It's sad but true Greg. I actually believe that my new 9-spped STI equipped bike is more enjoyable to ride than my 6-speed friction equipped bikes. The gears are both more closely spaced and of wider range. I can select any one of them while seated or standing and never miss a shift. The clincher wheels are not as sweet riding as hand made sliks, but they are about as nice as the budget tubulars I used to ride, and much more reliable. My Time pedals and shoes are far more comfortable on my feet than my Duegi or Addidas with SLs. I consider myself to be conservative when it comes to bike equipment, I didn't make the clipless or the index change until 1992. I just went to STI. But the stuff simply works better, at least with the maniacal level care I give my bikes. ...then would you want to be a CR list member?
Because I like old bikes. I like the stuff that I used to ride. I think the racing gear that's older than late 70's is really interesting, but things like pre-war track bikes don't resonate with me, at least not enough to bring me to collect them. What I really don't get is "BOB" types, some of whom are just getting into riding, but who long to buy and use retro gear that they never even knew about when it was current. I don't accept the whole servicability/durabilty/versatility thing. Why pay more, and spend all that time searching for stuff that doesn't work as well as the new stuff. Yeah It's not all interchangable, but the old stuff had its limitations, it's just that expectations were lower.
"....let folks work their way up to the higher-performance pedals-with-toeclips setup..."
Yeah still the choice among some track sprinters, but fewer and fewer all the time. For road riding, which is what I do, clipless is the better performer.
I take pride in knowing how to set up cleated shoes and pedals, friction drivetrains and tubulars, and I take pride in knowing how to correctly operate that old stuff, but not to the degree that drives me display it to the larger cycling world. It would be largely lost on them anyway. As for personal satisfaction, it's enough for me to know that I could deal with that stuff if I needed to.
Tom Dalton
Bethlehem, PA
GPVB1@cs.com wrote: In a message dated 9/6/02 10:11:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Tom Dalton wrote (in part):
> Personally, I don't feel much desire to ride my older bikes. I should drag
> them out and tool around once in a while, but I don't. I own only two
> "vintage" bikes and neither is old enough yet to really be a novelty on the
> road. In another couple of decades, it might become more of an "event" to
> ride them. Right now I just think of them as cool old bikes that don't
> work as well as my new bikes. Someday though, six-speed friction and
> toeclips will be more than out-dated, it will be interesting. For serious
> riding though, the newer stuff will probably always be my choice.
> Tom Dalton
> Bethlehem, PA
>
Yikes! Are you sure that's what you wanted to say?
If the above is true, why then would you want to be a CR list member?
Cheers and it's not all that bad, really,
Greg "chief retrogrouch" Parker A2 MI USA
Where six-speed friction and toeclips still work just fine on "serious" rides, and
where the new (Detroit-area) velodrome requires only "familiarity with clipless pedals" because they "let folks work their way up to the higher-performance pedals-with-toeclips setup...."
_______________________________________________
---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes