JohnDThompson 

And why is the buckle on the inside of the pedal? Makes me wonder if the bike has ever actually been ridden.

nlerner

I sorta remember seeing a catalog description of a 1930s Raleigh stem that was actually shaped like a goose neck and might have been labeled as such. Of course, there's also the LD stem.

mstateglfr 

Stuff that bugs me more than it bugs most people-

- front QR skewer installed on the driveside. i have switched the skewer around on many bikes(they are on bikes ridden by a youth cycling group and i help maintain em).
- bar tape that has gaps in it at the brake lever mount. either learn to figure 8 the bar tape or use the included little tape bits to cover the gaps.
- technomic stem. even as someone who is tall and is keenly aware of fitment issues, i just dont like the look. clearly im in the minority, based on how frequently the stems are used on this forum. but everyone comes to this hobby with different limitations, body proportions, yada yada so we must respect how all bikes look.
- saggy saddle wedge bags. i get it- you ride the bike and cant see the flaccid wedge bag flopping around under you so whats it matter? well it matters because they look terrible. a limp wedge bag is no way to go through life- buy one that doesnt sway so much it throws you off balance.
- slapping cheap slow tires on a refurbished road bike that someone spent dozens of hours and absurd money to bring back to glory. quality tires can cost $30 more for a pair than a lot of the stiff heavy junk that i see added to bikes at the end. spending dozens of hours and gobs of money to get all the proper campy from the correct year, then buying some tires from the local co-op is confusing.
- not riding the bikes you own, even when they arent 'museum' quality. the c&v hobby is quite wide in appeal- some love to reuse and refurbish, some like to relive their better years on bikes from that time, some like the simplicity, etc. i appear to be in the minority when it comes to people who seem to collect really nice bikes to display them. its something that i see and wonder why. of course, as a kid i also broke out an autographed football by the 1981 steelers team because i wanted to play with my friend and we couldnt find any of the half dozen footballs i never properly put away. point being, i apparently am not a good collector and displayer of things.

Classtime 

On other's bikes:
Brake release levers in the released position.

On my bikes:
Aero brake levers with center pulls or cantilevers--Never Again!

Not even bikes:
ebikes without big blue DISABLED tags.

Touring drivetrains on road racing bikes bugs a lot of people so I won't go there. 🤡

gugie 

I would wager that this bugs most of us.

Fixie idjit hacked off derailleur hanger really bugs me, but it also bugs most people, methinks.

mstateglfr 

Ha, agreed. I was coming at that annoyance from the perspective of cyclists in general. While it would probably bug most c&v posters, it really doesnt seem to bug the cycling population in general, based on how many i have seen that are backwards.

Fahrenheit531 

On my bikes: Brake cable symmetry. Bar tape too. I will agonize over them every single time. (And yes, with bar tape I'm talking about the actual number of wraps, the way they get over and around the brake levers, all of it.) Mental disorder maybe.

Chuck M 

I have no idea what I'm talking about, but my wife has a bunch of letters behind her name on business cards that suggests she does. If I understand her correctly, it is only a disorder if it negatively affects your life functions.

seypat

From a pure geometry standpoint, these bikes are very appealing to look at. The racks enhance it even more. Look at all of those imaginary lines, angles, circles, etc. They're everywhere! If they had the funky Gitane Honeycomb dropouts and Stronglight cranks it would be visual overload.

Moe Zhoost

Long presta valve stems on vintage rims.

seypat

What about different colored valve stems on the same bike? I have some of those. You don't know the color until you pull it out of the box. Then you're stuck with it.

steelbikeguy

I'm 99% certain the bike had never been ridden, even when not considering that toe strap. There were more than a few bikes at the show that seemed unlikely to have ever been on the road. Not my preference, but I can understand the urge.

What I don't understand is how someone can be so enthusiastic about a hobby that the person would commission a frame from Brian Baylis, but not remember how to route a toe strap (and then not see that it was clearly wrong when the pedal was installed). Even if the strap was installed late at night in a hurry.... I can't understand it.

On the plus side... it was an opportunity to bring another Brian Baylis frame into the world, thereby benefiting Brian and the world, so I have to give the owner credit!

Steve in Peoria

seypat

Until I saw it mentioned on BF, I didn't know about the strap twist thing. I came to cycling later in life after clipless pedals became a thing. I also put the strap though the little loop on the buckle..........because it's there. Maybe I should rethink it now that I know it's a Flintstone move.

I once installed a set of adjustable DT cable stops with the adjusters on the downside. I thought they looked like dual exhausts! Stayed that way for a year or two until someone pointed it out.

