C & V philosophical question
 

OK, we're all C&V-ers here. We like the old school stuff. Perhaps some of like the old school stuff MORE than the newer technology that is out there, such as (but not limited to):
Carbon Fiber
Brifters
16 spoke (or fewer) wheels (for that matter, anything less than 24 spokes)
Non-lugged frames
etc.

BUT!!! (you knew this was coming, didn't you?)

Maybe... just maybe there is something of the old school that you never did like, and are very happy to use something of the "new school".

For me, I never did like the old fashioned lighting systems that relied on the tire-driven generators. I know that some of you fine folks really do like them, and I'm not questioning your taste and do not mean to offend. But that is one thing that I never did really get into. For some reason, I just never did like them, and am happy to use modern, battery operated lights, especially the blinkie rear ones. This is one area that I'm very grateful for modern technology. I don't feel any remorse in using them, even though I'm a card carrying C&V-er!

Feel free to discuss.

Modern puncture resistant tires. I HATE getting a flat.

I don't miss those old plastic water bottles that can't seem to not make your water taste fouled with plastic chemicals.
An odorless and tasteless water bottle. All hail modern chemistry. :D

Down tube shifters, be they indexed or friction, are not my favorite part of a vintage road bicycle. Stem shifters are even worse. I do like Barcons but technology has really won this one. I love Brifters!!!

Two bolt seat posts.

I don't know who Laprade was. but he had his act together.
Top

The old analog cable-driven speedometers, or the front hub mounted odometers. My digital computers rock.

Turkey levers.

I really hate trap pedals. Modern brake pads and calipers also seem to offer a heck of a lot more stopping power. My Raleigh Professional and its SR brakes do NOT stop anything like kool stops on a modern caliper.

ALL HAIL THE SPD!

Stainless cables and Teflon-lined housing.

That's it.

-Kurt

Single pivot sidepulls. I will put up with them, but I don't have much good to say about them.


Oh and french threaded anything.

Never used a good set, have you?

-Kurt

Belated April Fools thread. I get it.

If Dia Compe 400s aren't "good" then no.

Never been that pleased with them myself.

-Kurt

Old style clincher tires. Michelin "Elans" in particular. But, IRC gum walls as well. And "Schwinn" size tires, what a stupid, stupid idea. Also, backwards front derailleurs, you know the ones that when you PULL the lever, they shift down! Totally asinine. Cable breaks and it shift you into HIGH gear. Moronic. I love the brifters on my Mercier, and my spd pedals. But, I still have toe clips, and Campy pedals on my Austro Daimler.

modern lights +1
tire & tube improvements +1
laprade +1
foam rubber bar tape
modern padded saddles ( I tried a Brooks Professional for a couple of years in the old days; neither of us got 'broken in' to the other to the point of my being comfortable :notamused:)

I use the above gladly, but I was getting along fine (except for the saddle) before they came along. Pretty much everything else on my rides is "old school", except racks & bags, which aren't revolutionarily different from the old days.

+1

They may not look classy during the day, but I love them at night. I just make sure that I carry a large enough bag to hide them when they aren't needed.

The last set of Shimano 105 single pivot calipers before dual pivot came along work very well.

Non aero brakes

Dork Disks

Foam rubber handlebar prophylactics

Everything but the frame sets, Regal saddles, and Giro-Italia bars. Sure - I got along just fine with the old technology, but folks got along just fine without trains, telegraphs, and refrigeration, too.

Modern technology has given us better drive trains, better tires, better wheels, and better controls/cables/housings.

Old pumps I can do without.

water bottles - unless you are accompanied by a support car to keep things fresh, drinking from a bottle full of 90-degree water on a 90-degree day sucks. I don't care how much I am mocked, I love my Camelbak and its cool blast of hydration and will never go back.

clips & toe straps - thank God for the inventor of Look pedals.

down tube shifters - I love anything that keeps my hands on the bars.

round handlebars - try a flat top wing-type bar and tell me your hands aren't more happy.

It's no secret that I like brake/shifters (brifters). If I can't ride with brifters, at least give me index shifters. I can do without friction shifters, even though I've finally mastered them.
I really prefer aero brake levers, but I no longer consider those "modern" as they were introduced in the early 80s and were quite common 25 years ago.

Sakae Laprade seat posts (aka SR CT-P5 or Custom P5) were introduced in the early 80s... not ''new technology'' :)

All I can say is, what keeps me in love with 80's non-indexed, DTed, sidpulled, single pivot, non-taildragger framed, tubular tired, non- briftered, single bottle mount, leather covered saddled, racing bikes is the elegant, simplicity of the classic early to mid 80's machine. For some reason, the complication and "clutter" that later technologies added to the basic racing bicycle just seems to blur things for me. The 80's saw the pinnacle of this modern simplicity that attracts me. To me, it was sort of a "Bahaus" movement in bicycling where modern design was taken to it's basic, most efficient form. I get this spedially with my Vitus Carbone with it's basic, simple (even monochromatic) design.
JMOs

Chombi

Yeah, regular old non-aero levers on narrow, Maes-bend drop bars. Lots of different hand positions, and each one a new way for your hands to ache and feel like you do not have secure control of the bike (and/or quick access to the brake levers).

First time I put my hands on a pair of bars anatomic bars with fat, padded brifters, I thought, Oh, yeah! Sort of like the iPhone realizes the promise of modern mobile telecommunications that had been implied since the invention of the internet and the cell phone, the modern brifter realizes the promise of comfortable, efficient bicycle controls.

I still vastly prefer how the old levers and dt shifters look, though. But if I was genuinely going to ride more than 20 miles, which hasn't <cough> happened in a while, I would go for the new control technologies.