Halfrauds laughable

[SkipdiverJohn]

I too have a vintage build, I love it for many reasons, but that does not mean I love my modern bikes less?
There are good and bad bikes but that applies to everything, I love servicing my air shocks & gaining knowledge on bearing sizes etc on my Defy as well, all bought used and home serviced. Good quality is not age related?

Do you drive a Ford popular still or a car laden with ECU’s @ control modules, ABS, Air bags .....

I thought there was a bit of a recent trend to go back to rigid for MTB? Next thing someone will have a "new idea" and decide that maybe 26" is the optimum wheel size...….
Whilst quality is not entirely age-related, it's much easier to build simple designs to a good quality standard and keep it affordable, than it is to build complex ones. Hence the fact that I avoid all forms of suspension MTB's like the plague because whilst you can engineer a decent rigid cheaply, a decent suspension frame pushes the price into the range where I expect to see an engine fitted not pedals!
A Ford Pop was a pretty crude car in its day, almost anything else of it's era was far better! I do avoid owning cars stuffed full of pointless gadgets, because when this stuff gets older and something goes wrong, it can render the whole vehicle uneconomic to repair. if you look in a car scrapyard these days, you won't find many wrecks with rusted-out body shells or totally worn-out engines. Most end up there because of things like ECU/ABS failure or relatively minor accident damage.

 

[Alwaysbroken]

I thought there was a bit of a recent trend to go back to rigid for MTB? Next thing someone will have a "new idea" and decide that maybe 26" is the optimum wheel size...….
Whilst quality is not entirely age-related, it's much easier to build simple designs to a good quality standard and keep it affordable, than it is to build complex ones. Hence the fact that I avoid all forms of suspension MTB's like the plague because whilst you can engineer a decent rigid cheaply, a decent suspension frame pushes the price into the range where I expect to see an engine fitted not pedals!
A Ford Pop was a pretty crude car in its day, almost anything else of it's era was far better! I do avoid owning cars stuffed full of pointless gadgets, because when this stuff gets older and something goes wrong, it can render the whole vehicle uneconomic to repair. if you look in a car scrapyard these days, you won't find many wrecks with rusted-out body shells or totally worn-out engines. Most end up there because of things like ECU/ABS failure or relatively minor accident damage.

I don’t know what you drive? But I expect it’s littered with sensors and tech, even the simplest of cars are.
I would guess you are posting on here from a PC or mobile phone? Littered with disposable tech.

I run 26” MTB wheels too. Not sure what that has to do with bearings?

My road bike when I was 14 was £120. You can get a very good road bike for a grand now, which is lighter faster and more agile and fairly simple to maintain, and probable comparable in price to my first road bike by today’s £ value.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

It’s funny I bought them at that same store before tho. No wonder it takes a fecking week to get a couple of broken spokes fixed. This is a standard 700C wheel FFS nothing special .

Wonder why decathlon had boxes of them in the workshop bit ?

Standard 700C wheel?

Did you know that the profile of the rim affects spoke lenghts? They differ widely when you compare box section rims such as Mavic MA2 to say, a Mavic CX33, not to mention deep section rims. In 700C rims alone there must be a range difference of at least 25mms. That excludes colours and styles.

Then, we get to hubs. The hub flange diameter also affects the length.

What is standard? Every wheel is "something special".

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Wheel hub bearings are 1/4". There are some that aren't, but 1/4" bearings are standard. A bike shop that doesn't stock them is not much of a bike shop, IMHO.

Nope, they are not standard. They can be had in Class 100, Class 20 and Class 10. Admittedly they are interchangeable but you are not going to convince a Campag Record hub owner that a Class 100 ball is good enough for his hub. Conversely, the owner who doesn't care about fancy bikes will not want to pay the price for Class 10 balls.

There's a good economic reason for flux in bike retail.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I thought there was a bit of a recent trend to go back to rigid for MTB? Next thing someone will have a "new idea" and decide that maybe 26" is the optimum wheel size...….
Whilst quality is not entirely age-related, it's much easier to build simple designs to a good quality standard and keep it affordable, than it is to build complex ones. Hence the fact that I avoid all forms of suspension MTB's like the plague because whilst you can engineer a decent rigid cheaply, a decent suspension frame pushes the price into the range where I expect to see an engine fitted not pedals!
A Ford Pop was a pretty crude car in its day, almost anything else of it's era was far better! I do avoid owning cars stuffed full of pointless gadgets, because when this stuff gets older and something goes wrong, it can render the whole vehicle uneconomic to repair. if you look in a car scrapyard these days, you won't find many wrecks with rusted-out body shells or totally worn-out engines. Most end up there because of things like ECU/ABS failure or relatively minor accident damage.

It's sign of the times.
My sister bought my dad's Kia ceed 08 model when he went to Spain in 2016
The car had a minor bump but the airbag deployed.
Write off !! Bumper damage and a airbag on a 2.5k car

 

[screenman]

It's sign of the times.
My sister bought my dad's Kia ceed 08 model when he went to Spain in 2016
The car had a minor bump but the airbag deployed.
Write off !! Bumper damage and a airbag on a 2.5k car

There would have been damage you could not see.

