Chrome Molly

My latest retro grouch issue is that companies are making 27.2 seat posts with writing more than a fist ways down from the clamp. Why they think I will pay top dollar to have that problem is something I can't figure out. Kalloy and...? Even nitto graphics are too far down on their "modern" stuff.

Mobile 155

Ok you win the Retrogrouch match. But the conversation hasn't been about you. It has been about the topic, and that topic is how retrogrouch are you? I have lined up on the scale where I think I fit. But I resist the idea that the Industry has hypnotized all of the new people entering cycling because almost everyone I have met from Beach Cruisers to Triathletes knows what they want be it retro styling or E-tap superbikes. And if a salesman gets them on a bike they hate that is just as much the fault of the buyer as it is the salesman because the buyer more than likely will not be a return customer. By the way, Kool aid is bad for you, too much sugar. No name calling here.

rootboy 

It just might be because nearly all your posts contain something judgemental or self-important.
I don't know for sure though.

merziac

This +1!

Rocket-Sauce 

C+V everything. All in.

I'm writing this from my NOS abacus.

Bandera

Actually cleats were firmly and precisely tacked by one's trusted cobbler to cycling shoes since the turn of the 19th century.

TA/Anquetil cleats ( my favorite) "back when" are still available today decades on:

T A Jaques Anquetil Route Cleats Early 70's NIP | eBay

Small wonder that when the Look "clipless" system was designed mid-80's we adopted it poste haste in racing and never looked back.
No more fumbleing at the start, tightening straps for "the big climb" or the "sprint for the line" or simply silly-arse forgetting to release. : Good riddance.

Still have clips/straps on the elderly town bike even for plootering about, but desperate starts & heroic efforts are no longer required.

-Bandera

jimmuller 

Yrs, I know that and really don't care. Cleats are still a newfangled invention I don't need.

Bandera

Just out of curiosity do you care to use any of those other contemporary "newfangled" tech like:

The Horseless Carriage
The Internal Gear Bicycle Hub
Electric City Lighting
Vaccinations for Small Pox
Flying Machines
Derailleur Bicycle Gearing or
Home Refrigeration?

If you don't use pre/post-19th century tech it's not actually "newfangled" is it?

As always, suit yourself.

-Bandera

jimmuller 

I thought I was having fun, seeing as how this is a whimsical subject, but you've convinced me I wasn't.

Bandera

Oh man, was I channeling the Period Correct Police there?

Sorry.

-Bandera

Camilo

Interesting generalization - my experience is that the largest percentage of cyclists are riding exactly the kind of bike they most enjoy, based on good thought and decisions on the options available. They are also wearing very functional clothing based on the same thought about what they need and/or enjoy wearing. I don't think I know any cyclists who are riding overtly wrong bikes or unsuitable clothes.

I think you might have a pretty limited view of what's right or wrong for other cyclists, maybe based simply on what you happen to like.

bulldog1935

good morning, won't be here long, off to meet an early group.
I'll try this again
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...P=share_btn_fb
this was the only thing I was judging
a lot of people are turned away from cycling because their brain says bicycle, remember their childhood, maybe they remember the bike boom and now they have got to put on the whole armor if they want to be a serious cyclist and fit in.

Bicycles were a mature technology 100 years ago, but the marketing has really advanced.

bulldog1935

I'll throw in one et tu here and I'm off to ride
Hint, I wasn't even judging you

Mobile 155

Enjoy your ride. I still see it as a defense of dyeing retro more than a ode to the joy of cycling.

DMC707

LOL - that rings familiar -- C&V by attrition

I enjoyed Bulldog's linked article about where did the hippies and explorers go? But i came to cycling strictly from a racing perspective 25 years ago. I did ride an Italian bike for several years in the mid 90's - being lugged steel, it stood out in a sea of aluminum and bonded carbon, - but it wasnt unusual- Indurain just won a handful of Tours on steel and USPS was still riding Eddy's and steel Caloi's

Afterwards i owned a slew of modern machines -- Litespeeds, an ONCE replica Giant for a season and a couple others.

Starting a newcareer though, i no longer had time to put in the mileage it took to be competitive --- cycling fell by the wayside and i piled on a significant amount of pounds from late hours, irregular scheduling , and enough beer to float a destroyer


3 years ago i decided i would try to take my cycling seriously again so i tried to outfit my Litespeed to fit my now quite round frame, With a 17 degree stem, a new fork and a stack of headset spacers , i was off to the races---- but -- top tube still too long

I post here mostly, but i like new stuff too, so i bought a carbon Cannondale- one of the Fondo geometry ones, the Synapse-- again, ultimately the geometry felt odd and too low slung for me

I battled with fit and positioning on the Dale for a few months thinking to myself since it already had a raised head tube, that was as good as i was going to get- i just have to deal with it and lose more weight

Until ---- i took my old Ciocc out for a spin- i bought it to look at, not ride---- it was a super well preserved antique- narrow bars, super skinny rims, friction shifting, but i took it out as a goof

I had a eureka moment on that short ride --- the old square (equal seat and top tube lengths) worked quite well, felt good, and i thought, "If i got some wide bars and one of those turkey neck Nitto stems i used to laugh at, i'll be back in business again!"

