gearbasher

Not technology, but I'd snuff out the current generation of "cyclists". Their fitness exceeds their handling skills.

zandoval 

DUH!

One Thing?

Help... Can't think... I have got a small brain!

52telecaster

Is that what u put on mine?

52telecaster

I like french dimensions, it keeps old french bikes cheap in the USA!

merziac

Really?

Well I've ranted about it and the related to me DS cup removal argument plenty here so we'll go over it again.

Just like the cookie cutter, cartridge style disposable threadless HS above, they negate the necessity to learn the valuable skill of dealing with them.

BB's, HS's, bearings, cups, adjustments and all related skills are very valuable in this realm and many others.

Any hack can turn a wrench and screw things up, learning and being able to wrangle these when they muck up gives you the ability to save fussy, sometimes rare valuable parts, pieces and tools.

This type of skill both physical and mental can serve you well in many other tasks and areas that will save you time and $$$$$$ in the long run as well as foster confidence and begat more skill along the way.

And just for the record, the DS cup ALWAYS comes out for proper maintenance, inspection, cleaning and servicing and so it will come out later, no ifs, and's or butts about it, period.

BTinNYC 

And there's another problem. Frugal old farts ending up with 3 Pugs and Moto "because they were cheap". 😜

gugie 

Yep! It's the best beefy, double eyelet fork dropout I've found.
Just gotta file off those damn lawyer lips...

cyclophilia 

index shifting

cyclophilia 

and as a follow-up to @jethin and his question about @merziac's distaste for the Shimano sealed bearing bottom bracket:

I think that the use of plastic for the non-drive side retaining cup is a VERY BAD IDEA.

Here in the Great Desert Southwest the combination of environmental factors causes the plastic cups to become brittle
and removal of a damaged one can become a 3 beer experience. (or the convenient 750ml single-serving bottle of
Oregon Pinot Gris)

merziac

Yep, that too and not just Shipmano, all cartridge units in general.

The bodge, dodge they create also siphons off untold still good usable parts we will never get back.

Standard drill nowdays is many shops saying "oh we don't service those anymore, the cartridge ones ones are cheaper, better, last longer, blah, blah, blah".

Translation in many cases = we don't know how to work on them without screwing it up anymore.

I firmly view this whole C+V thing and most any mechanical endeavor as a preservation/conservation mission, do no harm, get it right and save all you can.

georges1

I disagree, tubulars can be subject to more punctures and flats than clinchers .A clincher is a more solid wheel than a a tubular wheel.

pastorbobnlnh 

I was just attempting a little C&V humor--- and expressing my preference for tires.

I don't believe the OP wanted this to be a thread for debating--- however, possibly, I misunderstood.

cudak888 

It wouldn't be a component, it wouldn't be a thread standard, and it wouldn't be a part of the sport.

It'd be the biggest technological dinosaur ever to hit North American cycling: John Forester.

-Kurt

merziac

As long as I'm here, this sort of thing will never not be a debate.

iab

5-arm cranks. 2 too many. Yuck.

FB Cranks 1 by iabisdb, on Flickr

cyccommute 

So can we assume that you are against cotterless crank sets? Any hack with a wrench can service one of those but it takes a Real® mechanic to remove cotters Or maybe you prefer an Ashtabula since they are ‘Merican and are a bit like the table puzzles at the Cracker Barrel? Hours of fun trying to figure out how the arm goes in the bottom bracket. Or perhaps you prefer ordinaries since they are basically hewed straight from iron ore.

nlerner

Lots of technology disappeared on its own for obvious reasons, e.g., heliocrapmatic hubs, but it's hard for me to think of what's still around that would have been better off being pruned from the evolutionary tree. Umm, skintight lycra for those who should otherwise be wearing baggy clothes?

scarlson 

Simplex Prestige plastique. Get rid of that, and instead make a lighter weight all-aluminum version of the Juy Export 61. Introduce anodized Al and Ti bits and bolts in the late '60s. Super Record killer. Wouldn't that be a cool parallel universe? Maybe they'd have bought Huret and we'd have Simplex branded 'cross and gravel groupsets now instead of SRAM.

