Practical Cycling.

[Captain Caveman]

Start with the bicycles...

The most ideal bicycle depends on what ones cycling needs are, but for a start, one needs one that can take a pannier rack as if one is going to carry things, the rack (Rear carrier) is essential, and before one goes and buys any bike in the hope a rack will do its job, a word about the very most basic principles in bicycle geometry with a traditional diamond, or similar style frame is that the longer the frame wheelbase is, the more stable the bike is when loaded up with panniers so the bike will be easier to control, BUT we also have the shorter the wheelbase is, the better the bicycle will accelerate. Shorter wheelbase bikes are more twitchy and have steeper geometry frame angles. The shortest wheelbase bikes apart from specialist bikes for certain tasks such as bicycle polo are usually time trialing bikes, which are only built for max speed on a short distance (E.g. 10 mile, 15 mile, 25 mile etc) or racing bikes which have a slightly longer wheelbase but still too short to be practical other than the afternoons ride when all one needs to carry is oneself, but neither of these are built to carry anything else.
Then we have the purpose built load carrier, he traditional touring bike, with its stable longer wheelbase and frame designed to still be efficient and comfortable and yet not overly heavy. In other words, it is not ultra lightweight, but is not as heavy as a mountain bike or a heavy beach cruiser. (All bikes which have their place, but one will find them overkill when it comes to ones actual needs. Is like buying a large SUV to pull a little 2 birth caravan when a medium sized or even some smaller cars will be all one needs! Some of the older mountain bikes will work fine as a heavy duty all-round tourer as the geometry used in the 1980's was actually somewhat similar to touring bikes. By the time the early 1990's came along, geometry changed, but still not too bad apart from them being a little too heavy. Don't bother with any full suspension bike unless one is confining oneself to tow a trailer. Some racks are available for them BUT they are a compromize and will not handle heavy weights.
Now there are bicycles that were in between racing bikes and tourer and were known as sports tourer. These were made for those who could only afford to buy one bike and wanted to do a time trial or race on the weekend, but also used their bike for commuting. These bikes have disappeared. Touring bikes hardly exist today as markets are fashion lead. I suppose audax bikes are the closest to sports tourer, BUT audax bikes are not designed to carry any racks. Sports tourer are designed for racks BUT will be twitchy to ride. (Most racing bikes sold as racing bikes from the past on the cheaper end of the market had sports touring geometry and NOT racing geometry, as they recognized that most cyclists would not race, but wanted a bike that felt as if it could race, and sports tourer can actually race, though a racing bike is better if one is racing. Racing bikes do not have any bolt holes for fixing carriers to).
Carriers. Older carriers had three point frame fixings. Then came four point frame fixing carriers. Later still, one had wide type carriers for use on disc braked modern bikes. Unless one has a disc braked bike, avoid these wide carriers as they are too much of a compromize, and actually a compromised design with disc braked bikes where one does not really have an option. My choice would be to use rim brakes and here is why. Brake blocks are always available in all good bike shops without the need to order as there are only three or four types of rim brake block designs. So one does not have to order in the hope ones bike will have working brakes again in the next few weeks or even months like one can be left with if one has disc brakes, as when I left the cycle industry there were over 40 different disc brake pad designs, and when I last had a chat, they say it is now hundreds, which means they have to order the right one, and some are no longer available. Is crazy to be honest, and manufacturers can basically charge what they like knowing one has no choice but to buy from them! We never had this issue with rim braked bikes, so if one has the choice, get a rim braked bike and buy some spare brake blocks anyway, (They are cheap), and one will be set for a fair few years!
There is a nice type of bike I have not mentioned which is also generally good at load carrying and that is the hybrid bike. These do come in different types as some are basically 700c wheeled mountain bikes (Almost pointless. Why not get a mountain bike?), and others at the other end of the hybrid term are basically flat barred racers which are no good carrying things.
Now another bike built from the offset for carrying loads are workbikes often made for businesses and industries which can carry huge weights, but at a slower pace. Great for heavy loads but usually lack gearing for steep hills and also are going to be heavy so not quite so suitable, though the odd lighter weight traditional style bike is going to be ok.

