Originally Posted by
aliasfox
Wow, lots of bikes from the 70s through 90s, and one from the 50s! Keep ‘em coming!
For those of you with more experience on pre-STI steeds: are there any big differences between bikes from the 50s through the late 80s? I know they were predominantly steel, with non-indexed downtube shifters. At some point rear dropout spacing increased to 130mm, number of gears went up, and (I think) indexed shifting happened just before the shift to shifter/brake combos, but as far as I’m aware, those are all changes that happened in the latter half of the 80s through early 90s. Lugs vs brazing vs welds? Butting? Bottom bracket standards? Or could a 1956 frame be sold in 1976 with few/no changes?
The bikes of the fifties, sixties, and early seventies generally had clearance for larger tires and wheelbases were longer. This changed in the seventies. The most cited theory is that the evolution of smoother roads contributed to the change. Racing bikes had eyelets for fenders on the dropouts for winter training before the mid seventies. Perhaps this is because increasing affluence meant that a racer could have both a race bike and a training bike.
Brent