2manyoranges
Senior Retro Guru
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the background....I’m still using some of my retrobikes in anger...but we also run things like the latest Stantons and Transitions and Ragleys. Each have their merits. They are all good, in their own special way.
But modern mountain biking somehow seems less green.
About six weeks ago I acquired a whole stack of barely used Specialised tyres, all had been used tubeless and had latex cack all over them. I have always cleaned up my own tubeless tyres and thought these would be simply too. Nope. Barely worn, they will do thousands of miles more. But they are massively compromised by dried on latex. I tried the usual ‘leave them in a bucket of water for two weeks’ method, and then ‘maybe for one week more’.... and it has still been a nightmare to get the stuff off the beads. Done, but I assume that few would do this. OK, you can whack a tube in, but that’s not what most would do. It’s just..discard...move on.
So...I imagine that people around the world are abandoning perfectly good tyres. Contrast the 20 year-old tyres I still have in the barn, most of them still good. And then I think of the inner tubes which I have used - most equally ancient with a story-board of patches over them, each one telling the tale of where we sat and chatted whilst the repair was done. Green....lots of long use and re-use.
And that’s only tyres. The huge variation in axle standards means wheels quickly become redundant and are bike-specific. Wheels which just hang in the workshop - great rims, great builds, but 142 and not 148.
It just doesn’t feel right in a world of diminishing resources.....
But modern mountain biking somehow seems less green.
About six weeks ago I acquired a whole stack of barely used Specialised tyres, all had been used tubeless and had latex cack all over them. I have always cleaned up my own tubeless tyres and thought these would be simply too. Nope. Barely worn, they will do thousands of miles more. But they are massively compromised by dried on latex. I tried the usual ‘leave them in a bucket of water for two weeks’ method, and then ‘maybe for one week more’.... and it has still been a nightmare to get the stuff off the beads. Done, but I assume that few would do this. OK, you can whack a tube in, but that’s not what most would do. It’s just..discard...move on.
So...I imagine that people around the world are abandoning perfectly good tyres. Contrast the 20 year-old tyres I still have in the barn, most of them still good. And then I think of the inner tubes which I have used - most equally ancient with a story-board of patches over them, each one telling the tale of where we sat and chatted whilst the repair was done. Green....lots of long use and re-use.
And that’s only tyres. The huge variation in axle standards means wheels quickly become redundant and are bike-specific. Wheels which just hang in the workshop - great rims, great builds, but 142 and not 148.
It just doesn’t feel right in a world of diminishing resources.....
and
