Am I the only person who calls a top tube the crossbar?

[Cyclopathic]

When I was a lad I had never heard of calling it a top tube, though I'm sure that even back then it was the "correct" term. Everybody I knew called it a crossbar but then again everybody used to call road bikes racers. I still think that "racer" is a better and more accurate word for a road bike. There are a lot of different types of bike out there and a lot of them are primarily for use on the roads so the distinction can be lost. The term "racer" though is quite specific in it's description and distinct from a touring bike or other types.

 

[tyred]

I only ever heard it called crossbar until I started to read web forums.

As for road bike, below is a picture of one of my road bikes. Well, it was designed to be used on the road, so by definition, it is a "road" bike!




White Park Bay, Causeway Coastal Route by braveheart1979, on Flickr

Edit: That' s better

 

[snorri]

Takes me back to the days when you could buy the Dandy, a Sherbet Dab and 5 Woodbine and still get change from a 1/-.

 

[tyred]

Woodbine? Yuck! Players Navy Cut are much nicer...

 

[Dayvo]

Yep, crossbar. And a 'road bike' was always a racer, but only if it had drop handlebars.

 

[guitarpete247]

+1 for crossbar. And giving a mate a lift home from school on the crossbar was to give a Coggie. Even Ebay calls them racing bikes.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Who grew up with double clangers?

 

[Speedywheelsjeans]

Used to be the crossbar with me. I used to stand on it while going downhill on my bmx as a lad... wouldnt try it again now im older and wiser

 

[Ian H]

Cycling's full of odd terminology, some of it semi-humorous slang: eg, 'block' for sprocket cluster and freewheel - now superseded by 'cassette'. Then there are stays, brackets, bridges, tubs, wire-ons, braze-ons, lugs, stems, extensions, drop-outs, rings, clangers, mechs, hoods, changers, irons, barrels, etc. There are oddities: a roadster is not remotely like a road bike. Terminology changes - "wheel-sucking" as a term seems to be falling out of fashion.

Crossbar is likely to be used less by those who are conscious of the amount they paid to own a bike with the thinnest, lightest top-tube. They are also much less likely to give even their loved one a lift on it.

 

[steveindenmark]

My mum used to smoke Park Drive tipped. Its a CROGGIE not a Coggie. It is still a crossbar as far as I am concerned and a road bike is a racer, even if you never race on it.

But when we were kids racing bikes were not made of super duper light carbon, they were made to last. Many of them are still around and being used today.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe they were the good times

 

[Davidc]

What's a top tube?

 

[Edge705]

Cross bar when I was a kid was the handle bars and the top tube ! Well I never really learnt that terminology until I joined a cycling club in fact when I started cycling as an adult I had no idea about bike sizing gear ratios or anyhting else to do with the right fitting it was only when I joined a club these were pointed out

What's a top tube?

here

 

[jowwy]

croggie??? we used to call it a backie lol

 

[Cyclopathic]

N

Who grew up with double clangers?

It's just the way my trousers ruck up.

 

[Cyclopathic]

Takes me back to the days when you could buy the Dandy, a Sherbet Dab and 5 Woodbine and still get change from a 1/-.

I'm not quite that old. It was more the era of Whizzer and Chips, single sold benson and hedges (8p) and tiny aliminium mudguards. You can still get sherbet dabs I think. Oh and a pint of milk was 15p.