What old cycling technology etc would you like to see return?

[PeteXXX]

Still avaiable in t'net at least - !

In carbon, or steel 😉

 

[avecReynolds531]

Agree with headbadges on frames - seem to be part of a bike's identity. Including these photos of a stainless steel headbadge - with the cutout then silver soldered onto the seat tube. (One beautiful frame in Reynolds 853.)

Headbadges were something Grant Petersen considered important when Rivendell was started.

There's a great article here - which fits well with this thread - about the influence of GP and Rivendell promoting steel frames during a time when other materials were very much more popular: https://www.renehersecycles.com/1995-rivendell-turning-the-tide/

 

[andrew_s]

Overheating isn't the problem - wearing your blocks out was. Better technique could avoid that.

Care to describe the correct braking technique?
(bearing in mind that the OP was inside the clouds at the time, aka thick fog)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As opposed to the advantage of STI being that you can operate both shifters without taking either hand off the bars, while braking or not.
There's a reason why motorcycles abandoned hand gear shifters in the 1920s or 1930s, and why they were called "suicide shifters".

Something to do with 80mph speeds and the human brain struggling to keep up with deluge of new information

 

[Ming the Merciless]

And have you ever had a Shimano shifter break down, ever? No, neither have I

Yes, had brifters break twice and there was zero ability to fix, either myself or when I next got to a bike shop. Leaving me in shitty gear choices for the terrain. This in Europe and no there wasn’t a bike shop on every corner. Replacement brifters just one side over £100 if you can source them. An over complicated solution looking for a problem that didn’t exist.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As opposed to the advantage of STI being that you can operate both shifters without taking either hand off the bars, while braking or not.
There's a reason why motorcycles abandoned hand gear shifters in the 1920s or 1930s, and why they were called "suicide shifters".

If you are trying to change gear, both front and rear, whilst simultaneously braking; then you’ve farked up big time.

 

[Shack]

I don't like downtube shifters. They're in the wrong place. You don't put a car's gearshift behind the passenger seat, after all. Years ago I had a 10 speed bike with the shifters moved to the stem. I never knew why they weren't more popular. They were very close to being thumbies before thumbies were invented.

I've had bar end shifters on a couple of short owned bikes and never really got on with them my old tourer still has downtube shifters and my gravel has grifters. I lover the brifters but change gear sooooo much more that means probably everything will wear out in a fraction of the time through over use.

 

[Ian H]

Nearly all the 'retro' stuff can still be found. I specced my last but one bike as rim brakes, triple, bar-end levers. It's a steel 650B tourer cum do-anything bike.

 

[andrew_s]

QR skewer keeps a hollow axle under compression. If the axle snaps it may still be rideable. A solid axle with nut is under tension so if the axle cracks everthing falls out. More useful to expedition riders in back of beyond.

Not particularly - an unrideable bike is a problem any time you go further than walking distance from home.
The law of sod being what it is, such a failure is most likely to happen on a Sunday, on a weekend that your domestic rescue service has gone off to visit Aunt Bessie at the other end of the country.

 

[GuyBoden]

Hollow axles are less prone to bending than solid ones.

Apparently, not if they both have the same diameters.

"If you're talking about the bending strength of a hollow vs. solid rod there are really two answers.

For a constant outside diameter the solid rod is much stronger. There is a lot more material to take the force.

However, for a given weight or amount of material the hollow rod is much stronger. A hollow rod that weighs the same as a solid rod will be much wider so the force will be spread over a much larger area.

Bending strength in this case is proportional to the moment of inertia which for a constant mass is higher if the mass is distributed further away from the center.

In a situation where weight or material cost is a concern you're better off using the largest diameter hollow rod you can. If weight or cost is not a problem than the biggest solid rod will be the strongest thing you can use.

I should note that there is a practical limitation to this. If you make the tube wall thin enough and apply the force over a small enough area the tube will "dimple" forming a small depression around where the force is applied. As soon as the tube loses its nice round shape its strength dramatically decreases and failure becomes much more likely."

 

[Smokin Joe]

An over complicated solution looking for a problem that didn’t exist.

Or a massive improvement which makes gear changing easier and quicker.

It's all a matter of what suits, I've used brifters since Campag introduced them on the affordable Veloce groupset early nineties and I never had one give trouble.

 

[HLaB]

Everready lights 🙄

 

[tyred]

I want my Kellogg's Corn Flakes spoke reflectors

 

[TheDoctor]

Let's look at my upcoming build.
531ST - Yes!
Downtube shifters - Yes!
Rim brakes - Yes!
Nice wide 32mm tyres - Yes!
9 speed 11-36 cassette - Yes!
Single chainring - Yes!
I know they're uber-trendy now, but they've always been around.
Thinking about it, I appear to be building a gravel bike, when it's actually a touring bike...

 

[Illaveago]

I want my Kellogg's Corn Flakes spoke reflectors

What about Smartie tops ?