About gears and gearing. Two trains of thought, as basically it is not necessarily the number of gears, but rather the range of the gears that one may look at here.
The first train of thought is to have a wide range of gearing. Obviously to avoid massive jumps in gears, the wide the range the more one ideally needs inbetween, though one need not go too silly, as with deraileur gear systems, cramming too many cogs onnthe rear wheel means thinner cogs and thinner chains and chain angles increasing in angle (Especially if a single chainring near the pedals is used, which only does one thing! Increases wear so one will be wearing out transmissions in no time. Why cycle trade are doing this! Even professional mountain bikers don't like them but have no choice due to sponsorships. Is a fashion gimmick designed to increase trade, and those bikes will never be as efficient as older bikes with only a few cogs on the back. Why? The wider the rear axle and wheel are, and the more angle on the chain, the less efficient the drive will be. (WHY ONE SHOULD NOT BE TEMPTED TO TAKE AN OLD BIKE AND BEND THE FRAME TO FIT MORE GEARS! As bikes with 8, 9 or more cogs on their freehubs will have heavier frames which are stiffer and stronger to compensate, so ones older frame will be far less efficient with having more gears than if one had left it as it is. If one wants to widen them slightly to a seven cog freewheel when it was designed for five, it is the best compromize, but don't go beyond there. The actual old single speed bikes with their narrow hubs and frames had the most efficient drives of all as the chain angle is direct and straight.
But now we come to the next train of thought. One only usually uses a few gears on a ride. If a hill is too steep, and one only comes across a steep hill once or twice on a typical ride, why not go for less gears and maybe a hub gear instead. True, deraileur gears or single speed are more efficient than hub gears, BUT hub gears (If one has a low number of gears such as 3 for example will outlast anything else. To make it more practical,ma 4 or 5 speed may be better, but take it from me who owns an12 speed hub gear, and has tested bikes with 8, 9 and even more than my Sachs 12 speed, there are a lot more moving parts in there. The more moving parts, the more friction AND the smaller the individual parts are, so the more likely they are to go wrong. My 12 speed Sachs Elan hub gear as an example still works. Yet, out of all those hubs they made, I do not know of a single other cyclist who has one that still works, and these were only made around 25 years ago, if that!
Yet, the old 3 speed hubs... Not a lot went wrong with them! Pawl springs rusting through due to neglect where they were stored in damp conditions without being used, so the internal oil didn't get to keep the springs oily is the only real common failure apart from bent axles or the internal changing plates threads going where the toggle chains screwed into. Apart from one hub which was totally ceased solid as had no oil (Total lack on maintenence) and the bike had been left outside on its side in the rain for years by the look of it, so one could say it was totally neglected, and apart from the odd issue such as mentioned above, the 3 speed hubs we serviced made by Sturmey Archer just went on and on and on! Toggle chain replacements as those wore and broke were the most frequent part needed replacing, and they lasted a few years in use before they wore. Hub gears, as long as one keeps the gear numbers low so there are less moving parts inside, and they last. Only downside to the longer lasting designs is a lack of gearing range.

 

[Outdated]

I've ridden bikes a lot for most of my life, and as you say it's important to choose the right bike for what you want.

Much of my riding was as a form of transport in cities, riding to work. In that situation what I wanted was something light and fast, easily thrown around. The old ten speed racer was what I had but just the cheap specials from large department chains was all I ever needed. When I lived in Melbourne I used to ride 17 Km each way to and from work, up hill and down dale, Melbourne's a very hilly city. The gears were important there.

In Adelaide it's very flat and the old three speed hub gears were preferred. That was all that was needed and they were so much more reliable and so much less trouble than external sprockets and derailers. I also much preferred the internal hub back brakes, just pedal backwards to brake. You need to look far and wide to find those things these days though, and they're probably not cheap either.

As I got older I tried a more mountain bike style thinking of the comfort from fatter tyres, etc. This was a bad choice, it was so much heavier than what I was used to that it was a chore to ride and I started riding less and less.

These days I've got an electrically assisted bike. You still have to pedal but only just. It doesn't go all that quick but that's fine because I'm not as young as I used to be and I don't bounce that well any more. I bought the particular model I'm using because of all the racks that it came with, and it's got fat 26 inch rims. Only three speed hub gears, I'm in Adelaide again and we don't have much in the way of hills. It's an incredibly bulky and heavy thing but there's an electric motor doing most of the work so it's all good.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Once one has selected or defined the type of bike to be practical for ones needs, frame size and frame materials come into play.

