Why Old Bikes ?

[bagpipes]

I have to say that today’s FS bikes or hard tails with 120mm front travel do quite a bit for the average rider but all these old school hard tails designed to be rigid or with minimal travel are the true test of how good you are as a rider. Most people with a few skills can tear up a trail on bike that will suck up the bumps and compensate for inability.

I have a FS bike that I use regularly for very technical riding but for fast single track you can't beat a steel hard tail. Aluminum seems to be the most common material for off road bikes today but anyone who has ridden a steel frame will cringe to move back to aluminum for reasons that you must experience by yourself; no amount of schooling will explain it.

As for drive trains, 7 and 8 speeds are far more reliable. 9 speeds are too fussy and require tweaking to maintain a smooth shift. I can't dispute the evolution of brakes though; many are taking in old frames for disc tab upgrades, myself included. In the world of brakes, discs are the cats a$$ when they get wet.

Bottom line is that it's not a mid life crisis type thing. I'm nowhere near that stage yet. I have however, discovered what it truly means to "ride". I ride bikes that I control on a trail not a bike that controls the trail for me.

Take an old school bike out for a ride and discover the "illusions of skills" that newer bikes create. After a few rides you will be a better rider.

 

[Stick Legs]

Old rules. Simple.

Better looking kit IMHO and I can afford it.

Plus I am a sucker for nostagia!

 

[hondamatic]

They remind me of a simpler time in life.

I remember reading about the '96 Judys and looking at '96-97 Konas in the shop as a teenager. When I started riding in '98, I remember how cool it was to try my friends' Litespeed Ocoee, a tricked-out Mantra, a steel '96 S-Works with a Halson fork, or trying a first-gen Kona Stinky Dee-Lux, or Magura hydro brakes... I was young and impressionable, and I lived to ride.

As far as it goes, I've held onto two of my old bikes, and I'm quite fond of them. At any rate, it wouldn't make sense to get rid of them - too much sentimental value for a few hundred bucks.

 

[bagpipes]

I wouldn't mind having a read of that magazine under the phone. It's no Swank but I like your taste.

 

[Mr Panda]

.....Because a lot of the older stuff is much better than a lot of the newer stuff. The converse also applies however
Also - bikes are (or should be) built to last many years, even decades with a little routine maintenance and easily available spares.
Not so sure about more complex suspension arrangements and specialist spares backup, most of which the manufacturers will ultimately declare obsolete and no longer supply neccessary parts.

well thats wot I think anyway (another landrover and VW Camper owner )

Some wise old egg somewhere once said - "Happiness is found most readily in simplicity". Might be something in that.

 

[Crayons]

For me, retro mountain bikes (from the late 80's early 90's) remind me of the time when I got into the sport, when mountain biking was seen as an off-the-wall pass time undertaken by cool and pioneering individuals.

I can remember being one of only three kids at school who went mountain biking – sure loads of kids had bikes and rode them regularly, but we were the ones that went off onto Dartmoor or went racing and came back with the tales. I'd bet most kids at a school nowadays have a mountain bike 'cause that's the bike you buy now.

Don't get me wrong, modern bikes are technologically superior in almost all respects in much the same way as the current crop of eurobox cars are better than those from years ago…

…but where's the soul

 

[toadoftoadhall]

You sound a top bloke i have 8 retro rides i never did bitd does this mean anything ?

 

[Russell]

I tend to buy older bikes because the tools I have in the garage won't fit modern bikes and I'm too much of a skinflint to buy new tools.

 

[clockworkgazz]

I tend to buy older bikes because the tools I have in the garage won't fit modern bikes and I'm too much of a skinflint to buy new tools.

quote of the decade

 

[digitalkreation]

You never stop loving the stuff that was around when you first started having s@x, is how I think about it. The movies, music, food, bikes, etc. Things from that era will always have a special place in your heart.

That said, when I was 21 and drooling over these Ringle, Kooka, Paul bits and pieces, I couldn't afford them at all, they remained a dream. Now, I'm in my 30's, a Manager drawing a very nice salary, and I can afford to have these bits and pieces draped over my ideal framesets. If I can now just find them!!