Bike Trends and Spending Money
#26
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Is it my imagination that shops are serving people who are recreational riders who don't work on their own bikes?
Granted, I don't even know how much work you can do on a modern bike... but I imagine if folks were working on their own bikes, they wouldn't be buying bikes with hidden hydraulics.
I'm also guessing that most transportation cyclists do a lot of their own maintenance?? If you are counting on your bike to be ready to take you to work, you can't really afford to leave it at a shop for a few days. There are brands that seem happy to cater to commuters and utility cyclists, such as the line of Surly frames and bikes (if they are still around), but that's a small segment of the overall market.
I agree with the general sentiment that "unracers" get ignored, but I'd say that most of the folks I know that ride on the road are not racers, but they are recreational riders trying to go as fast as possible, and are willing to buy a modern bike in order to do that. In the local area, I'm a weirdo because my fast bikes were made in 1982 and have six speed freewheels. The local shops aren't really trying to cater to me, because I only buy weird stuff. I did buy some new SPD shoes at Bushwhacker a month ago, though, and do pick up stuff like bar tape and tubular glue.
I do try to convince folks that they don't need the latest tech or the highest tech, but that cuts down their purchasing options and does require that they understand what the different levels of technology are about. A buddy who is a bit younger than me and rides bikes that are not much newer is just incredibly strong and fast. He makes a good advertisement for the idea that it's not the bike that makes you fast!
Steve in Peoria
Granted, I don't even know how much work you can do on a modern bike... but I imagine if folks were working on their own bikes, they wouldn't be buying bikes with hidden hydraulics.
I'm also guessing that most transportation cyclists do a lot of their own maintenance?? If you are counting on your bike to be ready to take you to work, you can't really afford to leave it at a shop for a few days. There are brands that seem happy to cater to commuters and utility cyclists, such as the line of Surly frames and bikes (if they are still around), but that's a small segment of the overall market.
I agree with the general sentiment that "unracers" get ignored, but I'd say that most of the folks I know that ride on the road are not racers, but they are recreational riders trying to go as fast as possible, and are willing to buy a modern bike in order to do that. In the local area, I'm a weirdo because my fast bikes were made in 1982 and have six speed freewheels. The local shops aren't really trying to cater to me, because I only buy weird stuff. I did buy some new SPD shoes at Bushwhacker a month ago, though, and do pick up stuff like bar tape and tubular glue.
I do try to convince folks that they don't need the latest tech or the highest tech, but that cuts down their purchasing options and does require that they understand what the different levels of technology are about. A buddy who is a bit younger than me and rides bikes that are not much newer is just incredibly strong and fast. He makes a good advertisement for the idea that it's not the bike that makes you fast!
Steve in Peoria
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I read BF so I can experience the modern trends vicariously.
Relieves me of the burden of actually dealing with them in real life.
Relieves me of the burden of actually dealing with them in real life.
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#28
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I've never been anyone's target market, so the industry's trickle-down-racing-tech/battery-operated-shifting are utterly irrelevant to me. #partypace
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#29
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I watch the party pace guy. He occasionally mentions things I figured out long ago. I love the compact double and friction shifting stuff he champions. I been doing that forever.
#30
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I’m into modernism, but that only gets me to about 1940.
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#34
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I was reasonably current on (racing) bike technology through 1977 but after my head injury I had more important things on my plate. (Watched Klein from not too great a distance as I rode his before and a local shop I hung out at was a very early carrier of his bikes.) After another season of racing I had the Mooney built and focused on work and the rest of my life, just riding as transportation and for my sanity.
Two decades and a failed marriage later, I had a little more time and freedom to do bikes. Money was tight but I started buying '80s frames and building them up as fun bikes for specific purposed. A lightweight road fix gear. (Very, very cheap and a whole lotta fun!) A race bike. No, racing was completely off the table. Then I landed a solid job and quickly ordered the custom ti ride I'd wanted since I rode an early Merlin. Several years later, another custom ti, this time the road fix gear I'd wanted for decades. Modeled loosely off that oh so fun el cheapo.