I much prefer quality steels such as the good old fashioned manganese molybdenum alloy in the steel branded as Reynolds 531 here in the UK. Is what was used in formula 1 before carbon fibre took its place, and carbon fibre, being a compromised material is not ideal, but though 531 has a few smaller issues, as it needs to be either silver soldered into lugs or brazed to form a join as it can't in itself be welded, it is a strong long lasting durable material that is lightweight and flexible, and the real expert frame builders can build frames to take advantage of this flexible springing, where if they get it right, the frames performance increases, as the flexes in the bottom bracket area can (If done right) spring back to help one right in the "Dead area" of ones pedaling stroke.
And 531 is also a comfortable lightweight material to ride!
Failing that, a chromolly steel where an alloy of chromium and molybdenum is added into the steel is a somewhat cheaper alternative, and can be found badged as Reynolds 500, Reynolds 501 (Which is stiffer than 500 so increases performance but gives a harsher ride as the material has had additional heat treatment to give it its stiffer quality). Is also badged as Tange or (And I am less familiar with this next brand in the UK), as Columbus, but I think Columbus also use manganese molybdenum as well in their range? Different steel tube manufacturers do try different formulas of alloys, and those who know one brand such as Reynolds, will know what is what. (The only real Reynolds tubed bike frame I would avoid is Reynolds 753 as it is very lively for the first year or two of cycling, but the steel then ages and feels dead, and turns energy absorbing instead of energy giving. Was only used for a while with professional cyclists with almost unlimited budgets. The only other Reynolds frame I would say is not going to really do anything special is Reynolds 453 (Think that was it. Started with a "4") which is just plain old carbon steel. It is fine and long lasting but is going to be no real different to any other budget steel framed bike...

Aluminum framed bicycles generally give a harsher ride, and they too are VERY different in performance when comparing one to another. Some cheaper aluminum frames feel as dead as an ordinary heavy cheap carbon steel. Others are brilliantly lively though harsh to ride. While aluminum is a material that does age with use, so one should not really expect it to last a lifetime (Usually a max of 20 to 30 years) as old aluminum can become brittle... As an indicator, stay away from frames with poor warrantees such as just 2 years in some cases! (Unless there is a flaw, aluminum usually lasts at least five or ten times that, BUT do be aware that unlike steel, which as long as it has been kept rust free and protected both externally with paint, and internally via spray oils, it will last ones lifetime if it has no structural flaws, aluminum frames do go brittle with age. (Old cyclists will tell you about aluminum bike parts which can fail as they age. Some last 50+ years. Others less... but steel does tend to last many times longer in use before it eventually fails.. Another difference is that with steel, if one sees a crack, one can cycle back home by taking it easy and monitoring the crack. However, with aluminum, if one sees a crack, by the time one has seen the crack, it is usually too late as the material tears. Aluminium goes quick once it has developed a flaw.
Other common materials like carbon fibre are, in my opinion fragile. I have seen a fair amount of carbon fibre frame failures which is a lot in comparison to the limited numbers sold. Have also seen a few aluminum failures which actually, is not a lot compared to the volumes of sales, but there again, aluminum have generally very short frame warrantees so I maybe less likely to have seen these return. I don't think so though as most customers would have either wanted new frames or new bikes, somI will say that aluminum bike frames do last. I would not hesitate to ride a 25-30 year old aluminum frame!
Carbon fibre tends to go through either being crushed where the wheels join the frame or if something has been overtightened. Is this that I do not trust the material, as the nuts and bolts need to be torqued so that they barely hold themselves in place! Something I did not like at all! And also, one has to be very careful what oils and greases one uses with the material as use the wrong oil or grease and the fibres start to give way and ones frame is broken.
BUT one really good thing with carbon fibre is one can repair broken frames using fibre glass car body repair techniques. Does not always work as it depends where the frame has been damaged, but it is an option, so there are positives, though as a material from a mechanical point of view, there are too many compromizes.
Also carbon fibre bikes will not be designed to take panniers on the back... So as a bike frame material to be practical, I would give it a miss. At least aluminum and steel do offer more of a practical bike frame for carrying loads.
I have seen plenty of steel bike frames fail, BUT even though I have seen this, the way they fail and how they fail, one can still ride them home. And steel frames are normally repairable. Is a material that is so tried and tested over so many years, and there are so many steel bikes out there, some of which are older than the oldest human alive, and still function well. Is a good material. But get a quality steel frame if one can. Buy secondhand to get quality if one needs to. Bring string and a tape measure as one needs to check the frame is straight. If it pulls to one side or another when riding, first check the forks as bent forks are the usual culprit. Then check the frame. Hold string tight from the back of the frame where the drop outs are to the center of the head tube. Measure the distance between the string and the seat tube. Repeat on the other side. Both sides should give the same measurement.
One can usually tell if a steel frame has had a head on collision as there will be cracks in the paintwork near the head tube. Actually, as long as the metal underneath has not fractured or cracked, and the head tube angle has not altered, it should be ok, but any doubt walk away. The cracks in the paintwork will look like several thin lines all parallel next to each other. Tell tale sign the bike has hit something! Usually forks will have been replaced. BUT I have seen frames like this still go on and on for years! So if it rides straight and the metal itself along with the lugs or welds are OK... But best avoid if buying unless price is cheap.. BUT if it is ones own bike, as long as there are no actual cracks in the metal or welds and the joins are tight if it has lugs and the frame is straight, then it can go on for years! Steel is friendly like that and very visually telling if there is a problem.
I like steel!

