Since coming to Retrobiking I've come to appreciate...

[ovlov440]

...love this

 

[FMJ]

...love this

6500/10 rocks. Nice clean lines, perfect shifting, powerful brakes, and no snapped chains.

I should put the post back on. So much better looking than the Tommy.

 

[dirttorpedo]

...I feel the same way about the road groupsets and have had a little rant on here a few weeks ago. Both my bikes wear Ultegra 6500 which IMHO is the best looking road groupset made - the current stuff looks cheap (even though it isn't by a country mile)

I'm running that on my GT Edge (well, mostly - I replaced the dead brifters with Microshift). The stuff is simply stunning. I've seen some old school Campy that I might swap it for, but I'm pretty damn happy with it. I may get some 9 speed durace downtube shifters and decent brake levers and go even more retro on the bike because I'm not too happy with the microshift.

 

[velomaniac]

The great thing about here is we can climb on our soap box, peer through our rose tinted glasses and say modern stuff is rubbish. Conveniently forgetting of course that the 'old' stuff that we think is the beez kneez that nothing can surpass was the modern tat of a previous generation.
I had a CTC cycling buddy in the past that considered anything not made by GB or Constrictor was dreadful modern flash in the pan rubbish that would never catch on

 

[makster]

M737 was the last decent looking groupset Shimano made, in my opinion.
The chainset is a just so simple, but just right

 

[joe careless]

Being able to own the bikes that were simply miles out of my financial range and taking them to places that are as important to me know as when I was much younger. Fulfilling some of my dreams.

 

[ba57ards]

not having any money in my paypal / bank account / wallet

although have made friends and got alot of bikes ive never had the cash for

 

[dirttorpedo]

The great thing about here is we can climb on our soap box, peer through our rose tinted glasses and say modern stuff is rubbish. Conveniently forgetting of course that the 'old' stuff that we think is the beez kneez that nothing can surpass was the modern tat of a previous generation.
I had a CTC cycling buddy in the past that considered anything not made by GB or Constrictor was dreadful modern flash in the pan rubbish that would never catch on

Isn't this what retrobiking is all about?


Well, sure the modern stuff works, but its fugly and made of plastic so it won't be around in 30 years to drool over. Besides the rate of technical improvement has dropped off significantly compared to the major jumps that occured in drive trains between 85 and 95 and suspension between 92 and 2000. From my seat in the peanut gallery a modern XT rear mech doesn't really work any better than a 90's era rear mech. The biggest innovation from 8 to 9 speed was a wider range of gears to make climbing easier for us mere mortals. I don't really see the point of 10 speed and while I like the idea of 1x11 I don't do that kind of riding anymore. I always valued simplicity in bikes as well. While I like the benefits of a nice full squish pro-pedal equiped plastic mountain bike with hydraulic stoppers, I hate having to work on one.

 

[marcinski]

The biggest innovation from 8 to 9 speed was a wider range of gears to make climbing easier for us mere mortals.

Well, arguably the invention of clutch mechanisms can be appreciated by anyone, no more slapping chain.

The inventions are driven largely by the needs of racers (real or perceived) and trickle down the line so normal people get them eventually, whether they need it or not. Once the top level technology is present in entry level groups (10 speed, Hollowtech II, Shadow+ in Deore but also in XTR), the need arises to distinguish the high end again. Hence XTR will get 11 speed this year not because its essential to have but people need to aspire to something and number of gears is an easy to spot differentiator. Shimano has patents filed for every number of sprockets up to 14. They will feed us with incremental improvements every few years.
That said once and again a useful invention appears that benefits everybody.

Marcin

 

[dirttorpedo]

The great thing about here is we can climb on our soap box, peer through our rose tinted glasses and say modern stuff is rubbish. Conveniently forgetting of course that the 'old' stuff that we think is the beez kneez that nothing can surpass was the modern tat of a previous generation.
I had a CTC cycling buddy in the past that considered anything not made by GB or Constrictor was dreadful modern flash in the pan rubbish that would never catch on

Isn't this what retrobiking is all about?


Well, sure the modern stuff works, but its fugly and made of plastic so it won't be around in 30 years to drool over. Besides the rate of technical improvement has dropped off significantly compared to the major jumps that occured in drive trains between 85 and 95 and suspension between 92 and 2000. From my seat in the peanut gallery a modern XT rear mech doesn't really work any better than a 90's era rear mech. The biggest innovation from 8 to 9 speed was a wider range of gears to make climbing easier for us mere mortals. I don't really see the point of 10 speed and while I like the idea of 1x11 I don't do that kind of riding anymore. I always valued simplicity in bikes as well. While I like the benefits of a nice full squish pro-pedal equiped plastic mountain bike with hydraulic stoppers, I hate having to work on one.

Just read an online article that said derailleurs were driven by the sport market and that they weren't adopted by racers for quite a few years, but I agree that in general the trickle down principle works most of the time. I do recall that one of the arguements for index shifting and ramped gears and indicator windows was to make cycling easier / more attractive to the masses.