Originally Posted by
Andrew_G
I intended to give the OP an advance warning about bike shops and to be prepared for any potential disparaging sales pitches. Because:
Quite recently (May 2024) I went into a local Trek shop to buy some Bontrager lights. (The lights are the only Trek-associated product I own.) The 30-ish year old mechanic who was changing the tire on a child's bike rang up my sale. He asked me what bike I was going to use the lights on. I replied and said that I didn't fit production bikes, and that I consequently rode a custom made steel bike with a Campy 9 speed drive train. The mechanic then replied and said that my bike didn't have the 'performance' of today's bikes.
Oh, really !?
In the summer of 2015, at age 58, I rode 10 centuries over the summer - July 4 to Labor Day - on my Campy Record/Chorus equipped 2x9 custom made steel bike. It has traditional wheels with rim brakes, mechanical shifting, minimal carbon (only pedals), and it's reasonably easy to work on.
At the same time I was in the Trek shop, a cyclist friend (experienced, about 60 years old) brought in his new modern bike for maintenance. He had to change the placement of the brake levers on the handlebars, and the internally routed hydraulic brake lines had to be removed and replaced because their original lengths couldn't support the new placement of the brake levers. He read that bleeding the brake lines is a 2-person job. He expected to pay about $200 for maintenance.
When I worked in the aerospace business, performance was defined as meeting the customer's design and cost requirements.
I agree: the OP should ride his bike, and be happy!
Also keep in mind that is one tiny little piece of anecdotal evidence not at all relevant to anything. One single mechanic at one bike shop saying one thing (potentially we don't even have their side of the story) does not a good warning make. Yes there are some people who may say something like that but not many and not often and without full context who knows what that full conversation was. However yes generally a properly built custom bike is going to be better than most off the peg stuff and performance isn't always totally and fully linked to modernity though it can help in some situations.
Also the second story is another bit of anecdotal evidence which is probably also not very likely or the bike was put together poorly with really short hoses as unless you are changing stem length or bar length or something a slight adjustment in your levers shouldn't have that great of an effect to need a total overhaul. It is more likely with some of the modern stuff but not totally realistic in that sense and if say I was going to a longer stem or bars or something like that with cables I would still have to put new cables and housing on if they were too short so it doesn't change significantly. aside from there being a bit more step wise to hydraulic brakes and fluid involved but I rarely need to replace fluid in a good brake just pads and rotors occasionally and that is the case with most any brakes though in some cases your rotor might be quite a bit bigger and maybe thicker or less tendency to wear like a disc rotor (because it is a wheel)
Yes continue enjoying your bike if you are having fun on it no need to replace it but that is not to say you shouldn't buy a new one because having new bikes is always fun (and new doesn't have to mean brand new it could be new to you) maybe a different bike that serves a different purpose. N+1 is real.