Confess about your geared ride

lord forgive me for I have sinned... http://www.lfgss.com/picture.php?albumid=1470&pictureid=8691

Very nice. Bug bloody huge!

i like my bikes made of unobtanium.

I'm just going to get this over with....

I like adamantium myself....haha...groan.

smallfuzzball

not so sure its about material choices (just he seems to be unaware of a lot of the materials) more its about the benefits of modern bikes over old ones

Having done a fair few climbs on my BJ. I've fallen out of favour with the whole threaded-fork/ quill stem set-up.

Other then that, its horses for courses.

I think to some extent it depends on the kind of riding you do. Modern road bikes generally get their stiffness and lightness by being made of aluminium. In fact, alu bikes have to be built very stiff, because if they're built with much flex in them, they fall apart due to metal fatigue. So the ride is hard and unyielding. Steep fame angles add to the stiffness but give tense, twitchy handling. Very good if you're totally going for it on reasonably smooth roads, but a bit punishing if you like big rides on small, potholed lanes.
For the kind of riding I prefer - long day rides through very rural areas, or trips around town with shopping or whilst drunk - a super-stiff, featherlight aluminium road bike with amazingly responsive handling would be no good. On the long rides it would batter my coccyx into jelly and dump me in the ditch if I lost concentration while trying to open a fruit bar, and it wouldn't look after me on the way home from the pub.
So I like steel bikes with a more relaxed geometry. In that category, modern groupsets are definitely better, but the old ones still work well enough; modern frames are maybe a bit lighter than older ones, but not by much.
Given that you can buy or put together a very nice older bike with a great deal of period charm for the price of a new bottom-end Halfords' special, you can see why 'classic' steel bikes still have plenty of fans.

^ I find most of that post to be complete tosh

This ^^.

Modern bikes get their stiffness by mainly being made of aluminium? What is this, the nineties?

Incidentally in the torygraph yesterday there was an article about how men having a midlife crisis are shunning the traditional sports car and buying top-end road bikes. Obviously they had a nice picture of someone on a Timetrial bike with TT helmet etc (just like in the Tour de France!!!!), adding up how much you could spend. Then showed an alu frame (admittedly a nice one) with carbon forks, saying that the frame material kept the weight right down. Fuck me bikes are getting a bit spaceage these days aren't they!

but if people are stuck with the only choices being aluminium or steel i can see why the hipsters stuck in the past choose old steel bikes!

road bikes and hipsters seem to go straight into some time portal bypassing the modern developments in cycling

and us lot - having a mid life crisis? never!

My 631 Bob Jackson is beginning to fuck me off because it just isn't and never will be as comfortable as my mid range alloy/crabon Specialized road bike. Feels like a barstool vs a sofa. After an hour I want to get off whilst >5 hours on the Spesh is fine.

And quill stems really are shit. Fuck it I think I want a Langster for commuting now.

But quill stems look so purdy!

My 631 Bob Jackson is beginning to fuck me off because it just isn't and never will be as comfortable as my mid range alloy/crabon Specialized road bike. Feels like a barstool vs a sofa. After an hour I want to get off whilst >5 hours on the Spesh is fine.

And quill stems really are shit. Fuck it I think I want a Langster for commuting now.

I find my BJ very comfortable on bad roads, and love the feel of the frame. Its a complete noodle when forcing it up a mountain though.

My 631 Bob Jackson is beginning to fuck me off because it just isn't and never will be as comfortable as my mid range alloy/crabon Specialized road bike. Feels like a barstool vs a sofa. After an hour I want to get off whilst >5 hours on the Spesh is fine.

And quill stems really are shit. Fuck it I think I want a Langster for commuting now.

I know its taboo to say these things, but I'm beginning to totally fucking agree (not about the langster - but something with 1 1/8"). What's the deal with ahead set converters? Do they actually make a difference to stiffness etc or is it more or less the same?

Pretty bikes can hang (on a wall)

Would rather have a functioning bike

We're all going to feel dirty and ashamed tommorrow.

