Originally Posted by Flip Flop Rider (Post 19917460)

...old school biking for me and those I grew up with was both utilitarian and recreational. Our bikes gave us the freedom to go where we wanted to and to visit friends and make new ones all over town. We didn't keep track of miles, didn't wear Lycra, and dam sure didn't debate the best chain lube, and say "on your left"

3 in 1 oil was good enough if we ever oiled at all. Saddle uncomfortable? Stand up and ride or coast

when we weren't traveling on the bikes we were jumping things with them or riding through things. Sometimes home made ramps, but other times potholes, logs, riding in the snow just for the heck of it

Seeing who could ride a wheelie the farthest. This was important and if you were a contender it upped your respect level in the neighborhood immensely. If you couldn't do it, you were JV all the way

riding with no hands for as far as you could

Playing bike chicken to see who had the most nerve

walking the bikes to the top of a hill and racing down

and one last thing that was the ultimate in old school biking that you don't see today. Skid marks! Purposely skidding until your tires were bald and popped

looking back it was almost like a bike Olympics, a constant competition, and for the most part, the bikes held up fine

those things are old school to me and gone too cause I don't think kids today use their bikes like we used to

Originally Posted by FBinNY (Post 19916786)

. Or maybe, like myself you started before it was trendy, and still carry those "outcast" or "oddball" attitudes?

Originally Posted by 79pmooney (Post 19917207)

Me? Down tube shifters on all my geared bikes. The rest are fix gears. One of the fix gears is a custom road bike, modern ti but designed around a long road dropout so flipping the wheel is easy and fast, like it would be on a bike designed to road race as a fix gear. So it is what we might have raced in the '80s had gears and freewheels never been invented. (And it rides like a true racing bike.) My 1979 Peter Mooney is now also set up fix gear with a setup that probably was never done 100 years ago but could have been. 3 chain rings. A double cog on one side of the hub and a small single on the other. Each cog lines up with its respective chainring so I have 3 very different gears. (46-13, 44-17 and 38-21 for example.) So the routine for shifting is a little different from flipping the wheel, but I think stopping and pulling out a wrench to change gears qualifies as old school even if the details are a little different.

I'm riding clinchers now but rode sewups to '95 on the Mooney and 2000 on the fix gear. I may well go back for my good bikes (the security after high speed flats being a pretty convincing argument). All but one bike has quill stems. (And that bike will get one when the current threadless HS dies.)

I don't do this just to be "classic". My second custom has the rear brake flipped to in front of the seatstays because I always think it looks better. I have started using V-brake levers with first dual pivots, then the old Mooney's cantilevers because I find the braking better/more predictable/less exciting. (And my hands love the huge hoods which look a little prehistoric.) I ride titanium because it feels to me like a "better steel". I think I have a carbon part on one of my bikes, but I forget what. (Spacer? Bar plug?)

Oh, I learned to race reading the CONI manual and from the teachings of John Allis, the father and mentor of modern racing in New England. I still follow some of his rules. (Never got his teachings first hand, that went to the members of the Raleigh team but I raced against him and was coached on his "rules" by club vets. I always felt I was a lucky beneficiary, not just for what I learned but also that everyone in our district learned the same rules. Made close quarters racing very safe.)

Ben

Originally Posted by Flip Flop Rider (Post 19917460)

Seeing who could ride a wheelie the farthest. This was important and if you were a contender it upped your respect level in the neighborhood immensely. If you couldn't do it, you were JV all the way

riding with no hands for as far as you could

Playing bike chicken to see who had the most nerve

walking the bikes to the top of a hill and racing down

and one last thing that was the ultimate in old school biking that you don't see today. Skid marks! Purposely skidding until your tires were bald and popped

looking back it was almost like a bike Olympics, a constant competition, and for the most part, the bikes held up fine

those things are old school to me and gone too cause I don't think kids today use their bikes like we used to

Originally Posted by daviddavieboy (Post 19917784)

I would add riding a tonka dumptruck down a hill.

