Do you notice extreme negative views of none retrobikers when you say you are trying to work with an older bike?

[racefaceec90]

I love both retro and modern bikes (I don't have any truly retro bikes myself my 2010 charge duster being my oldest) I have a new specialized chisel fs bike reserved at my local bike shop as I am feeling the bumps more nowadays at 49. I would love to get a dream retro bike one day and can happily bore the pants off people talking about them lol.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

These types of people seem totally brainwashed by the 'new = good' and anything you mention about wanting to put some work into an older bike they will immediately jump to it being because it is old, obviously, and how the best thing you can do is send it to the tip without even giving a fair hearing on what the issue is.

You just described mountain biking in the last 20 years.

This years model has a half degree slacker head angle, it's better. We upsize the rotors, it's better. This axle is 10mm wider, it's better. This axle bolts on, it's better. This frame supports a dropper post that can drop the saddle to your ankles for even bettererer clearance, it's better.

You CANNOT have fun on a MTB unless you have a 150mm dropper, a 60 degree head angle, 29x2.5 tyres at the front and 27.5 x 2.5 on the rear, 160mm travel, calibrated fork bushings, a high pivot chain, 12speeds, boost axle spacing, electronic shifting and grips rated for your riding style. We know this because the marketing departments keep telling us.

The fact that the trails haven't changed is irrelevant because apparently all we want to do is go to a bike park and do like, 3 runs of a jump line and call it an epic day out.

The industry can shove it sideways and deep. Frankly, unless your frame is cracked then a shop has no right to tell you it cannot be fixed.

The best thing you can do is learn to do it yourself.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Quite liking the dropper post myself.

 

[retrobiker273891]

Our bike shop customers might be a bit self- selecting, but many are bike novices and many are 10,000 milers.

Everyone's happy to look at quality old stuff, especially if it's got a bit of charm.

We get very few carbonium di2ers through the door though. a lot of those types shop online, wouldn't be seen in a bike shop unless it, the bikes, the staff are all branded!

Those second types sound like just the lot I would see in droves when riding out of leeds around the surrounding areas. The weekend warriors clad in full lycra (if it is still called that these days) and the shades and most seem slighly grumpy while riding with serious expressions on their faces.

 

[retrobiker273891]

Can't be arsed by anything after '00, can say confidently I am all set, had hoarded enough of the finest steel and ti frames available, made until the end of the last century, plus a shitload of the finest kit by the big S made in Japan makes me confident biking isn't much of a hassle for the next 30 years or so.

"New tech" can kiss at where the sun seldom shines.

That applies to most things in life! The 90s were great times.

Most music went rubbish around the millenium. The rave scene died and went commercial.

When I written things like that on places like reddit, which seems a demographic of younger people and have since stopped posting on there, they will attack me saying it is not that music got worse it is just that I got old. I think that is rubbish but I am sure youngsters would just say I cannot see past my old man glasses but I can appreciate music from other generations before as being notable so it isn't simply bitterness about getting old. Counter cultures seem dead now and the music, and most other things are just homogenized rubbish.

Of course not a popular opinion to sell to the hip and trendy masses so I will stick to little forums like these and reminisce on the good old days!

 

[retrobiker273891]

i brought the melon marin through my local mtb park and everyone wanted to talk about it, they love that thing, from the guy on a fairdale elevator that costs more than my car to casual riders on entry level modern hardtails, people stopped to admire the 1990 marin eldridge grade with a watermelon bag on it

i have not seen that kind of resentment towards older bikes, people generally get the idea that its an admiration of old stuff like anything else
vinyl is objectively a worse way to listen to music than decent digital formats, but people still like vinyl a lot for what it is
3x7 and 26" wheels with really low, narrow flat bars, no suspension, 2.1 extremely aggressive tires, its all just a different vibe, not necessarily a better or worse one

Probably the online sphere mostly then.

Can't say people have said anything to me in person one way or the other although the odd road cyclist has ignored me when I have hailed a fellow cyclists but maybe they were just grumpy people.

 

[greencat]

To flip this on its head though -

I was wheeling my newish orange vita-minty into a well respected bike shop in 1995, and the owner stuck his broom through my (hope/marwi ti-dye) spokes to stop me, because he (and many others established in the bike world) had
"an extreme negative view"
of these newfangled mountain bikers with their suspension and fat tyres!

Yes, I remember encountering a similarly grumpy bike shop owner in about 1990. I'd had my first big crash, and was browsing for a new bike helmet all of the time being berated by said bike shop owner for being stupid enough to go mountain biking.

Guys, we just got old and are following the same well trodden path as all of the other Victor Meldrews of the past.

 

[bikeworkshop]

I would love to get a dream retro bike one day and can happily bore the pants off people talking about them lol.

Now is the time! Prices are rock bottom! My recent kona explosif cost £250...

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/kona-explosif-2003-out-and-about.476500/page-3
(Although I did do a little upgrading, all in the name of sound investment of course)

I might even fit a dropper I'm having so much fun!

 

[Tootyred]

Being told that i was "going to die" riding and jumping a 26" rigid bike on a trail by the "kids" around me......all on heavy weight full suspension 29ers.

No, im not sure i am....why? Because.

A. Ive been riding this particular bike for 12 years, im pretty certain how its going to handle.

B. Ive got some skill...they replace the slack headset, suspension and disc brakes you rely on.

C. You have no skills, you rely solely on your bike to crash over everything and stop you when you didn't think ahead.

One of them protested and showed me a new skill I should learn...called a "manual". I didn't know what that was, causing more laughs at my expense. Till he demonstrated it...oh you mean moving your weight on the bike, instead of more crashing about and relying again on the bike to get you out of a hole.....how REVOLUTIONARY .

 

[bikeworkshop]

Every generation in turn "invents" cycling.

We did it.

But they aren't all hostile to those that were riding before them.

But some are:
Some want to ridicule these old cyclists for being so wrong about it.