We're all going to feel dirty and ashamed tommorrow.

I feel that way every morning

I've been happily riding this around for the last few months.

SLX frame, 80's components and 90's wheels. The brakes are crap though.

I may get a modern road bike next year, but sometimes think since I'm not racing it what's the point.

Id be up for paying for a city bike if they were all one of those. What groupset is it? Thats the only downside of the 80's sets- the old design single pivot brakes with shite pads. You could replace with the later single pivot ones (90's Athena) which would look nice on that but they still need some decent koolstops on them to make them half decent.

http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af246/perkunas13/IMG_4644.jpg

http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af246/perkunas13/IMG_4656.jpg

http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af246/perkunas13/IMG_4653.jpg

I found my main multigear bike from one backyard,they were collecting all sorts of junk to be thrown to junkyard,paid a package of coffee to the lady who told me that it was his dads and the man raced it quite alot till he got sick and later on died.

Its 1987,unfortunately not older,as i really would love something from 1950-1970 's.

Crescent 318,competition /ttraining cycle with my first factory installed campy parts in it.

In the pics its just as i found it,with all the dirt and such.

http://www.cykelhobby.com/92318.htm

Nice Crescent. Mine(frame) is a 1984 fashion line which used to live in Stockholm. Is yours still in Sweden?
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/thiscocks/Bike%20shit/SG1L11561.jpg

And my geared bike:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/thiscocks/Bike%20shit/Rob2.jpg

Id be up for paying for a city bike if they were all one of those. What groupset is it? ...

Campagnolo Super Record - Modolo Pro Brakes

Because some people continue to perpetrate bullshit about frame materials?

^ I find most of that post to be complete tosh

but if people are stuck with the only choices being aluminium or steel i can see why the hipsters stuck in the past choose old steel bikes!

road bikes and hipsters seem to go straight into some time portal bypassing the modern developments in cycling

and us lot - having a mid life crisis? never!

It's a fair point about other materials - yes, titanium bikes are lovely, but still very expensive for a properly-made one; carbon fibre / composites are good too. But most of the newer road bikes I see on the roads are still aluminium. And regardless, what I was trying to say was, the reason why lots of people still like older steel bikes is that you can get something that performs very well for the kind of riding that many people do - around town or out on longer day-rides - for the cost of a top-end saddle, let alone a whole bike made out of onanium.

In rode an £300 aluminium fameset bike over the Paris Roubaix course this year. I've done thousands of training miles on a £100 aluminium Ribble frame. I'd done thousands of commuting miles on an alu Langster and I'm back on the aluminium Kinesis because my steel Condor snapped.
Don't tell me that alu is no good for 'around town' or 'long rides' or any other classification of cycling because those statements are wrong.

it's just a bit uncomfortable and stiff. Of course it's a bloody good material, otherwise they wouldn't still use it!

it's just a bit uncomfortable and stiff.

Depends on where you are putting it.

I would still like to see a blind test as I don't belive the uncomfortable alu thing at all.
Just need to make a steel, ti, carbon and alu frame to the exact same dimensions and geometry and then kit out with exact same parts. Then offer £1MM to anyone that can get all 4 right when blindfolded. Where is that grey haired beardy bloke who seems to do that to test 'magicians' such as spoon benders when you need him!

I have been riding an alu frame (scandium) for the last few months (on and off road) and it is more comfortable than the steel frame it replaced. Is that because of frame material or just because it fits better, has different wheels. I don't believe the frame material can be felt after most shock is taken up by the tyres and then the padding on tape, seat, shorts.

Blindfolded cycling ftw!

mdcctester posted about the comparison of frame materials a while ago

utfs to find it

but his conclusion is that of all the things you might be able to distinguish, the actual frame material came a lot further down the list than things like bike fit, contact points, geometry, wheels, tyres, tyre pressure etc about the last thing on the list was the actual frame material

there was a bizarre looking magnesium-framed bike on ebay a few weeks back.

You can get them made by (or is branded by?) the famous Zinn.

adam-ant-ium