Titanium is another material one may occasionally come across. Is a strong material which is drawn thin to reduce its weight and can make bike frames to be almost as light as a carbon fibre bike. A titanium frame feels like a lightweight steel to ride but has a "Fresh air" feel to it as has lots of go. But I have had titanium handlebars that had a slight dent fold in on me as they really draw the material out very thin. (I was not riding with the bars, as I was going to take them off a scrapped bike to use them on one of my bikes, and decided not to when the flaw was discovered).
Owners of titanium bikes have reported they can easily dent as they are thinly drawn, but they do seem to be ok. I have tried two if I recall, and they rode really well. Like I said. Was like riding fresh air! BUT, I still have reservations as one comes across so few titanium bikes out there. Is it the ultimate material? Or is it a material one should avoid? Time will tell! One thing though. In Russia, due to them having little iron ores but they did have titanium ores in some areas, one could find kiddie bikes made from titanium, and if it is durable enough for kids to use it, then it should be fine!
(There has been many a mountain bike made from the material, and mountain bikes often take a thrashing offroad! So that does give one some reassurance! But as always, check before one buys!)

 

[Shevek]

I went everywhere by bike for decades. I'd never been fit until I resumed riding after a brief period with a car. I don't like exercise just for its own sake, and city riding was a fine sport to distract from the fatigue while saving me lots of time and money. Ivan Illich calculated that by the time someone drives downtown, finds parking, walks from there to the destination, and works enough to pay for the expenses, they have averaged a fast walking pace.
If you want a true understanding of bike materials, and a great deal more, read J.E. Gordon. He makes it easy by telling the stories of how engineering was discovered.

 

[Captain Caveman]

There are a whole lot of other materials such as various woods, deraileum (Remember them?), plastic, magnesium, bamboo... I am sure I have missed a few!
Wood is interesting and so is bamboo as both offer great performance if done right, and so do some of the others. Best avoid deralium as the joints will have come unstuck by now, unless one knows how to bond them. (Actually should be easy enough, but it is more that such frames will come apart if not attended to due to age of the glue used to bond them).
Magnesium frames were cast and those who rode them loved them, but it was a case of "One size fits all" so they didn't really take off. Had they have taken off in sales, they would have come out with different sizes, but as it was, the cost of development meant one size frame casting was all they came out with. Still, customers who had them loved them.

I remember a gentleman showing me a lovely pair of lightweight bamboo rimmed wheels he had rebuilt on the inch pitch "Grasstrack racing" fixed wheel. I ended up with another fixed wheel hub with normal sprocket on one side and inch pitch cog on the other. Never saw what chains they used, as they much have been quite wide as each tooth width is a good few mm's wide.
The bamboo rims were varnished, and made for use with tubular Think I'd use tubtape rather than glue on them. Bamboo rims were the best thing in the days before aluminium rims came along and bamboo rims were not cheap in the UK, so only professionals, or semi professionals would ever get to use them.
Bamboo frames are said to be lovely!

 

[Shevek]

There are a whole lot of other materials such as various woods, deraileum (Remember them?), plastic, magnesium, bamboo... I am sure I have missed a few!
Wood is interesting and so is bamboo as both offer great performance if done right, and so do some of the others. Best avoid deralium as the joints will have come unstuck by now, unless one knows how to bond them. (Actually should be easy enough, but it is more that such frames will come apart if not attended to due to age of the glue used to bond them).
Magnesium frames were cast and those who rode them loved them, but it was a case of "One size fits all" so they didn't really take off. Had they have taken off in sales, they would have come out with different sizes, but as it was, the cost of development meant one size frame casting was all they came out with. Still, customers who had them loved them.