Maybe also kill off the "Tech" stuff that Suntour made in the '80s? Maybe it'd stave off sunset for Suntour.

cudak888 

I think it's the level of training that mechanics receive that determines whether they understand BB adjustments, not the equipment itself. Plus, if someone can't understand cup-and-cone adjustments, that same mechanic probably shouldn't be monkeying around with the fragile, modern components that mechanics are expected to set up today.

What's more, in a world where more people bike commute, I can support cartridge BBs from the standpoint of quick repairs for the average commuter bike where the speed of repair determines someone's ability to use their personal transportation. I even run such a combo in my 1980 Raleigh Sports, though it's a Hollowtech II instead of a square taper. (I wish it was the latter, the damn thing squeaks).

At the same time though, I do resent some cartridge BB's, but not for the same reasons:

1. The bog-standard square taper stuff (UN72 and knockoffs) tend to wear out faster than cup-and-cone BBs. I suspect this is due to the inherently smaller bearings. Cup and cone let you compensate for wear by a simple adjustment. Less waste, longer lifespan.

2. Shimano's spline removal pattern should be shot, sent to the Russian front, whipped, shot again, and left to burn in hell. Whoever came up with this spline pattern engineered it perfectly to bias the removal tool to slip out of the splines while being torqued - which is more or less the only state of the tool when in use. Park has improved their remover for it, but I've lost count how many times I've bashed my hand and lost skin to this design slipping. I hate it.

3. The standard [Shimano*] design that currently proliferates the industry could have incorporated removable cartridge bearing replacements and separate rings (a-la Phil Wood) which could have resulted in a brilliant modular system of standardized center cartridges with easily replaceable bearings and separate cups to accommodate various BB threads. But nope, that's too smart, so the only design of this type is stuck in the boutique world. About the only hack one can do with the Shimano design is to use 73mm cartridges in 68mm shells with the corret left-hand lockring - if one can accept a spindle that's a bit too long on the left side.

-Kurt

*Most of the current cartridge designs are Shimano knockoffs. Only within the last decade have a few Chinese manufacturers finally started to tinker with alternate designs, but nothing else has given them any real competition. Yet.

kunsunoke 

Huret Duopar, Suntour "Tech" and other three-pivot rear mech designs. (Suntour might still be with us.)

Anything ever designed by SE Racing. This includes their boat-anchor Quad Angles, their dwarf-star alloy Landing Gear forks, and their under-engineered and horrid-handling PK Rippers and Floval Flyers.

Simplex injection-molded Delrin derailleurs.

Shimano Arabesque cranksets with 6mm allen key retention bolts.

Shimano 1st gen. SIS shifters - and also the Suntour rip-offs that they spawned. Nothing like pressing the wrong button when ascending slippery single-track.

Shimano Positron / forward freewheel setups.

Chainstay mounted U-Brakes.

Elevated chainstay mountain bikes. (Over-engineered solution to a non-problem)

Fisher Evolution headsets.

Campagnolo 1st generation mountain bike groups.

Campagnolo Delta brakes.

Cottered aluminum cranksets.

Hearst Publishing's acquisition of Bicycling Magazine.

familyguy

52telecaster

How about several Motos and a mercier!

52telecaster

I'm glad you had them. The clearance they added was perfect.

52telecaster

Until you posted I'd never considered what a technological feat a clincher tire is. It does seem to complicate things a lot. Of course it's all I use.

merziac

No argument here and most of this is my point, hack wrenchers don't learn or care, shop owners, suppliers and companies only want easier, faster and cheaper so they can keep paying less and less to work on the crap that continues to drag the standards down.

You and I know the difference and have the experience to make it work either way, the key thing that is lost on many of today's players.