SurferRosa

And why do they last so damn long?

Reminds me of a Woody Allen quote.

TugaDude

Yes, or the Yogi Berra quote where he claims nobody goes to a restaurant anymore because it is too crowded.

Trakhak

Stolen from Thomas Hobbes:

"Life is nasty, brutish, and short."

JohnDThompson 

Old bike parts are "sucky" for the same reason that new bike parts are "ugly."

smd4

For me, the thread's premise is flawed. My "old" parts from 30 or more years ago work flawlessly. Definitely not "sucky?" whatever that means. My downtube levers are certainly not "finicky," and my caliper brakes stop just as good as the hydraulic disc brakes on my son's Giant Talon.

RCMoeur 

That's it!!!

I hereby demand the original poster of this thread be banned from this forum!!!





Um... wait a minute...

P!N20

That's just Drillium Dude trolling, he has some of the nicest vintage bikes I've seen on this forum. I miss his humour and knowledge.

cycleheimer

Y'all must not have used any old SunTour parts yet. Skip the downtube shifters and get some good old SunTour bar-cons. There are lots of great old bikes and components out there, but the crappy old stuff is still crappy old stuff. Look for the best, skip the rest..

smd4

Oh, me too!

mpetry912 

yeah I'll be interested to see how many current issue parts are still kicking it in 30 or more years.

Not many I'd guess. the batteries will be shot and unreplaceable.

I probably won't be around to see it either !

/markp

SurferRosa

"Sucky" is bad. But "sucky sucky," I'm told, is goooood.

You've heard "two wrongs don't make a right." But, in this case, it does.

billytwosheds 

There's a place in the forum where you can see why people are banned, and sometimes it's a self-requested ban. You'd be surprised.

merziac

I think Mr. R is aware.

Jeff Wills

I thought it was “Two wrongs don’t make a right… but three lefts do.”

The Golden Boy 

Two Wrights make an aero-plane.

OldCoot

I have eye balled these. Are they any good? Did you mount them below or above brake hoods? What sort of handlebar do you have ( short or long reach)?

himespau 

I actually have them sitting in a box because they're going on a commuter/touring bike that is going to require me to build new wheels, and, though I have all the parts, wheelbuilding is the thing I am most likely to put off as long as possible when it comes to bikes. I think they're going to have to go below the clamp as they're going on a bike with aero-routed levers (will try both ways). They'll be going on Velo Orange Randoneur bars which I believe have a ~115 mm reach (not the Nouveau Rando bars, which are the only ones they seem to sell any more and only have 105mm reach). I could be getting those mixed up with the Rene Herse Rando bars I have on a different bike though.

I was going back and forth between the Kelly Take-Offs with 10-speed DA DT shifters that I used on a different build few years ago and a JTek Shiftmate to allow me to use a wide range Shimano RD and cassette with the Campagnolo Ergos that I prefer, when I saw the ENE Wing shifter that appeared to have the overall bullet proofness and mix and match capability of the Take-Off/DT shifter combo (I've had commuter bikes get banged around in racks and need to go to friction more than I'd like) with the ability to shift from the drops that the Take Offs lack, so I thought I'd give them a try. $180 was a bit painful for some friction shift levers, but I have hopes that they'll work.

Bad Lag

I find great joy in riding my stone-age bicycle. I find it joyful.

You know, we are commanded to find joy in life and live a life of joy.

There is no hate in my heart when I cycle. There is no pain in my heart. There is only great joy, non-drug induced joy in my mind when I ride.

Of all the things I have done and all the things I have owned in my lifetime, my old bicycle is the oldest and most treasured "friend".

TugaDude

Technology is amazing. One of the big things I've seen and benefitted from is the ability to quickly and cheaply produce a sample of something. Then you can mess with it, make changes, and make another one right away. Used to be a years-long process, whittled down to days in some instances. We live in good times when it comes to manufacturing.

From what I learned, companies such as Shimano and Dia Compe had to pay for old dies and molds to just sit around gathering dust. So they melted them down. To go back is cost prohibitive in most cases.