Do you ride your vintage bikes hard?
#51
52psi
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 4,017
Bikes: Schwinn Volare ('78); Raleigh Competition GS ('79)
Mentioned: 29 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 790 Post(s)
Liked 803 Times
in
392 Posts
Excerpted from Ali: The Hypothetical Cyclist
__________________
A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
A race bike in any era is a highly personal choice that at its "best" balances the requirements of fit, weight, handling, durability and cost tempered by the willingness to toss it and oneself down the pavement at considerable speed. ~Bandera
#52
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Singapore
Posts: 470
Bikes: Voodoo Hoodoo, Linus Libertine
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 106 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times
in
9 Posts
My 1998/99 Voodoo Hoodoo is my general purpose bike. As hard as the cargo i am hauling: groceries, trailer with kids etc.
#53
Curmudgeon in Training
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Rural Retreat, VA
Posts: 1,956
Bikes: 1974 Gazelle Champion Mondial, 2010 Cannondale Trail SL, 1988 Peugeot Nice, 1992ish Stumpjumper Comp,1990's Schwinn Moab
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 19 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 9 Times
in
8 Posts
Many modern skewers are externally cammed as opposed to internally cammed like old Campy and Shimano. Shimano at least still does internal camming. Internal cam skewers clamp and hold much more effectively than external. I ran into the same issues, even without torquing on the cranks. Now I run modern wheels with an appropriate (modern) Shimano internal cam skewer.
Top is internal, bottom is external.
Top is internal, bottom is external.
#54
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Queens NYC
Posts: 3,175
Bikes: Colnago Super, Basso Gap, Pogliaghi, Fabio Barecci, Torelli Pista, Miyata 1400A
Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 316 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 13 Times
in
13 Posts
I try and ride hard every time out. Good for the lungs and legs, not to mention my weight. It feels good to. But I am pushing 60 now, so sadly, I don't think I can ride hard enough to break any of my vintage bikes or equipment anymore.
#55
Master Parts Rearranger
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Portlandia's Kuiper Belt, OR
Posts: 4,408
Bikes: 1982 Trek 720 - 1985 Trek 620 - 1984 Trek 620 - 1980 Trek 510 - Other luminaries past and present
Mentioned: 222 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1558 Post(s)
Liked 2,037 Times
in
991 Posts
Well, it's a simple matter of clamping the dropout enough. The lever effort to clamp/close, using your palm, should be pretty stout. Not hulk stout, but enough to make at least somewhat of an impression on your palm. Internally cammed skewers have worked in millions of horizontal dropouts for many years, including being used by professional cyclists in races of all sorts. And pro cyclists put out plenty of power--more than you or I or any of us on this forum could ever--and the rear wheels on their bikes never slipped in their frame. Sure, some dropouts will try and slip the clamping of a skewer more than others. That happens on my '74 Paramount for whatever magical reason. So I know I have to diligently make sure my clamping force via lever is sufficient. When I do that I have no issue.
#56
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 13,009
Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder
Mentioned: 131 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4876 Post(s)
Liked 4,042 Times
in
2,621 Posts
Do you ride your vintage bikes hard?
I would if I could trade my vintager body for an NOS one. My Peter Mooney just laughs when I try to push its limits.Ben
#58
Full Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, UK
Posts: 435
Bikes: Gitane Course, Paris Sport, Peugeot AO8, Peugeot Bretagne, Peugeot Premiere 85, Peugeot Premiere 86, Peugeot ANC Halfords Team Replica, Peugeot Festina Team Replica, Motobecane Grand Sport, Motobecane Super 15, Raleigh Pro Race, Raleigh Stratos, BSA
Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 117 Post(s)
Liked 461 Times
in
92 Posts
In quite a few years of cycling they're the only pair I've had break. That said though it was a thoroughly alarming few seconds, and I've since replaced the bars on all my older bikes.
Just for information, here's a photo of the broken ends.
#59
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Soviet of Oregon or Pensacola FL
Posts: 5,347
Bikes: Still have a few left!
Mentioned: 48 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 468 Post(s)
Liked 544 Times
in
269 Posts
In years past I've broken a stem and bent a crank arm, but at my age it's difficult to ride hard on anything. Don
#60
Dirty Heathen
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: MC-778, 6250 fsw
Posts: 2,216
Bikes: 1997 Cannondale, 1976 Bridgestone, 1998 SoftRide, 1989 Klein, 1989 Black Lightning #0033
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 895 Post(s)
Liked 942 Times
in
550 Posts
Gettin' after it on the 2016 Tour des Trees on my '76 Bridgestone. Originial equipment but for tires, tape and brakepads. Biggest issue on that ride was that the (new) tires were slipping on the rim under power. Now they've bedded in, and I keep 'winding up' the back wheel. It's been 'retired' as the townie / path bike.
5600
DSC_9703 by shutterjet, on Flickr
The 'modern' bike is a '97 Softride Nor'wester. Rode it on the '17 Tour in it's original 3x7 RSX setup. Just finished a Wheel / drive upgrade WH-500, 5600, and a new cockpit with a 44cm Cowchipper and 4500 shifters.
