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

[Ming the Merciless]

Cards and pegs on wheels so they sound like motorbikes.

 

[southcoast]

False neutrals between SA gears, jsut as you're standing on the pedals.

Especially when combined with a chopper gear stick! Lol

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Proper bells , none of these crappy substitutes they provide now.

Took me ages to find one like that

When I got it I was disappointed to find the spinny thing and cogs were all plastic rather than metal but it works just fine to warn people
and people associate that sound with a bike - plus with some practise I can vary the noise to be more or less assertive.

 

[tyred]

Proper bells , none of these crappy substitutes they provide now.

They're still available. I bought one for my Brompton in Halfords a few months ago and eBay is full of them.

 

[GuyBoden]

Proper bells , none of these crappy substitutes they provide now.

You probably really need a horn with the amount of pedestrians wearing headphones.

One of these might do.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You probably really need a horn with the amount of pedestrians wearing headphones.

One of these might do.
View attachment 589741

I used to have a Tigger horn on my bike. But it sounded too much like a duck and pedestrIans would look up in the sky when I used it.

 

[Blue Hills]

This is where GPS helps as you can see the hairpins, in advance, even in thick fog. So know at what point you’ll need to brake for them.

Very true - i find it very useful for night riding, even with good lights.

 

[avecReynolds531]

Centre pull brakes seem to have a timeless elegance and work well (in my experience).

 

[davidphilips]

View attachment 590262
Centre pull brakes seem to have a timeless elegance and work well (in my experience).

Really like centre pull brakes. Have said many times about there set up and how easy it is to get them to work. at least as well as the best duel pivot calipers.

 

[fossyant]

Just had a look at some of my older bikes and thought how nice the old engraved h/bars where.

All my old Dura Ace kit has engraved "Dura Ace" on each part. The new stuff is just paint.

 

[avecReynolds531]

This morning I read a brilliant and funny US review of a 70 + year old bike - written from the perspective of: 'The bike is almost 70 years old, but it’s so much fun to ride that it might as well have been built yesterday. So I thought it would be fun to review it as if it had.'

Highlights include: 'Drysdale eschews run-of-the-mill carbon fiber and instead builds with an exotic ferrous material known as “steel.” The tubeset he employs is branded as “Reynolds 531” and is joined together by means of artfully sculpted junctions called “lugs,” into which the tubes are brazed.'

'The components on the Drysdale Special are no less innovative than the frame. In lieu of complicated and expensive-to-replace shifting mechanisms, the shifters on the Drysdale are entirely divorced from the brake levers and instead reside on the downtube, where the rider changes gears by means of a pair of simple, lightweight, and beautifully ornate aluminum stalks.'

There are other comic descriptions of brakes and bottle cages.

The full piece is worth reading and has already been linked and posted at CC: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/drysdale-special.238626/

 

[GuyBoden]

View attachment 590262
Centre pull brakes seem to have a timeless elegance and work well (in my experience).

I have centre pulls on my old Galaxy, they work well, but I brake earlier on the centre pulls. My Shimano 600 tricolor (Ultegra) are dual pivot caliper brakes and are truly excellent. Both are not as good as hydraulic disc brakes for stopping ability.

I like the feel of the centre pulls with suicide levers, I use them to slow down way before a corner or junction, I just use them earlier.

 

[tyred]

I always think so-called suicide levers get bad press. They have a place and are convenient for controlling speed when just cruising along.

 

[davidphilips]

Only my view but i find the more modern ancillary brake levers work as well as the STIs, the only suicide lever that i could not get on with where on the gears of vintage bikes. The rear gear levers more than the front just hated them , also the front did not seem to make much of a difference only a few teeth.

 

[taximan]

Its a long time since I used those.😲