I remember a gentleman showing me a lovely pair of lightweight bamboo rimmed wheels he had rebuilt on the inch pitch "Grasstrack racing" fixed wheel. I ended up with another fixed wheel hub with normal sprocket on one side and inch pitch cog on the other. Never saw what chains they used, as they much have been quite wide as each tooth width is a good few mm's wide.
The bamboo rims were varnished, and made for use with tubular Think I'd use tubtape rather than glue on them. Bamboo rims were the best thing in the days before aluminium rims came along and bamboo rims were not cheap in the UK, so only professionals, or semi professionals would ever get to use them.
Bamboo frames are said to be lovely!

If you want a true understanding of bike materials, and a great deal more, read J.E. Gordon. He makes it easy by telling the stories of how engineering was discovered. I got a lot of respect from Chet Kyle, who designed the radical US Olympic team bikes, and Conrad Oho, who put gears on mountain bikes.

 

[Judge]

I still miss owning a bike from when I lived in a relatively flat area in California with more than adequate bike paths. Of course my real delight wasn't so much in riding my beloved chrome-moly framed Miyata ten-speed, but rather maintaining it as a bike mechanic.

Living in the Reno-Tahoe Metropolitan area has always made me reticent to acquire another bike here, mostly as I wouldn't feel comfortable competing with so many hills on some very poorly-maintained roads, apart from a much greater incidence of accidents between automobiles and cyclists. In spite of formal bike lines on many streets and roads.

Oddly enough I still recall the day I bought two very thick bicycle innertubes for my very narrow one-inch tires and aluminum wheels on my heavily customized Miyata. I was almost in despair over running over sharp objects giving me flat tires so easily, and those inner tubes really made a difference. But here, with such bad streets and roads...I'm not so confident. And the bike I enjoyed so much was from a different era on so many levels.

I guess in my case "practical cycling" begins with living in a better environment, where one on two wheels isn't something in the crosshairs of aggressive motorists. I still suffer from the sticker shock of car insurance here. Considerably higher than California's Bay Area. Serving as a warning to me when it comes to rekindling my love of bicycles.

 

[Shevek]

Bicycle engineering is particularly tricky because small improvements and small errors are easily masked by their placebo effect on the riders. One season, anyone who hadn't managed to get a new Campagnolo rear hub with one high flange and one low flange felt sure to lose. Around 1900, Major Taylor won the world sprint championship using crescent shaped cranks that were considerably worse than straight ones, but seemed to make sense to a layman. Strong opinions about frame qualities get no backing when tested in a lab.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Surprizing what is fashion lead and what works. Also, some things which may work, may not be practical.

 

[Captain Caveman]

I still miss owning a bike from when I lived in a relatively flat area in California with more than adequate bike paths. Of course my real delight wasn't so much in riding my beloved chrome-moly framed Miyata ten-speed, but rather maintaining it as a bike mechanic.

Living in the Reno-Tahoe Metropolitan area has always made me reticent to acquire another bike here, mostly as I wouldn't feel comfortable competing with so many hills on some very poorly-maintained roads, apart from a much greater incidence of accidents between automobiles and cyclists. In spite of formal bike lines on many streets and roads.

Oddly enough I still recall the day I bought two very thick bicycle innertubes for my very narrow one-inch tires and aluminum wheels on my heavily customized Miyata. I was almost in despair over running over sharp objects giving me flat tires so easily, and those inner tubes really made a difference. But here, with such bad streets and roads...I'm not so confident. And the bike I enjoyed so much was from a different era on so many levels.

I guess in my case "practical cycling" begins with living in a better environment, where one on two wheels isn't something in the crosshairs of aggressive motorists. I still suffer from the sticker shock of car insurance here. Considerably higher than California's Bay Area. Serving as a warning to me when it comes to rekindling my love of bicycles.

First, today one can buy puncture resistant tyres. My favourits are Schwalbe Marathon Plus as they inspire confident riding due to their grip, they are built to last so outlast most other makes and models of tyre, and they offer a layer of puncture protection.

Second point to make. There are ways to ride to prevent putting oneself at risk. Road positioning to make oneself visible is one. Wearing bright clothing is another. Is quite a subject in itself.

 

[Outdated]

First, today one can buy puncture resistant tyres. My favourits are Schwalbe Marathon Plus as they inspire confident riding due to their grip, they are built to last so outlast most other makes and models of tyre, and they offer a layer of puncture protection.