5600
DSC_9703 by shutterjet, on Flickr
The 'modern' bike is a '97 Softride Nor'wester. Rode it on the '17 Tour in it's original 3x7 RSX setup. Just finished a Wheel / drive upgrade WH-500, 5600, and a new cockpit with a 44cm Cowchipper and 4500 shifters.
#61
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Whittier
Posts: 893
Bikes: 1973 Colnago Super, Litespeed Classic , Automoto , Pinarello Gavia TSX,Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra,Eddy Merckx EMX-5 , 1982 Moser SL, Concorde TSX, Vitus 979 KAS. Diamant SLX,60's Meteor
Mentioned: 23 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 248 Post(s)
Liked 989 Times
in
338 Posts
I spent some time in Japan in the 80's and I remember those Zunow frames, as well as the 3Rensho. Great looking quality bikes.
#62
Senior Member
It's probably very rare for handlebars to snap like mine did - they're broke clean off with no cracking and no warning.
In quite a few years of cycling they're the only pair I've had break. That said though it was a thoroughly alarming few seconds, and I've since replaced the bars on all my older bikes.
Just for information, here's a photo of the broken ends.
In quite a few years of cycling they're the only pair I've had break. That said though it was a thoroughly alarming few seconds, and I've since replaced the bars on all my older bikes.
Just for information, here's a photo of the broken ends.
I'd be pretty comfortable with old high quality sleeved bars. I've never heard of a Cinelli breaking during normal use. Not saying it can't happen, but that if it does, it's exceedingly rare. The unsleeved types feel noticeably flexy to me, at least in the traditional 26.0/26.4 sizes.
#63
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: northern michigan
Posts: 13,319
Bikes: '77 Colnago Super, '76 Fuji The Finest, '88 Cannondale Criterium, '86 Trek 760, '87 Miyata 712
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 660 Post(s)
Liked 601 Times
in
314 Posts
I have bent the right side of the handlebars on a ‘85 Trek 460. I was hammering around peds that were in my way. Yanked the bar up very slightly but noticeable, also ground the chainring on the chainstay. I weighed 170 and that True Temper frame was flexing pretty good.
#64
Sunshine
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 16,734
Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo
Mentioned: 124 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 11067 Post(s)
Liked 7,634 Times
in
4,256 Posts
6'5 and 230#. I sure think i ride hard, but I dont mash. I think I'm already hard enough on the standard size tube road bikes frames as it is and have no interest in twisting the bottom bracket a bunch...it just isn't necessary for me to ride hard/fast.
I can climb out of the saddle while not mashing and there is no rub due to twisting.
not sure what the appeal is of mashing and twisting the frame, but to each their own.
I used to have to mash a bit on one of my frames, but then I adjusted the gearing to work for me and my riding.
I can climb out of the saddle while not mashing and there is no rub due to twisting.
not sure what the appeal is of mashing and twisting the frame, but to each their own.
I used to have to mash a bit on one of my frames, but then I adjusted the gearing to work for me and my riding.
#65
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 6,480
Mentioned: 93 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1361 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 425 Times
in
284 Posts
Interesting subject and especially for anyone who rides these older bikes. Unlike modern stiff bikes.
Most probably don't realize how easily they can snap a crank in static position right in their own shop. You can do a twisty on a stem and bars and snap off. I like to ride an old bike as designed for but not abuse.
I've learned to appreciate riding fixed gear, sort of a training and learn the benefits of smoothing out cadence. Also in some perverse mean way, rather than attack on a climb, I'm using more of a relaxed and methodical approach even with a low gear inch. Its weird but I enjoy a masochist climb.
Another discipline I've been trying to improve is more float over rougher terrain. Essentially using four points of the body and less of the 5th (butt on saddle). Virtual a requirement for off-road but like to do the same on a road bike, get light and floaty ;")
I've been riding more off road with a few younger guys, both also are very experienced MX racers. Small suggestions have been a big help for me.
#66
Senior Member
Modern riders tend to grip their brifters hard, like their life depends on it. Butts are firmly in the saddle, and they go frankly really slowly, with poor control. De-evolution.
FWIW BITD we simply rode our bikes as hard as we could.
#67
Master Parts Rearranger
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Portlandia's Kuiper Belt, OR
Posts: 4,408
Bikes: 1982 Trek 720 - 1985 Trek 620 - 1984 Trek 620 - 1980 Trek 510 - Other luminaries past and present
Mentioned: 222 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1558 Post(s)
Liked 2,037 Times
in
991 Posts
6'5 and 230#. I sure think i ride hard, but I dont mash. I think I'm already hard enough on the standard size tube road bikes frames as it is and have no interest in twisting the bottom bracket a bunch...it just isn't necessary for me to ride hard/fast.
I can climb out of the saddle while not mashing and there is no rub due to twisting.
not sure what the appeal is of mashing and twisting the frame, but to each their own.
I used to have to mash a bit on one of my frames, but then I adjusted the gearing to work for me and my riding.