Let us not forget cars have a lot of useful safety features, the crumple zone being one of them.

 

[DRHysted]

I thought there was a bit of a recent trend to go back to rigid for MTB? Next thing someone will have a "new idea" and decide that maybe 26" is the optimum wheel size...….
Whilst quality is not entirely age-related, it's much easier to build simple designs to a good quality standard and keep it affordable, than it is to build complex ones. Hence the fact that I avoid all forms of suspension MTB's like the plague because whilst you can engineer a decent rigid cheaply, a decent suspension frame pushes the price into the range where I expect to see an engine fitted not pedals!
A Ford Pop was a pretty crude car in its day, almost anything else of it's era was far better! I do avoid owning cars stuffed full of pointless gadgets, because when this stuff gets older and something goes wrong, it can render the whole vehicle uneconomic to repair. if you look in a car scrapyard these days, you won't find many wrecks with rusted-out body shells or totally worn-out engines. Most end up there because of things like ECU/ABS failure or relatively minor accident damage.

I had to send a 2005 Mondeo to the scrap yard due to a sensor fault somewhere. Couldn’t really complain it did have over 200000 miles on the clock.

 

[robgul]

Standard 700C wheel?

Did you know that the profile of the rim affects spoke lenghts? They differ widely when you compare box section rims such as Mavic MA2 to say, a Mavic CX33, not to mention deep section rims. In 700C rims alone there must be a range difference of at least 25mms. That excludes colours and styles.

Then, we get to hubs. The hub flange diameter also affects the length.

What is standard? Every wheel is "something special".

... and don't forget straight-pull and hooked spokes .... and most bikes have 3 different lengths of spoke too - front all the same, rear different either side - and the lacing method affects the length too.

One solution is a little machine that "rolls" (i.e. cuts) threads on to a base, plain end spoke that is cut to size. I have a machine in the shop but it's seldom used ... IIRC it cost about £100/120.

Rob

 

[Yellow Saddle]

... and don't forget straight-pull and hooked spokes .... and most bikes have 3 different lengths of spoke too - front all the same, rear different either side - and the lacing method affects the length too.

One solution is a little machine that "rolls" (i.e. cuts) threads on to a base, plain end spoke that is cut to size. I have a machine in the shop but it's seldom used ... IIRC it cost about £100/120.

Rob

How could I forget? Add another x 2 to my permutations.

If that little machine of yours is a Hozan, better just to get rid of it now. Sell it on eBay. It will fail you when you need it and when you are desperate, it is better not to have a solution than a rubbish tool.

There are only two spoke rollers on the market which are any good - Morizumi and Phil Wood. All others are sub-standard.

 

[DaveReading]

There are only two spoke rollers on the market which are any good - Morizumi and Phil Wood. All others are sub-standard.

Out of interest, is a machine necessary to cut the occasional spoke thread? Can't it be done simply just using a die?

 

[Pat "5mph"]

There was no shortage of employment when bikes, cars, and lots of other things were far simpler than they are now.

I beg to differ
Folks have emigrated to find work from like, the beginning of time, I myself emigrated to find work 35 years ago.
Anyway back on topic, one of my bikes is of that time, it's got a bend integrated derailleur hanger.
If it was a modern bike I could buy a new hanger, easy even for me to change.
While straightening steel hangers is well outside my expertise.
So, one occasion where old in not better than new

 

[Rusty Nails]

I beg to differ
Folks have emigrated to find work from like, the beginning of time, I myself emigrated to find work 35 years ago.
Anyway back on topic, one of my bikes is of that time, it's got a bend integrated derailleur hanger.
If it was a modern bike I could buy a new hanger, easy even for me to change.
While straightening steel hangers is well outside my expertise.
So, one occasion where old in not better than new

Don't do yourself down. A hanger straightener is very easy to use. One of the best tools I have bought as I work on a lot of old steel bikes, and you can also do it reasonably well without specialist tools.

 

[midlife]

Out of interest, is a machine necessary to cut the occasional spoke thread? Can't it be done simply just using a die?

We had something like this at our old bike shop, rolled the threads on the spoke rather than cutting them

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Don't do yourself down. A hanger straightener is very easy to use. One of the best tools I have bought as I work on a lot of old steel bikes, and you can also do it reasonably well without specialist tools.

Remember, I'm Pat5mph, every time I change brake pads I need to re-watch the video
I will try your tip one day, meantime I ride that bike single speed

 

[Smokin Joe]

The engineering on modern bikes is total crap, IMHO.

In mine it's better than it's ever been. Fifty years ago when I was a fledgling apprentice engineer I can remember buying stuff like axles and bearing cups and commenting to my old man that if I machined anything like that at work I'd get a bollocking. And a lot of the hand built frames we wax lyrical about now were not up to much either. Any fool with welding or brazing experience can knock a few tubes and lugs into shape, and unfortunately many fools did. Not every builder was a Murice Woodrup or a Monty Young.