The Component Everyone Loves (Except You)
#126
Junior Member
Downtube shifters. Had them for years because I was supposed to. They always made me drift sideways every time I bent down to shift. Barcons were a world changer.
Porteur bars. One ride and they had to go.
Tried the original leather saddle that came with my Peugeot-damn that was painful. Definitely not like a brooks.
Porteur bars. One ride and they had to go.
Tried the original leather saddle that came with my Peugeot-damn that was painful. Definitely not like a brooks.
#127
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Trekking bars, a.k.a "Butterfly" bars. I put them on several bikes of my own, and also my wife's. They seem cool at first but they've all now been replaced with either flat bars or drop bars. It took a couple of years before the novelty wore off, but I ended up feeling like I gave up too much control of the bike's handling and switched back.
#128
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#130
Cheerfully low end
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Trekking bars, a.k.a "Butterfly" bars. I put them on several bikes of my own, and also my wife's. They seem cool at first but they've all now been replaced with either flat bars or drop bars. It took a couple of years before the novelty wore off, but I ended up feeling like I gave up too much control of the bike's handling and switched back.
They had an aero section in the front, and on this one, it was chopped by the guy who sold me the bike they were on. Kinda like flat bars with built in bar ends, but the rounded shape is pretty nice.
I try these on my old MTB occasionally and I like them a lot, but I always seem to like classic drop bars and non-aero levers a little bit more.

Otto
#131
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I’ve never had butterfly bars, per se, but I do have a couple Scott AT-4 Pro bars that look a bit similar.
They had an aero section in the front, and on this one, it was chopped by the guy who sold me the bike they were on. Kinda like flat bars with built in bar ends, but the rounded shape is pretty nice.
I try these on my old MTB occasionally and I like them a lot, but I always seem to like classic drop bars and non-aero levers a little bit more.
They had an aero section in the front, and on this one, it was chopped by the guy who sold me the bike they were on. Kinda like flat bars with built in bar ends, but the rounded shape is pretty nice.
I try these on my old MTB occasionally and I like them a lot, but I always seem to like classic drop bars and non-aero levers a little bit more.
--Shannon
#132
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+ about a billion on the two bolt seat post
__________________
Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can
(looking for Torpado Super light frame/fork or for Raleigh International frame fork 58cm)
Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can
(looking for Torpado Super light frame/fork or for Raleigh International frame fork 58cm)
#133
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Seems like everybody seems to love DA 7400 group....except me......
I don't really hate it, but I just can't love it.
It certainly works really well and is pretty much one of the most reliable and best functioning groups ever made for bikes, but it's perfection to a fault that it becomes something almost boring to have on a bike for me. Plus the aesthetics of things in the group, like the 7400 series crank for example, just looks too "cleaned up" and pretty much featureless and blah to look at..
That's why I think I'm glad that Suntour died before they fully followed this "Toyotaesque" design philosophy that Shimsno embraced in the late 80's, and I'd rather build a bike with Superbe group than with a DA 7400 group, any day. I'd even choose a Campy NR or SR group over it, without hesitation.
......JMOs....
I don't really hate it, but I just can't love it.
It certainly works really well and is pretty much one of the most reliable and best functioning groups ever made for bikes, but it's perfection to a fault that it becomes something almost boring to have on a bike for me. Plus the aesthetics of things in the group, like the 7400 series crank for example, just looks too "cleaned up" and pretty much featureless and blah to look at..
That's why I think I'm glad that Suntour died before they fully followed this "Toyotaesque" design philosophy that Shimsno embraced in the late 80's, and I'd rather build a bike with Superbe group than with a DA 7400 group, any day. I'd even choose a Campy NR or SR group over it, without hesitation.
......JMOs....
#134
señor miembro
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The hardest part is getting the saddle rails in there in the first place. Once it's in position, it's a breeze to adjust. You only need to use a ratcheting wrench on the rear bolt. Just use your fingers on the front one. And unlike some single-bolt clamps I've had, there's little fear of the two-bolt models stripping threads.
#135
Master Parts Rearranger
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Seems like everybody seems to love DA 7400 group....except me......
I don't really hate it, but I just can't love it.
It certainly works really well and is pretty much one of the most reliable and best functioning groups ever made for bikes, but it's perfection to a fault that it becomes something almost boring to have on a bike for me. Plus the aesthetics of things in the group, like the 7400 series crank for example, just looks too "cleaned up" and pretty much featureless and blah to look at..