And the technology! Never got past 7-speed until that first ti bike - well proven Campy 9-speed. Campy because 1) I'd kill myself with those shifting brake levers steadying my hand on the lever reaching for the water bottle. Been doing that far to long to re-learn. and 2) those exposed cables - come on! (Haven't gone brifter yet. Still use those dumb old SunTour DT shifters. So dumb they don't even know how to not work.) Brakes? Any calipers that work well. Currently my six bikes are - 2 centerpull, 2 sidepull, 2 dual pivot and 1 cant. (Yes that adds up to 7. My ti fixie has two "cockpits - stem, bars and brake caliper. In 5 minutes I can turn it into a completely different ride.) And on that note - stems. I have one threadless bike. 1" steel steerer. When the headset goes, steerer is getting cut and threaded and a sweet quill dropped in. Better looking and so easy to vary the height - any time. No torque wrench or special care required. The bearings don't care.
Tires - went from sewups to clinchers ~2000. I'm going back to sewups/tubulars. (When I was riding them, "tubular" was spoken by the highfalutin, not us lowly roadies.) Starting to slime as needed. And I'll avail myself to the repair by mail services when I collect enough.
So - brifter: not in the foresee-able future. Tubeless: I'm staying totally tubed. Carbon fiber: tried bar plugs but they were a poor fit and kept falling out. (And so light, I never noticed. So I'm back to heavy plastic plugs.) Disk brakes - will I ever? I did do a decade and a half of index shifting. (SunTour Command - nice idea but I was too late. SunTour FWs in the sizes I like were hard to come by and Sachs/Sedis with its slightly different spacing worked but only so-so. DTs, friction and Power were a welcome step back.)
So catching the trends? I caught the tails of a couple. Trends with tails big enough and bushy enough they were hard to miss. Cassettes. Dual pivot brakes. Slime. (Two tires so far.)
Two decades and a failed marriage later, I had a little more time and freedom to do bikes. Money was tight but I started buying '80s frames and building them up as fun bikes for specific purposed. A lightweight road fix gear. (Very, very cheap and a whole lotta fun!) A race bike. No, racing was completely off the table. Then I landed a solid job and quickly ordered the custom ti ride I'd wanted since I rode an early Merlin. Several years later, another custom ti, this time the road fix gear I'd wanted for decades. Modeled loosely off that oh so fun el cheapo.
And the technology! Never got past 7-speed until that first ti bike - well proven Campy 9-speed. Campy because 1) I'd kill myself with those shifting brake levers steadying my hand on the lever reaching for the water bottle. Been doing that far to long to re-learn. and 2) those exposed cables - come on! (Haven't gone brifter yet. Still use those dumb old SunTour DT shifters. So dumb they don't even know how to not work.) Brakes? Any calipers that work well. Currently my six bikes are - 2 centerpull, 2 sidepull, 2 dual pivot and 1 cant. (Yes that adds up to 7. My ti fixie has two "cockpits - stem, bars and brake caliper. In 5 minutes I can turn it into a completely different ride.) And on that note - stems. I have one threadless bike. 1" steel steerer. When the headset goes, steerer is getting cut and threaded and a sweet quill dropped in. Better looking and so easy to vary the height - any time. No torque wrench or special care required. The bearings don't care.
Tires - went from sewups to clinchers ~2000. I'm going back to sewups/tubulars. (When I was riding them, "tubular" was spoken by the highfalutin, not us lowly roadies.) Starting to slime as needed. And I'll avail myself to the repair by mail services when I collect enough.
So - brifter: not in the foresee-able future. Tubeless: I'm staying totally tubed. Carbon fiber: tried bar plugs but they were a poor fit and kept falling out. (And so light, I never noticed. So I'm back to heavy plastic plugs.) Disk brakes - will I ever? I did do a decade and a half of index shifting. (SunTour Command - nice idea but I was too late. SunTour FWs in the sizes I like were hard to come by and Sachs/Sedis with its slightly different spacing worked but only so-so. DTs, friction and Power were a welcome step back.)
So catching the trends? I caught the tails of a couple. Trends with tails big enough and bushy enough they were hard to miss. Cassettes. Dual pivot brakes. Slime. (Two tires so far.)
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Gran Fondo-ification of cycling passed me by, my waistline thanks me.
#37
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For me, I have spent money back in 2015-2016 for upgrading my old mountain bike and bought two mountain bike frames in high end steel tubing and got at the endthree high end mountainbikes with the XT780T group,upgraded the wheels of my Giant Tourer as well as the tires. But this year was bitten by the road bike bug with high end steel frames, the groups I have chosen for my builds are Dura ace 7700,7800 but no 7900, 9000, 9100 and 9200. My Peugeot will be upgraded with Dura Ace 7700-7800 and my Raleigh will be upgraded with C record components. For wheels ,I bought 4 older Mavic wheelsets. No Disc brakes whether on my road and mountain bikes as well as no DI2. I never ride on tubulars only clinchers or tubeless. No use for me to go 11 speeds or 12 speeds. What's next? Spare parts purchasing
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bike trends
I think it is a trick question. Look at the response.
