Improvements and disimprovements over time

[mpemburn]

A discussion of cup-and-cone bearings on another thread spurs me to examine those things that have changed over the many years I’ve been involved with bicycles (~1960s to present) in no particular order:

Shifting: friction vs. indexed; down tube vs. bar-end vs. stem
Brakes: rim vs. disc; center-pull vs. side-pull vs. cantilever
Bearings: cup-and-cone vs. sealed bearing
Pedals: toe clip and strap vs. clipless
Tires: sew-up (tubular) vs. clincher; tube vs. tubeless
Frames: steel vs. aluminum vs. titanium vs. carbon
Steerers: quill vs. threadless
Forks: curved vs. straight
Bottom brackets: threaded vs. press-in

I’m sure I’ve missed lots, but that’s all the gauntlet I have to throw down at the moment. Add/clarify/reject what you will. No biting or clawing. Keep all blows above the belt.

 

[Sticky Green]

Cotterless cranks?

 

[mpemburn]

Cotterless cranks?

Forgot that one. I felt like I’d graduated to the Big League when I got my first bike with a cotterless.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

Shifting: friction vs. indexed; down tube vs. bar-end vs. stem
to
Shifting: friction vs. indexed vs Electronic (Di2 etc.); down tube vs. bar-end vs. stem vs Gevenalle vs STI/Brifters Whatever you call them. :-)

Just in case you haven't run into them https://www.gevenalle.com/product-category/shifters/

Add? 1x being a sensible first choice, 1x5 was a real compromise, 1x12 isn't and 1x7 is okay in many circumstances, this does of course include the 5speed freewheel to 12 speed cassette change.

Large numbers of gears in hubs, Rohloff, Nexus/Alpine etc? I'm not at all up on hub gears.

PVC handlebar tape, good riddance but that shiny Benotto tape, I liked that and there does seem to be a lot of it on ebay.

Bye

Ian

 

[Dogtrousers]

Lights. Ever Ready vs zillion lumen LED

Wheel nuts vs butterfly nuts vs QR vs thru axle

Freewheel block vs freehub + cassette

 

[Alex321]

Cable routing external vs internal.

 

[TheDoctor]

Threadless headsets. Granted, its not often you need to tweak a headset mid-ride, but I'm far more likely to have a 5mm Allen key with me than two big spanners.

 

[Slick]

Lights. Ever Ready vs zillion lumen LED

Wheel nuts vs butterfly nuts vs QR vs thru axle

Freewheel block vs freehub + cassette

Its night and day, if you pardon the pun.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Cable routing external vs internal.

Although ... a friend of mine has steel Peugeot from the 70s (80s maybe) that has the rear brake cable routed internally down the top tube. Nothin fancy, just two angled holes in the tube that you shove the cable housing through. I know because we dug it out of his brother's barn and stripped and rebuilt it a few years ago. It was a right faff.

You could add brake cable routing - under bar tape vs out of top of lever. And later on, brifter cable routing,, under bar tape vs sticking out the side.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

40 vs 36 vs 32 vs 28 vs 24 vs 20 spoke counts in wheels

 

[Ming the Merciless]

35 vs 32 vs 28 vs 25 vs 23 vs 21 vs 19 mm tyres

 

[Ming the Merciless]

29” vs 27.5” vs 26” mountain bikes

 

[Ming the Merciless]

27” vs 700C wheels

 

[raleighnut]

Saddes. Leather to 'horsehair stuffed' sprung Mattress to moulded plastic to covered moulded plastic to carbon fibre.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Traditional frame pumps vs compact pumps vs CO2 inflators