My electric bike came with a set of them, not sure what brand. It certainly gives me a lot more confidence riding around and so far I've had no issues. In Adelaide we have a common native weed we call the Three Corner Jack, picture below, these seeds always land with one spike sticking straight up and they love bike tyres. And they have a toxin in them that causes considerable pain.

The Three Corner Jack was the bane of my childhood, no matter how careful I was it seemed I was fixing more punctures every couple of weeks. Some people used solid tyres but they were incredibly uncomfortable to ride on and they rattled your bike to bits. I also tried other ideas like filling the tyres with water, that way they didn't go down as quick when you got a puncture but it added a lot of weight to the bike and turning corners at speed was funny because of the extra gyroscopic mass.

Interestingly, I was away from Adelaide for 30 years, I've been back for 5 years now, riding bikes all over the place and walking everywhere barefoot. Since I've been back I've not come across a single Three Corner Jack. The city as a whole must have slowly been eradicating them over the years, people in their own homes as well as councils looking after parks and gardens.

Second point to make. There are ways to ride to prevent putting oneself at risk. Road positioning to make oneself visible is one. Wearing bright clothing is another. Is quite a subject in itself.

This is good advice. A lot depends on where you live too. Adelaide is mostly very bike friendly. Melbourne has bike paths everywhere too but in Melbourne they have a different problem. Cycling clubs where you get peletons of 50 or more cyclists in a group out on the public roads blocking off traffic lanes, creating snarls and jams in traffic and creating a hatred of and bigotry against cyclists. In Melbourne every car driver hates cyclists will well deserved passion and would dearly love to see bunches of them go tits up at high speed. Me included and I am a cyclist.

If a slow and wide vehicle such as a large truck or a piece of farming machinery was out on the highways they'd have to apply for a special permit first, announcements would be made to drivers on those roads at least a week beforehand so that they could avoid the delays, and the slow vehicle would have to have another vehicle with flashing warning lights about 500 metres behind it so that unaware motorists get plenty of warning about the obstacle. Cycling clubs in Melbourne observe no such considerations.

I admit to being a lot more nervous and cautious when riding now too, I'm nowhere near as young as I used to be and I don't bounce as well as I used to. I've been knocked off many times, took some pretty hard hits but never suffered any real damage, just bruising. These days bits of me are far more likely to break.

 

[Captain Caveman]

A month or two ago a gentleman I met who I have seen before riding his bike I met again, and in the conversation I asked where his bike was as I gave him a lift. He said it wasn't working so a day or two later I went to take a look.
It needs a new rim (A deep set 32 hole 700C for a hybrid bike), a new 10 speed cassette, a new chain, a new chainsaw (Triple) and his front mech is solidly ceased.
Now if it was an older bike I would have easily been able to fix it, but I looked and I don't have a rim, and neither do I have any of the other parts that would work apart from maybe a front mech.
The problem is with bicycle technology is they keep changing things and doing silly things. The 10 speed cassette is mounted on a very long cassette freewheel body so one can't simply fit a 7 or an 8 speed cassette on, changing the gear lever just as a quick fix to keep him on the road.
I can't even use a wheel from a cheaper bike as the axle length would be wrong, and his braking system is hydraulic disc so it would also need a compatible hub and from the look of it (I hardly looked at the hub as I was trying to find him a rim) it had the more modern way of fixing the disc on and I don't have a hub like that.

Now picture this from the past.
In the past one had new technology, but it was ALWAYS made to run on what I call "Standard" frames so in the past, even if the frame had cantilever brake mounts and one wanted to use a caliper brake it was possible, or if one had a disk mount the frame used to also have cantilever bosses and would also have a drilled hole mudguard mount that if one really needed to one could fit a caliper brake. In other words, in the past, the bike frames, if they did have brackets for newer technology such as discs, they always kept ways that one could do something to revert back to an older technology if one had to. But not this bike! The frame is made in such a way that it can not be used on anything else. He does not mind about technology. He just wants his bike to work as he has a new job and it would save a lot of walking but ai can't help him with what I have.
Not only that, but to fix his bike will be big money. He bought the bike secondhand and it was hard to find a bike to fit him as he has an unusually tall leg length.

The issue is that modern bikes of high quality are now purposefully designed NOT to be able to use cheaper parts,mwhere in the past if one bought a top of the range bike from 40 years ago, if one was in the middle of no-where where there was only a very basic bike shop which only had a few spares, one could downgrade it a bit and still keep it on the road until one could get the better parts for it. The bikes were made for this!

