Are modern bike components pants??

[Sunny Portrush]

In the late 80`s, early 90`s, I rode a bike to work for seven years, all year long whilst living in Aberdeen. Never once did I clean my chain, I may have used 3-in-1 oil on it a few times on the chain, never cleaned the rims (only ever used the one set!) or ever changed the cables. The only maintenance I ever remember doing was scraping out all the muck and dirt from the cassette every so often.

I would ride it at weekends to (it was a Peugeot "racer") and through the snow and ice and salt on the roads. I didn`t put it away during the winter so I could use a winter bike as it was the only bike I had.

These days we are told to wash our bikes all the time, clean the bloody thing spotless and if you want the bike to last, keep it off the roads in the winter.

Are bike components not up to it these days or have we succumb to clever marketing from the likes of Muc-off etc

 

[screenman]

No.

 

[Sunny Portrush]

Don`t sit on the fence now lol

 

[gavroche]

In the late 80`s, early 90`s, I rode a bike to work for seven years, all year long whilst living in Aberdeen. Never once did I clean my chain, I may have used 3-in-1 oil on it a few times on the chain, never cleaned the rims (only ever used the one set!) or ever changed the cables. The only maintenance I ever remember doing was scraping out all the muck and dirt from the cassette every so often.

I would ride it at weekends to (it was a Peugeot "racer") and through the snow and ice and salt on the roads. I didn`t put it away during the winter so I could use a winter bike as it was the only bike I had.

These days we are told to wash our bikes all the time, clean the bloody thing spotless and if you want the bike to last, keep it off the roads in the winter.

Are bike components not up to it these days or have we succumb to clever marketing from the likes of Muc-off etc

Good point but I have no answer for it. Any experts on the matter? I just like my bikes to be clean, same as my car.

 

[ChrisEyles]

I used to do much the same with my old Puch Alpine, and it ran fine, just ended up with an extremely gungy drivetrain. These days I take much better care of all of my bikes including pretty regular cleaning, especially in winter. TBH I'm sure it doesn't make much difference to the way the bikes run, but it *is* nice to have them clean and well cared for, and I actually quite enjoy the chance to give the bike a bit of TLC with a cuppa and the radio on in the shed.

The Acera groupset on my 2014 commuter, while admittedly not very exciting, is sturdily built, faultlessly competent and hasn't given any problems in thousands of miles - I'm sure it would be more than up to handling my previously indifferent maintenance regime!

 

[Theseus]

The tolerances used in the old 5-7 speed systems were a bit looser than required for 10-11 speed

 

[T4tomo]

The tolerances used in the old 5-7 speed systems were a bit looser than required for 10-11 speed

And the cassettes/freewheels tougher, the chains slightly thicker and less prone to wear it seems. Also friction shifters didn't have any indexing to need adjusting, it was / is self indexing.

 

[Drago]

My bike of the eighties indeed survived on minimal maintenance, but it was heavy, energy sapping, inefficient, slow, and had brakes made from blocks of Lard.

Take off the road tinted specs and look again.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Of course it was better back then in them olden days. The cranks were made from solid iron, as were those fantastic cotters. The chome bits rusted but at least it wasn't some sort of silly alloy stuff in there. And those chrome rims really braked well in the wet. Don't forget those leather saddles that were as tough as nails. Spokes...now we are talking. None of this stupid stainless steel from Sweden. No, real iron, hot-dipped in molten zinc and paired with iron nipples/. The frames....those were the days. Real iron pipes without weakening butts and thin bits. Solid throughout. Those open wheel and BB bearings - so easy to service every two days. Low-pressure tyres that could go anywhere and stop a broken beer bottle in its tracks. So what if you needed a breaker bar to get them off. As for zinc-plated cables with a 100 grit coating of molten zinc. Bomb proof. Bearing races....don't get me going on that. Stamped iron, nothing but the best pig-iron money could buy. And the pedals, yes those wonderful wide platform pedals with two thick squares of crusty rubber blocks like a good square hard lorne sausage black pudding thing. They had this nifty self-destruct feature that left you out in the sticks pedaling home on a chrome tube and some broken bits.
I so miss my Sturmey Archer hub. It could shift even when not riding and unkinking and oiling that teensy weensy little shifter chain that protected the axle from fall damage was just a pleasure to polish and keep rust-free.
And don't you just miss those hard plastic handlebar grips? Those ones that could twist and pop off at a whim?
Back in those days when men were men and bicycles were strong, we even generated our own power from what was called a bottle dynamo. It sounded like a rocket taking off and if you pedalled hard enough you could see the sparks come off your tyre and even smell it. The light was a warm, homely glow but could go quite bright for a nanosecond just before the bulb popped.
That lovely technique of branding the bike with a gossamer transfer and then putting a thin layer of lacquer over it to protect it and keep it in place for years to come is also quite quaint.


Aaaah, I miss the good old days.

 

[Alan O]

The cranks were made from solid iron, as were those fantastic cotters...

Iron? We used to dream of solid iron...

 

[Vapin' Joe]

And the cassettes/freewheels tougher, the chains slightly thicker and less prone to wear it seems. Also friction shifters didn't have any indexing to need adjusting, it was / is self indexing.

Rose tinted glasses there. If chains and sprockets did last longer it wasn't by much, and it takes just a few seconds to adjust the indexing on a gear system. I do it when I set the bike up, once again after about a week when everything has bedded in and that's the lot till I eventually replace the cable.

 

[Drago]

Chains and cassettes (or freewheels) lasted barely any linger back then, but no one cared and folk were much more likely to ride round on shark-tooth cogs.

 

[the_mikey]

I actually quite enjoy the chance to give the bike a bit of TLC with a cuppa and the radio on in the shed

+1

 

[johnnyb47]

I don't think bikes are weaker nowadays . They just need to be finely tuned more often because of the more complexed components fitted to them. Its when riders fail to adjust the moving parts, is when you end up with accelerated ware and tare on newer bikes.

 

[palinurus]

In the late 80`s, early 90`s, I rode a bike to work for seven years, all year long whilst living in Aberdeen. Never once did I clean my chain, I may have used 3-in-1 oil on it a few times on the chain, never cleaned the rims (only ever used the one set!) or ever changed the cables. The only maintenance I ever remember doing was scraping out all the muck and dirt from the cassette every so often.

I was exactly the same with my old Muddy Fox MTB that I commuted on for many years. I had no idea that chains needed replacing*, so I just didn't replace it. Same with rims**. I did clean it from time-to-time though and oiled it, changed cables and canti pads but I did very little else on it. I'd get new tyres when the rubber had pretty much gone. It did a very good number of years with little attention, but I have little doubt that my current bike would do much the same if treated to a similar regime.

When I got online in the late 90s I found out all sorts of stuff about maintenance and so now I tend to replace parts more frequently, probably too frequently in some cases (I could definitely get more out of tyres). For me the internet was the thing that had me maintaining my bike more frequently.

*sure, the cassette and chainrings were badly worn after a while, but it all worked smoothly enough together.
**I was lucky with the rims tho'