My take on the question echoes others. Are you having fun?
My first "adult" bicycle was a Schwinn Varsity in '63.
When I traded it for a Frejus with tubulars THAT was a change.
Everything since has been incremental, and added little to the pleasure.
Well, maybe light clinchers made life a little easier.
My take on the question echoes others. Are you having fun?
My first "adult" bicycle was a Schwinn Varsity in '63.
When I traded it for a Frejus with tubulars THAT was a change.
Everything since has been incremental, and added little to the pleasure.
Well, maybe light clinchers made life a little easier.
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#40
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You are saying that you feel the frame-set could have been manufactured post-1957, when Raleigh bought B.S.A? Or are you talking about the scenery?
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"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and - SNAP - the job's a game!"
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Ladies and gentlemen, in its 88th year of production, the Sturmey-Archer AW:
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#44
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Thoughts from the peanut gallery...
Performance based innovations are pretty astounding over the period covered by modern bikes...accelerating tech advances are pretty cool.
I am still not that good...
Performance based innovations are pretty astounding over the period covered by modern bikes...accelerating tech advances are pretty cool.
I am still not that good...
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1987 Crest Cannondale, 1987 Basso Gap, 1992 Rossin Performance EL, 1990ish Van Tuyl, 1985 Trek 670, 2003 Pinarello Surprise, 1990ish MBK Atlantique, 1987 Peugeot Competition, 1987 Nishiki Tri-A, 1981 Faggin, 1996 Cannondale M500, 1984 Mercian, 1982 AD SuperLeicht, 1985 Massi (model unknown), 1988 Daccordi Griffe , 1989 Fauxsin MTB, 1981 Ciocc Mockba, 1992 Bianchi Giro, 1977 Colnago Super, 1971 Raleigh International, 1998 Corratec Ap & Dun, 1991 Peugeot Slimestone
#45
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"Bike Trends and Spending Money".....
My solution has generally been no money, no spending.....so...... no 'trending'!
My solution has generally been no money, no spending.....so...... no 'trending'!
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#46
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#47
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I dont think anyone's mention aluminum rims. Im pretty sure the Ross BSO that I road into the ground (its softer than pavement) as a teen had steel rims and some sort of squealing suggestion of speed modulation.
#48
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The bicycle industry used to be dominated by small businesses that genuinely tried to make the best products possible to satisfy demand. As time progressed, many and then most of those small companies went out of business being outcompeted by increasingly larger companies. The critical issue is not that the companies producing products for a sport are large, but that along with that size comes marketing departments. No longer satisfied to satisfy demand, those marketing departments exist to CREATE demand. Participation in our sport has always ebbed and flowed on a cyclical basis, but the companies producing the products that we use are now too large to tolerate that sort of change in the level of sales. As a result they deal with lower participation levels with attempting to increase demand with new products. This strategy is especially important when dealing with a customer base that consists of the same participants with very little influx of new consumers. That is exactly the scenario that describes our sport today. Some of the “ innovation” is good, but sooner or later the supply of good ideas is exhausted and there is “innovation” just for the sake of change/being new. The lack of pertinent innovation is exacerbated by the fact that most of the large companies are no longer closely tied to the sport in any cultural way; they are detached. We are at least ten years beyond reaching the point of saturation by useless “innovation”. Whenever I make a cycling-related purchase, I always approach it from the standpoint of what I want versus what the industry wants me to have. When approached that way, it becomes very clear how over-marketed the industry has become.
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#49
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Yeah.., and how can you see what's up ahead, or around the corner, on one of those squat things, anyhow?!
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The first major upgrade that I made on my 1980 Grand Prix, a couple years after I bought it in 1981, was to put a nice set of aluminum Rigida wheels on it. It must have been tough, using aluminum in the '40's and '50's, though, when the material was still 3000 series. The Dunlop aluminum rims and the aluminum Constrictors had their problems.
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"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and - SNAP - the job's a game!"
"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and - SNAP - the job's a game!"