store after going down one side of a block, I don't recall the weight limit on that probably 75 pounds!
As crazy as this sounds but I believe that Miyata triple butted splined tubing and Fuji quad butted frames were better than anything that Reynolds or Columbus put out. Had I known that back in 84 when I bought the Trek 660 I would have probably bought one or the other in the high end category.