Rant

[Mike]

I don't care for 15mm maxle, qr works fine. I don't need the wheel to feel stiffer. The wheel works as it is. Couldn't give a rats arse for 12 spd... 9 spd is spot on. Single ring....It looks good but not as practical as three options! Boost, I know let's make em all buy new wheels that fit. Bloody hell it's a bike, they all do the same thing just ride it ahhhhhhh. Why do they keep changing things??
Oh that's right money

[Zippy]

This will be interesting, I'll watch with interest.

p.s. I still ride 26 wheels - mostly coz I can't justify new frame, fork and wheels at the moment.

[GregMay]

Poor rant. Needs more capitals. 2/10

[Bearbonesnorm]

Mike somewhere in Wales earlier this week ... I think he's muttering something about how this was all fields when he were a girl

[ctznsmith]

You missed random BCD/bolt spacings on new chainsets.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Pretty much the same everywhere - I tried and eventually managed to order a wheel cylinder for the van last week. Over 10 variants for the same model over a 9 year production ... some with as little as 1mm between dimensions

[psling]

Oooh, I feel quite at home on this thread; so far...

All my bikes are QR
All my bikes are 26" or 700c
All my geared bikes are triples up front (except my 'road racer' which is 53/39 up front)
*except for all my singlespeed bikes but that's a different story!*

All my 26"/straight steerer bikes lost most of their monetary value overnight a few years ago but for me are irreplaceable. They've been everywhere and done everything that the bikes I apparently need today can do !!

[RIP]

Another penny fart(h)ing rider here. Am right with you Mike. I'm just sitting out these "innovations", they'll fall by the wayside (many have already) and I'll suddenly find all my kit "a la mode" again.

[Richard G]

This thread made me realise that my two new 29er bikes use completely different rear hubs.

[Single Speed George]

presume your car has carburetors and a distributor cap and no power steering... ) or possibly is still a horse ... things change with technology and generally get better or we would still all be riding bikes with elastomer dampened forks with magura hydralic rim breaks

[Mike]

Funny u should mention that George, you've just reminded me to go and muck out

[Bearbonesnorm]

presume your car has carburetors and a distributor cap and no power steering...

I bloody wish it did. When we bought the last van I inquired everywhere as to something without electric windows, central locking, ABS or any other electrical sh!te ... I was met with many phone silences and odd looks.

Tdi....Common rail much better than the newer pd versions

[Alpinum]

We/our riding must be quite different. And the places we ride.

I'm really happy about wider hubs, more carbon (here more stiffness but not more weight), 1 x 12. I do feel a difference. My riding has changed with the difference. In the end I have more fun. Seriously. I have tried many things over the past 21 years and like how things have evolved.

We evolve, the way we ride does too. A bike can help you evolve in the direction you wish. Feel free to stand still* and rant. Youre choice. Still is.

I'd love to see what you're favourite bike is. Never ridden a penny farthing, but would love to.

*fantasy in every day life, doable in certain circumstances considering bicycle technology

[psling]

"We evolve, the way we ride does too."

Agree. My riding these days is purely for my own pleasure and I have no desire to be faster any more. My 'old' Trigger's Broom bikes have been fitted with various lightweight and top spec bits over the years and I kept up with what was current at the time. But these days I prefer comfort and reliability. I'm not saying that modern developments are neither comfortable nor reliable but I would say that my old 26" wheels, triple chainsets, straight steerer forks and QR wheels are certainly no less comfortable nor reliable so they do me fine.

[RIP]

"modern developments" - in the spirit of pushing the rantometer needle back into the red zone (well it was advertised as a rant thread), what cheeses me off is stuff wearing out much quicker than it used to. Cliche I know but it does. Seem to be having new chains, cassettes, bells, whatnot, more or less monthly these days, even though I don't ride any more or less, or harder or softer, than I used to. Same chainring on my 32 year old 1st MTB, not worn out. Cup of hot gravel... used to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.. . blah... we were were 'appy in them days though we were poor... because we were poor, etc etc etc.

What's quite amusing is how we (yes, guilty as charged!) celebrate the purity, frugality, simplicity, economy, & make-do-and-mend loftiness of bikepacking one minute, then jump up and down like meerkats over the latest gizmo and widget the next . Twas ever thus.

[ZeroDarkBivi]

Isn't this just 'consumerism', and evident in every area of modern life?

In a competitive market, manufacturers need you to buy their stuff, so have to convince you why you need something 'new & better'. Some of it is an improvement, much of it is not. Has always been thus, or at least since the industrial revolution. I am rarely an early adopter now, having been burned by the emperors new clothes in the past. I do get vexed by some stuff, like the Garmin Edge 820 I recently bought (and subsequently returned under warranty) being shitter in every respect than the 800 I purchased 6 years ago, and have returned to. But I also enjoy riding new bikes more than the ones I rode 25 years ago.

Perhaps without product evolution we would be happy riding around on very basic, slow, uncomfortable, heavy bikes, because we wouldn't know any different, but that's not the world we live in, and whilst the constant reinvention of 'standards' can be a PITA, I am happy that we have the choice.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Cycling's a leisure industry, so is driven by desire. Common sense and practicality don't really enter into the equation ... I've said the same about cycle specific clothing previously, which seems to be designed to function for a maximum of 4 hours, rather than 4 days.

Personally, I think mountain bike technology peaked some time in the late 90's with the advent of decent brakes and forks. Ever since, improvements have been marginal and many a wrong turn taken - 2 steps forward and 1 back perhaps? I get Mike's point entirely given that some of my most pleasurable times have been on board what many 'mountain bikers' would consider obsolete, old fashioned or outright dangerous. In reality, the bike adds little to my enjoyment - I rely on the company and surroundings for that.

[Richard G]

In reality, the bike adds little to my enjoyment - I rely on the company and surroundings for that.

Soppy old git.

[Alpinum]

In reality, the bike adds little to my enjoyment - I rely on the company and surroundings for that.

That's why I also like hiking, skitouring, paddling etc.

[Dave Barter]

FFS someone feed him

[Mike]

not ranting now people.

[RobMac]

This will be interesting, I'll watch with interest.

p.s. I still ride 26 wheels - mostly coz I can't justify new frame, fork and wheels at the moment.

Same here but its through choice