And no need to buy anything new, the Ciocc was still too nice in my eyes to convert to brifters, but i had my old steel frame in the attic from the 90's !

But it was beat up and in sore need of some paint, so i sent it off to be repaired and painted, in the meantime i bought a similar machine on ebay to build up and have been cycling on Italian steel ever since

I never intended to be a C&V'er - it just happened that way

Now im hooked

DMC707

I think the hippies and explorers are still with us to an extent ---they have just shifted to MTB's maybe?

Although i love my project late 80's and early 90's era road machinery, My MTB is a current long travel machine, but with that, i am obsessed with going on personal "grail rides" and riding new trails in distant states i only read about growing up --- Monarch Crest, Moab, Mammoth Mountain - the list is long

I also wish King George's group hadnt shut down the trail network in Tapatio Springs - i heard that was a great (but gruelling) ride as well

ApolloSoyuz1975

Stuffed sausage #2 checking in. I'd wear baggy shorts if I could actually find a pair of baggy bibs w/ pockets in the wild....

Can us beer-can bike owners join the neo-retro peanut gallery? I even have toeclips and a Turbo!

OldsCOOL

How could I be a grouch about any of my retro-ness? If I didnt like it I would certainly adjust equipe status.

gomango

As far as I am concerned, of course.

I ride an old Merckx AluCross all the time.

Just let some air out of the tires and you don't notice how stiff that thing is.....

Rcrxjlb

I like old bikes but i hate gumwalls...

DMC707

It was a bit disconcerting to me wearing lycra when i no longer look like a blonde Adonis --- but i shrugged it off by saying to myself --- "These are the best togs for my riding style, - if anyone else has a problem wwith it, - then that is their problem, it doesnt have to be mine"

That said, if its a casual ride where i know there will be some stops, i'll wear some cargo shorts over the bibs and wear a baggy under armor t shirt in lieu of a jersey


I also have a couple C'dale criterium models and an old GT road bike that are definitely seasoned enough to be retro

Mobile 155

My story is a bit like yours if somewhat shuffled.

Readers digest version:

I started out young on baloon tired tank bikes and thought What we called English racers, now most often called 3 speed roadsters, were new fangled. I moved to a new fangled Schwinn Varsity, my Continintal wasn't as new fangled. I really went new Fangled when I got a feather light Viscount Aerospace Pro.

I languished a bit in the early MTB years and the resurgence of the Beach Cruiser years.

Got back into cycling after years of life getting in the way and tried semi- recumbents and hard tail MTBs. Then I bought my first new fangled road bike with "gasp" STI and an aluminum compact frame.

I moved to Scandium and learned the joys of climbing on a stiff no flex frame. Not so good on centuries. Raced for a couple of years before getting my first new fangled CF bike and started endurance events. I did the Furnace Creek 508 in 2011 on a CF bike and thought I reached the top of my cycling bell curve.

I never thought I would be interested in going back to steel, aluminum or Scandium. Then one day I set my eyes on a 89 Klein. I rode it and made an offer and now some tell me it is a C&V bike. All I knew was I liked it. Next thing I know I have a shot at a old Peugeot frame. Now I have a lugged steel frame from about the same time frame as my old Varsity. And I like riding it as well.

It is almost like the Lion King, the circle of life, or cycling.

DMC707

Another one of those "grail rides" that i must do someday ! The fella' whose advice i took to start losing weight talks up that race as one of the most difficult things he's ever done (Vinnie Totorich, he's a diet/fitness guru of sorts from LA )

I think i could take it on if i did a 3 man relay, but solo? - I have a lot of work to do. I did a small handful of 12 hour marathons and one 24 hour marathon in the past, and was woefully under-prepared for all of them, -- but being young and crazy helps you survive stunts like that

bulldog1935

(none of us are actual grouches, though quoting out of context and extrapolating with their own words others may want to make it seem that way).
There is a new generation of retrogrouches coming up. And of course to pigeonhole and market it, the industry has to call them Adventure bikes.
Thanks friends, we had a great ride today, humidity notwithstanding.

AS'75, we need a brewpub run

Bandera, see you on the road

Mobile 155

It is now the Silver State 508. The Death Valley park director cancelled all competitive events for a couple of years and so they moved it.

After having a quad bi-pass last year my ultra timed rides are more than likely long gone. I still get in 120 to 150 miles a week. I haven't done more than 60 miles in one try since the operation no centuries, but I have been cleared to give it a try in September. I simply don't want to give up the cycling.