Retroism......why?

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Tscchhhh, nostalgia. It ain't what it used to be.

 

[novocaine]

What's going on in Oxford and Canterbury?

Murders, lots of them, I've seen Morse and Lewis.

 

[legrandefromage]

as someone pointed out - have you seen the price of (some) cassettes?

SRAM Eagle XG-1299 10-52T 12 Speed Cassette | Tredz Bikes

SRAM Eagle XG-1299 10-52T 12 Speed Cassette £453.00 or just £37.75 per month with 0% APR finance. All 12 Speed are delivered free to the UK mainland*, 365 day returns & Price Match. Buy Now.

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I just cant be dealing with all the new standards anymore

looking back in the catalogues, its the mid 1980's all over again when it was Shimano 6 & 7spd, then 8 (road), Uniglide, then Hyperglide. All within a space of a couple of years

theres no cult or retroism, its nailing your flag to the forehead of cyclings' marketing men and simply saying enough is enough

 

[MattiThundrrr]

as someone pointed out - have you seen the price of (some) cassettes?

I've never spent that on a complete bike!

 

[novocaine]

Screw that, single speed.

I'm not retro, I'm from Yorkshire.

 

[widowmaker]

Most of the yoof are listening to 80/90s music according to SM videos. The best of retro would still cost a fortune to get remade today. Gravel bikes are in and many just copy iconic retro designs because they are still ‘cool’. The way things are going in Oxford and Canterbury I have a feeling original retro bikes will become a must have to be seen on in 2/3yrs

 

[widowmaker]

0% finance on a cassette

 

[H]

For me, it’s all about peddling what’s underneath you and keeping it shiny side up. I scratched the restomod itch recently and built up the above. It retains those ride qualities I love and yet the modern kit allows these traits to shine out brighter and longer. Peace and love, H.

 

[dirttorpedo]

It all started with a harmless comment from a clearly younger newbie...."Apart from a few die hards on retrobike, who cares if you mix old and new stuff".....or words closely to that geffect.

Its been stuck in my head for several months now.....it won't shift and it's kinda making me uncomfortable.....

Its raised a lot of "in head" questions about what i ride and more why I ride the bikes I do.

I like old kit....I understand it all, I think its better made (but lets not get sidetracked) and I thought it gave me the bike i needed/ wanted.

Then I built my OAP special...and starting with a blank page and building a " retro" bike i need, kinda changed my philosophy a bit.

Now I've seriously started to wonder if " keeping it retro" isn't actually making things worse fo myself! Im not saying im about to abandon my retro kit, more that maybe an approach of mix and match might be a better option. After all as the guy said "who cares".

He could be right.....so....on my daily rides, I basically see nobody as I live in a very rural part of our green and pleasant land. Even on the road, 2 hours rarely produces more than a handful of cars etc. Aided by some basic maths the number of people i see divided by the number of people in the world is basically as close to 0% as your going to get....... Then out of that zero percent you deduct the percentage of the people do see, who dont know anything about what im riding and those who don't care even if they do.....lets say that's 99.8%. So having included that figure in my calculation, mathematically he's right "nobody cares".

So why do I feel as I do? Is putting a new Thomson stem on my 1995 rocky mountain going to kill me, will the retro police turn up and incarcerate me, will I be forced to throw the bike into a hedge everytime a shoal of mamils passes.....well oddly no.....it seems not.

So, who are we keeping it retro for?

Yes, im sure there are some great bikes worthy of the imaginary mtb museum, but its not most.....and none of them are mine!

If its purely nostalgia, that fine so far, but as I've found it comes at a cost to your riding.....im not 19......get over it!

If its group membership and a need to belong, then face facts.....its cold and lonely in space....and nobody can hear your screams......even if you do have riser bars with barends and non amberwall tyres.

So why are you keeping it retro again?

If I'm keeping it retro, that's for me. And if I choose to build it up not retro, that's for me too. When I think about most of my old bikes, they're a mix of old and new. I don't have the budget typically to do a really nice job with a retrobike and I do like a few of the mod cons - well ok, late 90's / early 2000's tech.

If I was serious about mountain biking or gravel riding I'm sure I'd have something really modern.

Heck, i even added butterfly shifters to my beautiful bespoke 70's road bike. And, it rides great with them. I may even upgrade the drivetrain to 9 speed with a HG cassette to get that silky smooth friction shifting.

 

[Chdot]

“Retroism......why?”​

A simple question with no fixed or proper answer!

This IS the Retrobike forum and so a place where people with an interest in older bikes congregate. (And produce a fabulous mix of facts, expertise, inspiration and opinion.)

Some people collect bikes in the way others collect stamps - some for the hobby element or a given goal - stamps from every country or a set period in ‘history’ - or just the most pristine example of rare stamp.

But bikes.

You can hang them on a wall or store in a garage (perhaps ousting a car!) AND ride them.

I know of someone locally who has a LOT of classic cars, notably Aston Martins. Worth a few million! They don’t get out much…

I come from an era when most bikes had Sturmey hubs. I still have my father’s Moulton Deluxe - arguably the base of my ‘collection’. Well used, certainly not in showroom condition but rideable (I do short rides occasionally), upgraded with alloy rims.

Which is significant. ‘What works’ is important. Chromed steel rims in the rain, mmm!

I like Reynolds, particularly 531, I like Raleigh and Moulton (I currently have 3, used to have more, but have no desire for a recent EXPENSIVE one).

I like 70s and 80s SunTour and 80 and 90s Shimano

Generally I buy bikes (sometimes just frames) because I like the look of them - preferably in good cosmetic condition - to ride.

Of course this is where it gets difficult/interesting.

If I had ever lived somewhere flat I might have got into single speed minimalism with the lightest components.

But I like gears. I know 21 is generally more practical than 3, but for most purposes not inferior to 33.

It’s amusing to see the new trend/fashion for single chainrings and BIG sprockets.

I was an early adopter of SunTour Ultra-6. 13-30 - it was possible to select individual sprockets literally off the pegs in a local bike shop!

I think with a Stonglight 99 and maybe 48T ring, built on to the only custom frame I’ve ever ordered - with cantilevers (Mafac) before they became fashionable/normal outside Cyclocross.

Wheels were short lived Mavic Elan rims on cheap Normandy hubs.

That would be retro now. And I would still have it if it hadn’t been stolen.

I have moved on a bit with 80s and 90s MTBs with specs I couldn’t/wouldn’t have afforded when new.

Fortunately I sidestepped the mid-life-crisis carbon-road-bike.

So, why retro bikes?

Economy/value/simplicity/style/longevity/reuse/FUN.

I’m now taking an interest in M-Trax. Not JUST because they are CHEAP.

I mean £50 (also less as well as more) for a well made frame with things like STX.

Personally I put shorter stems on and don’t keep the barends.

Retro is also about practicality, and comfort…