I can climb out of the saddle while not mashing and there is no rub due to twisting.
not sure what the appeal is of mashing and twisting the frame, but to each their own.
I used to have to mash a bit on one of my frames, but then I adjusted the gearing to work for me and my riding.
#68
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Hervey Bay, Qld, Australia.
Posts: 2,932
Bikes: Colnago (82, 85, 89, 90, 91, 96, 03), 85 Cinelli, 90 Rossin, 83 Alan, 82 Bianchi, 78 Fountain, 2 x Pinarello, Malvern Star (37), Hillman (70's), 80's Beretto Lo-Pro Track, 80's Kenevans Lo-Pro, Columbus Max (95), DeGrandi (80's) Track.
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 181 Post(s)
Liked 205 Times
in
127 Posts
"Blood oath!" - or I used to when I was younger.
#69
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 15
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
At 6 foot 3 and 148 pounds I am one svelte SOB but still ride hard when it is appropriate. Unfortunately snapped my Huret Svelto RD a couple of weeks ago after drunkenly ham-fisting my shift. Not sure if thats a great example of riding hard, though.
#70
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 44
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I have a '72 Raleigh Competition that I ride as hard as I can. It does have a new wheel set (and, much to the chagrin of folks around here) with a fixed/free hub. So cranking up hills with 42/16, yeah, I ride it pretty hard.
#71
Newbie
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 2
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Just be careful on that Peugeot UO-8! I know that model well. My dad ran a bike shop in the NYC area for many years and we replaced many of the defective original forks with the lethal seam down the back side of the blades.. The seam acted as a stress point that caused many of the forks to collapse under load, resulting in some cases in serious injury to the unfortunate rider. The PX-10 of the period used a much sturdier and safer seamless fork constructed of 531 tubing.
#72
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,610
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 399 Post(s)
Liked 274 Times
in
136 Posts
Yes!!! I am down to my last 2 vintage(ish?) bikes and ride them both as hard as I am capable of riding a bike nowadays
I always thought that's what they're for, amirite? My bikes ain't no beaters and I'm careful to try not to scar them up, but I came to terms long ago with sometimes unavoidably adding some patina to them, myself. Maybe it makes me love them even more? But I do my utmost to keep them in top-notch mechanical trim 'cos it makes them ride sooo noice.
I belong to some Vintage Bike facebook discussion groups that also have lots of selling going on, & besides the "just nice" stuff, there is too much which is not only NOS, but even as as good museum quality. So the original question of this thread does drag me back to the dilemma that I feel as a believer in riding my bikes, whenever there is a super-beautiful something in my unusual size for sale there, that thank god I could afford, but it would be downright criminal to put the 1st miles on it. What to do, what to do...
I always thought that's what they're for, amirite? My bikes ain't no beaters and I'm careful to try not to scar them up, but I came to terms long ago with sometimes unavoidably adding some patina to them, myself. Maybe it makes me love them even more? But I do my utmost to keep them in top-notch mechanical trim 'cos it makes them ride sooo noice.
I belong to some Vintage Bike facebook discussion groups that also have lots of selling going on, & besides the "just nice" stuff, there is too much which is not only NOS, but even as as good museum quality. So the original question of this thread does drag me back to the dilemma that I feel as a believer in riding my bikes, whenever there is a super-beautiful something in my unusual size for sale there, that thank god I could afford, but it would be downright criminal to put the 1st miles on it. What to do, what to do...
Last edited by IAmSam; 01-14-19 at 04:09 PM.
#73
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 659
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 195 Post(s)
Liked 207 Times
in
126 Posts
Best touring bike.
I知 talking mashing pedals, yanking on handlebars, sprinting up hills.
I used to be scared of doing that on my recently bought 1990 Miyata 1000LT, but after many miles, a new stem, and replacement of consumables, I feel different. It痴 really solid. But would I feel comfortable doing the same on, say, an early 70s Raleigh racing bike? A 1950s Holdsworth? How old a bike/components would you ride hard, and how hard would you ride an old bike and components?
I used to be scared of doing that on my recently bought 1990 Miyata 1000LT, but after many miles, a new stem, and replacement of consumables, I feel different. It痴 really solid. But would I feel comfortable doing the same on, say, an early 70s Raleigh racing bike? A 1950s Holdsworth? How old a bike/components would you ride hard, and how hard would you ride an old bike and components?
#74
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: St Cloud Fl.
Posts: 1,947
Bikes: Only my riders left...
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 788 Times
in
392 Posts
Ride it!
I ride this bicycle as hard as I can! I never feel as if I have overridden it! It was unridden when I got it!
This is a bicycle that needs to be ridden anywhere, everywhere to be really appreciated!
#75
Full Member
While I did bend a handlebar last year, at 68 and only 160lbs I can't mash without limping afterwards for a week. But the one thing I still seem to do hard is crash. But I only restore them to ride, not for their eye candy or value. But now that I've found an Ironman, which completes each of the types and variety I need I can stop (MIS?using) them for gravel work and everything will go easier.