The Monotonous Use of Carbon Components
 

Is anyone growing tired of the abundance of bikes coming with carbon component
everything and if not carbon, components that are just black on black.

I can’t seem to escape it. I thought Shimano was on a great path releasing a limited edition polished GRX group set back in the day but that may have been the last pretty set.

Hell, even Campagnolo doesn’t offer anything polished besides their entry level group.

Do you think bikes will ever come back to polished components or are we stuck in this dark black/gray carbon era.

Polished components will be re-introduced by all the major manufacturers (Shimano, SRAM, Campy/Gucci, and Amazon) in the spring of 2034. You heard it here first.

tomato coupe :lol: I’ll hold you to it!

Learn to like black or develop an appreciation for older gear, I guess. Carbon isn’t going away.

My two oldest bikes have silver parts, and I really prefer the look. Black parts look ‘okay’ on the others, though; I can’t see most of them when I’m riding, anyway.

....Henry Ford did this for cars, until some marketing genius figured out you could sell more cars if you offered them in colors, and chromed the bumpers. But you could buy 14 steel bikes from the 80's that are worth $1,000 each, instead of one new $14,000 bike. Then you can start a thread on whether they are really worth that much.

Definitely. When black spokes became ubiquitous, that's where I drew the line. On my recent bicycle piece-up, I choose silver for any part that's available in it.

A couple years ago I had a wheel professionally built. The old pro wheelbuilder told me that it might be hard to obtain the silver spokes that I was requesting. "Everyone wants black", he said, to which I replied "Not anymore! Now everyone is starting to want silver again", as if I had my finger on the pulse of bicycle trends. The reality, of course, is that the bicycle industry drives the fashion (similar to car/industry).

I will just sit back and bide my time until my little collection of 70's and 80's double butted, lugged bikes and silver components become fashionable again and then who's gonna have the last laugh. Ha Ha Ha <evil laugh>

For the most part, people lust after what they couldn't afford when they were kids. Setting aside the vinyl-rules hipsters (who are already starting to move away from vinyl LPs and classic bikes and onto whatever will be cool next), the people who lusted after butted steel are retirement age or older and are beginning to sell off the classic butted-steel bikes they finally bought 10 or 15 years ago. Cheap, too.

For proof, there's the "Are you looking for one of these?" thread in the Classic & Vintage forum. Prices for classic butted-steel bikes are generally much lower than they were five years ago. Comparatively few of those bikes would have been bought on impulse during the COVID lockdown, so the downtick in their prices doesn't represent situational volatility.

Silver components (stems, handlebars, seatposts, cranksets, spokes, hubs) are out there...OP just needs to look.

Also, there is tremendous variety of other anodized colors on some components - particularly headsets, seatposts, hubs.

No. I love carbon bits!!!

I have not grown tired of seeing carbon components because very few bikes come with carbon components. Like a really really small %.

Black components are a long standing trend. If you dont like that color for components, buy some anodized components or silver components. These will be aftermarket since the already mentioned longstanding trend is black components.

Ride your art. It might be a master piece - or not. YMMV
Silver?
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b992cf7b31.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fa86b8882e.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b929749566.jpg

Yeah, black parts--whether carbon or just black--are just plain butt-ugly. Bike parts stopped being good looking after the Dura Ace 7700 group.

Thing is- carbon fiber can be any color! It's like fiber glass. You can put any color gelcoat on it. And in any event, the natural carbon fiber will fade in the sun eventually. Whereas a baked in color can last much longer. TVT92 carbon tubes frame:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...daac319e2e.jpg

I definitely know there are silver components out there such as the Ritchey Classic line, Thomson and Phil but is that it? I guess I was referring to todays modern day retail bikes or even modern bikes equipped with thru axle and disc brake only set up nowadays. The only polished thru-axle wheelset was HED Emporias that are no longer made(beautiful set if you ask me). It’s just a bummer seeing bikes on group rides all equipped with carbon and black. And everything going proprietary internally routed stems/handlebars, seat posts and so forth may have something to do with it as well.

Think broadly. :D
(not a criticism, only observation)

I think Mick sang it out decades ago - You can't always get what you want, but you'll find sometimes = you (can) get what you need!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9a88ebfb94.jpg

You have now posted up 4 pictures and all the bikes plus components are well over 3 decades old, with a few well older than 4 decades. What do these have to do with the OP's comments abput current modern components?

There is something regal about silver quill stems in the above pics.

He also said "paint it black."

Proof that silver > black?

General Cycling speaking = some seek silver, seems an accurate observation.

I post silver, with a Jagger disclaimer re not what you want.
Obtuse perhaps, but potentially relevant and not disparaging.
edit: Pictured examples are anything but monotonous.
Roll On!

True dat. But he rode silver.
If it had been a thing in his youth, Mick would have espoused naked carbon fiber, natural weave.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c5436e4de7.jpg
Kinda blingy for early '70s.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cc02d2bb12.jpg

it could be steel or aluminum, but then it would likely contain a dark coating. At least carbon is lighter weight...

The OP didnt ask for proof. The OP asked a question. Pictures of bikes from 40 years ago didnt answer or even acknowledge the question.

Should I throw away my black aluminum stem cap and replace it with a black carbon stem cap from ENVE that costs $120? It might be worth it because it is 0.015 grams lighter.

Hey, that could be the subject for a new thread!