That's why I think I'm glad that Suntour died before they fully followed this "Toyotaesque" design philosophy that Shimsno embraced in the late 80's, and I'd rather build a bike with Superbe group than with a DA 7400 group, any day. I'd even choose a Campy NR or SR group over it, without hesitation.
......JMOs....
I don't really hate it, but I just can't love it.
It certainly works really well and is pretty much one of the most reliable and best functioning groups ever made for bikes, but it's perfection to a fault that it becomes something almost boring to have on a bike for me. Plus the aesthetics of things in the group, like the 7400 series crank for example, just looks too "cleaned up" and pretty much featureless and blah to look at..
That's why I think I'm glad that Suntour died before they fully followed this "Toyotaesque" design philosophy that Shimsno embraced in the late 80's, and I'd rather build a bike with Superbe group than with a DA 7400 group, any day. I'd even choose a Campy NR or SR group over it, without hesitation.
......JMOs....
My best "7400" groupset is 7402 cranks, brake levers, brake calipers (for single pivot), 7700/7900 shifters, 7800 derailleurs, and 740x hubs. All the classiness with all the silver.
#137
Old fart
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Straight-blade forks.
Meh.
Just meh.
Meh.
Just meh.
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#138
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barcons.......just don't work for me.....they are magnets for my knee and I really didn't like the overall workability......... downtube, brifters or thumbie friction for me
__________________
Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can
(looking for Torpado Super light frame/fork or for Raleigh International frame fork 58cm)
Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can
(looking for Torpado Super light frame/fork or for Raleigh International frame fork 58cm)
Likes For squirtdad:
#139
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Lollipop pedals. Could never get clipped in. My 135lb self had to stand on them and maybe. Just maybe. But no. Back to toe clips and straps.
#140
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I'd be careful riding on the forward sections of those AT-4s. Like, don't ride on that part of the bar off road, and I wouldn't honk out of the saddle on it either. The little yellow plastic piece that joined the ends on the AT-4s and the tri-bars was structural. The bars were designed to have it. There was even a shop warning about it back in the day, because triathletes were removing them so they could install bar-cons and then complaining when their bars bent.
--Shannon
--Shannon
Otto
#142
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Peugeot PX-10
#143
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--Shannon
#144
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The one I have is actually a 90s Concor Light but I love the raised back of the saddle for whatever reason. I'm always surprised more saddles don't have that.
#145
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Simplex Retrofriction shift levers. I'm supposed to like them, but they seemed to ghost shift on me often. Tighten down the bolt, goes away for awhile, then comes back. Switched to ratcheting shifters (old SunTour or modern equivalents), problem went away.
They are damn smooth though.
They are damn smooth though.
I have retros on most of my bikes, and I only encountered shift holding problems with one lever (used when I got it.) and it was because of a badly worn pivot barrel that the clutch spring could not grip on to.
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72 Line Seeker
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72 Line Seeker
83 Davidson Signature
84 Peugeot PSV
84 Peugeot PY10FC
84 Gitane Tour de France.
85 Vitus Plus Carbone 7
86 ALAN Record Carbonio
86 Medici Aerodynamic (Project)
88 Pinarello Montello
89 Bottecchia Professional Chorus SL
95 Trek 5500 OCLV (Project)
#147
Bike Butcher of Portland
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Were the Retrifructions used when you got them? You know that they do wear out at the pivot barrels where the clutch springs grip on to, which would then cause them not to hold a shift. The pivot screws mostly just retains the lever assembly to the frame shifter bosses and it is really the clutch sprin and barrel inside the shifter that does all the Retrofriction magic.
I have retros on most of my bikes, and I only encountered shift holding problems with one lever (used when I got it.) and it was because of a badly worn pivot barrel that the clutch spring could not grip on to.
I have retros on most of my bikes, and I only encountered shift holding problems with one lever (used when I got it.) and it was because of a badly worn pivot barrel that the clutch spring could not grip on to.
At any rate, a shift lever that can wear out? I'm not sure if any microratcheting shift levers, such as SunTour or the Silver levers that Rivendell sells ever wear out, which is what I've switched to.
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If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#149
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#150
smelling the roses
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Of course. Just the one! But....
If I find a Trek like yours......
If I find a Trek like yours......