Change come hard in the cycling community

[Yellow Saddle]

Far and away the biggest innovation in that time is led lights and Lithium batteries IMO.

The others make much less difference, and whilst I do use all of them on some bikes, I don't on all.

I agree with you on LEDs, they revolutionised our entire life, not just bikes. But don't forget the humble threadless headset. That's one giant leap for mankind.

 

[Alex321]

Yep, gear cables will typically fail more often than chains.

I've never yet had a gear cable completely fail on me out on the road. I've had a chain go on me 3 times in the last 4 years ( 4 if you count the one that went twice in successive days because I hadn't fixed it properly the first time - I didn't carry a quick link then).

 

[Alex321]

I live in the snow belt, and I am a wuss when it comes to the cold. As far as I am concerned it has to be 65+ to ride. I believe biking should be done in shorts and a T shirt. I hate riding in long pants.

Here in the UK, we hardly ever get days that warm outside of May - August, occasional ones in September). We would only ride in summer if we limited ourselves to that.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Key improvements in 30 years? Here's my list.

1) Threadless headset (Aheadset)
2) Freehub (bike historians, please correct me)
3) Dual-pivot caliper brakes
4) Hydraulic disc brakes.
5) Gear indexing.
6) SPD
7) Di2
8) Belt drive

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I've never yet had a gear cable completely fail on me out on the road. I've had a chain go on me 3 times in the last 4 years ( 4 if you count the one that went twice in successive days because I hadn't fixed it properly the first time - I didn't carry a quick link then).

Don’t buy fake chains. That’s an excessive amount of failures

 

[Alex321]

Key improvements in 30 years? Here's my list.

1) Threadless headset (Aheadset)
2) Freehub (bike historians, please correct me)
3) Dual-pivot caliper brakes
4) Hydraulic disc brakes.
5) Gear indexing.
6) SPD
7) Di2
8) Belt drive

One needs to stretch your "30 years" rather, for some of those.

The first Shimano Freehub (for Dura ace & Ultegra) was produced in 1978. (46 years ago)

SiS Indexed shifting first on Dura Ace in 1985, down to 105 by 1988 (36 years ago)

SPD were only a bit more than 30 years ago, being introduced in 1990.

 

[Alex321]

Don’t buy fake chains. That’s an excessive amount of failures

I don't.

And that is three in something like 15,000 miles. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I don't.

And that is three in something like 15,000 miles. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

Very unlucky, that is very much extreme number of breakages in that distance.

 

[Jameshow]

Many (most?) do but some don't.



Almost suicidal negligence, in this case! If you ever looked at your bike, how could you not spot this developing problem?

View attachment 757140

The rider had gone down a very fast descent just before that. He only noticed the problem when his front mudguard started rubbing on the wheel. Another few minutes and he would probably have been killed or seriously injured!

That would never happen with carbon fibre just saying...🤣🤣🤣

Gets hard hat, bullet proof jacket, leaves...🤣

 

[ColinJ]

That would never happen with carbon fibre just saying...🤣🤣🤣

Gets hard hat, bullet proof jacket, leaves...🤣

No - that tends to shatter suddenly, rather giving you a couple of seconds to stop and get off!!

funnily enough i was down at my lbs today where i got my giant tcx1 from. i was enquiring about the possibility of getting a set of alloy forks. i just don't seem to be able to settle down when riding with the carbon forks it came with, my reasons to be unsettled is that my scott genius ltd full carbon fibre mtb (£5000's worth) snapped in half due to a manufacturing fault (fracturing my eye socket and wrist and i was knocked unconscious for a short while). the frame was replaced by scott and the bike rebuilt by lbs, but i ebayed it.

the bloke at the lbs (craig at rideon in rossendale) is very knowledgeable and is involved in quite a few research and developments (bike related). rideon are giant dealers and craig goes to all the meetings a dealer has the opportunity to goto. he's been to a few where giant rep's talk about quality and prices and some others where they demonstrate the manufacturing process and quality control.

apparently not all cf is the same, i.e giant get the actual fibre's from the same place as boeing and f1 teams. in other words they get the best available, then they weave it in house and produce the components in house and keep a tight grip on quality. apparently giant have the ethos of it has to be 'fit for purpose' (which causes passionate arguments at dealer meetings, dealers want cheaper bikes to compete) and not built to compete with 'boutique' brands on lightness (eg, pinarello, colnago etc etc) the boutique companies buy in the already woven cf matting and 'swatch build' their frames with the ultimate goal being lightness and stiffness (fair enough, horses for courses).

giant actually build and have their bikes tested to some crash test standards (craig said EN summat or other) and are heavily involved with improving the standards of all bicycle frames and forks. craig says he really believes the company (giant) operate a show all policy and gets monthly emails regarding failures and recalls. he reckons in all the time he's been a dealer he's not heard (not even on the grapevine) about any problems with giant cf frames or forks.

now i'm not naive enough to believe everything i'm told by a dealer (obviously he may have an agenda) but craig seems to be a straight up guy and wouldn't sell cf mtb bikes until he started being a giant dealership.

what do you guys think? has he been straight with me (or giant straight with him).

i'm particularly happy with how he told me giant make their cf forks; a swaged end on an alloy steerer tube and then inserted into the machine that bonds the tube to cf & resin, i.e., not cold glued into a crown like a lot of companies used/do.

ribble bikes was one of the companies that was mentioned in the cheap chinese carbon category.