Todays bikes are made to maximize profits. They are rarely even made with the customers interests in mind. They are made to cause premature failure and the manufacturers jolly well know it.

Ok. I will explain a few things.

The narrower the chain and the more severe the angles one puts it in the less efficient the cycling is AND the chain will wear much quicker as well.
Narrow frames designed for narrow axles on single speed bicycles are ALWAYS going to maximize the pedalling efficiency of the bike, even if one uses a cheaper less efficient frame material. Why? Angles and how forces transfer through them.
Now cram a 10, 11 or 12 speed cassette onto the rear wheel and one will need a very wide rear hub and a wide frame to accommodate this. The angle the frame is in needs the rear chain and seat stays beefed up to make them extra stiff to compensate for the inefficient angles the frame has to enable the chain line to work... Means the frames end up heavier than if one had made them for a 7 speed freewheel for example, and if one had a single speed the axle is much narrower and the chain is directly straight maximizing efficiency of both the chain drive AND the frame as the frame can be built narrower.
So, squeeze in 9 or more cogs onto the rear and worse still, use a single chainring on the front and one now has the chain at extreme angles which causes massively increased wear on a much THINNER chain Thinner chains will wear quicker ANYWAY by the nature of the forces onto thinner chainrings and sprockets...
and the more extreme chain angles. Get the issue? Designed to wear quicker so one has to have an increasing amount of replacement parts than one would have had in the past.

AND not only that, the simpler older technology which is still being sold as spares is now sold as spares made to a much lower quality making one assume that the older technology wasn't so great, when in reality, take an older bike from the past which had hardly been used, try those parts on ones own bike and those same parts will outlast the modern parts by a minimum of twice the length of time if not more, and I would say will outlast modern methods by even more than that as the top quality parts tend to only be made for the higher quality more expensive bikes which in turn now have these design flaws built in.

Ok. Let's take racing bikes and brakes. They started using carbon fibre rims which gives poor braking with a rim brake in the wet. Aluminium wheels give really good braking so have never been a problem as long as one has a good quality well designed caliper or cantilever or V brake etc.
Disc brakes on a road bike have flaws as the braking forces go through the spokes and on racing bikes using less spokes, the stresses amplify creating spoke and rim failures one rarely ever used to see in the past which is actually why this guys bike I mentioned earlier needs a new rim!
Disc brakes are not new as they came in during the 1970's and probably before that, but there was a reason why only some bikes ever had them. For the right use they are ok and give good braking, but the braking is only one part of the equation as the wheel strength needs to be stronger to compensate. Racing bikes and disc brakes... I have worked building wheels for many years and never ever had so many issues as when disc brakes came in, and never have had wheels I personally would never dream of riding myself as when I was building racing bike wheels with disc brakes when the owners specifically wanted rims and hubs with far less spokes on there to be built... Less spokes means far more strain and the tension specified was actually pulling the threads clean through the nipples as the threads themselves couldn't take it and these were costly stainless steel spokes. Also, stainless steel spokes go without warning. Why I don't like them! An ordinary spoke at least gives warning. One can see visible wear before it goes if one inspects the wheel. Stainless steel spokes give no visible indication they need to be changed and just suddenly draw thin in the centre and snap in a fraction of a second. Nope. I don't like stainless steel spokes though one or two bikes I have have them.

My point is, the everyday or ordinary cyclist just wants a reliable long lasting bike that works and feels nice to ride, and can carry all they need it to carry and has a gear range suitable for their needs. Such a bike is easy for manufacturers to build, but they are looking for big money to keep changing technology by re-inventing tried and failed technology from the past claiming it is now new, and forever changing means people have to keep buying new bikes where in the past, buy a top quality good bike and it was a bike for life!

 

[Outdated]

Toyota 4 wheel drives dominated the market in Australia for decades for one very simple reason. Although they produced newer and more modern looking models over the years they kept many things the same. Replacement parts for a Toyota were often compatible with a range of models spanning decades. The same engine parts, the same running gear and brakes, etc.

That started to change in the late 90s and now Toyota are no longer as popular.