Originally Posted by rydabent (Post 19917987)

My two sons still have their down tube shifter bikes. IMO they are of the cleanest appearing bikes ever built with multi gears. Also the down tube shifters except for the turn around on the RD dont have to have cable guide tubing that causes wear, and causes the need for adjustment more often.

Originally Posted by 79pmooney (Post 19918163)

I forgot in my post (#30) that I still use toeclips on half my bikes. But it is neither to be "old school" nor to have street shoe friendly pedals. It is all about saving my butt. There is one crash I have never done and I hope to expire from other causes before it happens. Pulling one foot off the pedal going downhill on one of my fix gears at 35 mph and 175 RPM. (42 X 17, my usual gear.)

I have uncleated a few times at high speeds with traditional slotted cleats, toeclips and straps. But (the huge "but") my foot always stayed on the pedal! Never got that high speed whack on my ankle that would be yet another lifetime injury/sore spot. (Road riding fix gears means weirdly enough that us old guys can hit RPMs the best pro track sprinters, the cheetahs of the bike world, can never achieve.)

Ben

Originally Posted by LAJ (Post 19918246)

I race for and with Old School Industries. Does that count?

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet (Post 19918115)

OH MY!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!


A few days ago I saw a ~3 year old boy having a crying fit at the barber shop. His mother handed him a smart phone, which he knew how to use, and he instantly stopped crying. I started crying on the inside, for multiple reasons.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike (Post 19918316)

Better than the old school pacifier of children throwing a fit in public - candy. The old school method used when there are no onlookers was less PC.

Originally Posted by fbinny (Post 19916786)

a newb mentioned old skool in introductions and got me thinking (always dangerous).
Are you old school, and what makes you so.

Originally Posted by Aubergine (Post 19916869)

I propose that anyone who is still using a lever-operated front derailleur for his or her rides is old school.

Originally Posted by Flip Flop Rider (Post 19917460)

old school (skool) to me merely means old.

this is the way we use to do it, and we're making it work now. It's not a knock, because I'm 55 now.

who among us doesn't look back on the styles we grew up with (bikes, clothes, music, hobbies, TV shows, etc.) fondly and proudly proclaim those things as "old school"

someone said it, and I agree 1000 percent (is that possible:p), old school is a state of mind. Looking back and appreciating the harder and sometimes more difficult times we went through to get to the here and now

old school biking for me and those I grew up with was both utilitarian and recreational. Our bikes gave us the freedom to go where we wanted to and to visit friends and make new ones all over town. We didn't keep track of miles, didn't wear Lycra, and dam sure didn't debate the best chain lube, and say "on your left"

3 in 1 oil was good enough if we ever oiled at all. Saddle uncomfortable? Stand up and ride or coast

when we weren't traveling on the bikes we were jumping things with them or riding through things. Sometimes home made ramps, but other times potholes, logs, riding in the snow just for the heck of it

Seeing who could ride a wheelie the farthest. This was important and if you were a contender it upped your respect level in the neighborhood immensely. If you couldn't do it, you were JV all the way

riding with no hands for as far as you could

Playing bike chicken to see who had the most nerve

walking the bikes to the top of a hill and racing down

and one last thing that was the ultimate in old school biking that you don't see today. Skid marks! Purposely skidding until your tires were bald and popped

looking back it was almost like a bike Olympics, a constant competition, and for the most part, the bikes held up fine

those things are old school to me and gone too cause I don't think kids today use their bikes like we used to

Originally Posted by Reynolds (Post 19917599)

I'm 66, been riding for 55+ years, and all my bikes are steel.

Originally Posted by Happy Feet (Post 19917891)

Time for a commercial(s) break]

Carry on.

Originally Posted by Lazyass (Post 19917839)

I just ordered a brand new MTB. I rejected the 27.5, 29er single ring fads and bought a 26. And no I will not be pouring sealant inside the tires. If it had v-brakes I would have been good with it as well. A similarly speced 27.5 or 29er would have probably cost at least $1000 more.

Originally Posted by dksix (Post 19918981)

I bought my 14 y.o. one of those over the summer, at least that brand. The one I bought was the M4, 8 speed and hydraulic brake. I was very impressed with what I got for the price. Yours is the 9 speed and a better fork, I think.