BFisher 

I gotta say it, because I see it often enough to think everybody else is ok with this:

Too thick lug lining, especially on high end bikes or bikes that the builder obviously put a lot of time into.

Guys, and yes I say guys because women would never do this, stop using blunt tip markers to line your lugs! It looks terrible. Always. From the front, side, and rear, and from 100 yards away where they are unfortunately still visible just like a toupee.

There. I said it.

abshipp 

This one kills me. I spent 4 hours on my last fender installation and it's still not perfect, but I'd say it's 95% there.

​​​​​​

Charles Wahl

The many vendors who seem not to stock tubes with short Presta stems.

Ex Pres 

There are plenty of aesthetic choices I see routinely posted on BF that I wouldn't have in my stable, but I'm not airing those.
Except for modern 4 arm cranksets - I'm calling those out.

BUT WHAT BUGS ME THE MOST is cyclists wearing pavement camouflage.
Matte black bike with black components and wearing a black jersey or jacket, (shorts get a pass, they have to be black) particularly while riding in low light conditions and/or lacking enough lighting on their bike.
When I see a cyclist kitted out like this, I'm almost tempted to run them off the road so I can stop and lecture them,

Yep, I'm getting old and cranky, too.

Kabuki12

Agreed! It has forced me to patch tubes that I would normally dispose of . The normal sources are drying up. My LBS that used to order them for me said they can get short ones , they came in at 42mm, that ain't short! I first had to get used to 32mm after years of 28mm , now 42? ARGH!!!

steelbikeguy

Looking at the posts so far, I notice at least a couple of categories. One is the "that's not the way we did it back in the day". My post about tucking the end of the toe strap into the loop on the buckle falls into that category ... even though some folks did it back in the day. Maybe it's more of a "that's not the way the cool kids did it.." sort of thing? I think this category also includes the matter of whether cloth bar tape should be wrapped from bottom to top or top to bottom (the answer is clearly "top to bottom"!!).

Another cagegory would be aesthetic preferences. Lots of opportunities here, but this post is about using large bottles in handlebar cages.

To illustrate this, here's a shot of my International with a T.A. bar cage. The bottle is a standard pint, which is all that existed when this cage was designed.



Bar cages still exist, which is great, and people often use whatever bottle is available. This is usually a large bottle, which is very practical and likely easier to grab than a pint bottle.
The problem is that the large bottle looks ridiculous! In the same way that your trousers don't have to go down to your shoes, they look ridiculous when the hem is a few inches higher. The trousers still work, but.... friends don't let friends wear them this way.

Anyway... we are all human and have our biases about what is right. Large bottles in handlebar cages just aren't right!


Steve in Peoria

gugie 

Ooh, that's damn slick. The words cafe racer come to mind. I'm not into single speeds, but if I were, that's how I'd do it!

halb

First, I want to congratulate Gugie for starting the perfect thread. Maybe too perfect when things started to get snarky.
While I share many of the views already expressed, from an aesthetic sense, shouldn't we just get rid of those damn cables?
I started thinking of track bikes and coaster brakes, but the limitations are obvious. How about "drive by wire." It's already here
in F1 and creeping into bicycle racing. Don't we all just want to control our braking and shifting with subtle little buttons?
Of course, my days of fooling with bikes would be fading fast.

abshipp 

Since I have a real track bike now that can scratch the fixed gear itch, I'm starting to think more and more about that Jubile RD I have in my parts bin...

I think this would be perfect as a 1x5 with those porteur bars and a chainguard. It desperately needs centerpulls too.

Reynolds 

Too long/too short cables. That is, longer or shorter than I set them up...

Goosecheck 

• Laying a bicycle on the ground (when laying it on the ground is not the only option)
• Laying a bicycle on the ground on the drivetrain side (when laying it on the ground IS the only option)
• Standing a bicycle up on the handlebars and saddle
• Use of aero/tri bars any place outside of an actual race.
• Not calling out when passing another cyclist from behind
• The inordinate pursuit of lightness, speed, data and upgrades
• Not waving back to another cyclist

...whew! Glad to get that off my chest!

masi61

I like the bottoms of my drop bars to be almost parallel to the ground. Their position, then dictates the positioning of the tops of the brake levers which for me leaves the top of the hood nearly horizontal. Maybe a bit too extreme but I prefer it that way for when I ride the drops.

The opposite of this configuration - bar ends angled up and integrated shifters angled up looks downright dangerous. Usually a person who has their road bike set up this way has some sort of back issue - I get that. But doing handlebars this way makes descending in the drops dangerous.