 

[Shevek]

Interesting. My recent issue was finding a new fork for what has become a vintage bicycle. I'm glad I did - it is nice to compare the motor directly on the same bike over the years. About 40% of the original parts are still in use after 100,000 km. The old fork died from mismatched threads that finally stripped.
I'm rather appalled at how much money is wasted on exotic hardware that does less for the rider than a week's training, only providing snob appeal. As with 4 X 4s, people seem to accept being handicapped 99.999% of the time, just so they don't have to change plans for the weather. With a bike, it is even crazier, because you can easily pick it up and walk over a bad spot, unless it is too heavy with useless extras.
The VW was also famous for having backward-compatible new parts and being easy to work on. Kids in California used to do a double engine swap overnight, leaving someone with a clapped-out but working car, while their old van had a new motor. There were a lot of problems with the basic design, but serviceability mattered more.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Apologize for writing way to much to try and explain very simple things as I realized my post was so long that few would read it. Interesting replies.

Something that is popular at the moment is trying to rebuild older steel bicycles by using modern gearing etc., and as one gets older, I do understand one probably struggles to push the gears one once used to, and need to widen the gear ratios a bit, but the way I see it done with some enthusiasts is not exactly going to provide them with the ideal bike to ride, because they have abandoned the good qualities the frames had which made them a nice ride in the first place, and force fit them with modern parts which work better with a slightly more modern frame designed to run with them, so there is a bit of understanding about technology that allows one to get the most out of ones ride.
Now let me explain the trend. Take an old steel bicycle and respray it to their desired colour. Gently force the rear stays out to accept a wider axle so one can cram in an extra few cogs to enable one to fit a 9 speed cassette in there and then add a triple chainset and off they go with their lovely new creation, and I am all for restoring old bicycles and upgrading them, but the way it is done actually loses their efficiency.
Now as I am older weight of a bicycle is less important, so if I widen the gear ratio to help me along, the increase of weight is hardly going to make a big difference. One of the least understood concepts of an immature rider is that if one fits lighter weight components ones bike will go faster. Not necessarily true at all! Take straight handlebars on a mountain bike or a hybrid. We used to change to aluminium bars to reduce the bikes weight. As I got older I realized the older steel bars we were taking off were actually stiffer so gave us a better ability to climb as aluminium bars flexed against us when we needed them to be stiff. This is just one example, though to be honest in the days when we only had rigid forks, we had foam grips to compensate when riding offload, so aluminium bars would also ever so slightly provide relief from the bumps, though it was so slight.... Steel bars were overall better despite the extra weight. Drop handlebars I would go for aluminium as they are narrower by nature...

Anyway... Back to gears... When one widens the rear stays of old bikes one needs them to be stiffer to compensate or one is going to lose pedalling efficiency due to flex.
Some of the old bike builders who knew a thing or two knew how to use certain materials to use the flex to the riders advantage. Some of the older folk mak know what I mean when I mention "531 springback" as Reynolds 531 is a material that has an element of spring as it flexes. It is an alloy of steel which has managese molybdenum added to it which massively improves its performance with bicycle frames if built right. It was origionally developed for aircraft manufacturing and then used for formula 1 racing cars before the days when carbon fibre came along to replace it. Natrually it made excellent bicycle frames and from the 1930's onwards made top quality frames. Now this "531 springback" is very noticeable on one or two bikes I own but less noticeable on others, which indicates that some framebuilders got it just right and others still made nice 531 bikes which are way better than most steels, but find a bike with springback and one has a real "Gem!"
So let me explain what happens. One pedals on the downward stroke and the frame flexes sideways on the downwards stroke. With an ordinary carbon steel along with some other less springy alloys of steel,, this is a waste of energy so is an undesired effect, but with 531, the return springing effect of the frame takes place on the pedalling upstroke and actually aids the rider over the top dead centre so ones overall pedalling is more even and one receives a little unexpected power boost right on the part of the stroke that it is needed. Now if one widens the frame to accept a wider rear axle, one will not only lose the efficiency of the frame as described above, but one will lose this key springback effect which the rare few 531 bikes have that is hard to describe.
Now another aspect older bikes had which has largely been overlooked or forgotten about by moder riders is when older bikes had larger frames and level top tubes. Now modern trends they first messed up because a couple of decades ago top road racing teams used computers to work out how to make their bicycles more efficient, and they worked out that well over 80% of cycling was while the cyclists were seated in the saddle, so they altered the frame angles to maximize the efficiency of riding in the seated position. Road bikes started being made with smaller frames with dropped top tubes. This had come in with mountain bikes over a decade before BUT for a very different reason, as it was to give the rider more room to work round their bikes when riding off-road. Road bikes, especially racing bikes, did not need riders to negotiate off-road obstacles, but rather altered frame angles and provided the similar dropped frame approach in order to improve pedalling efficiency while seated.
BUT, if one has a road bike or hybrid built around 20 years ago that uses these same frame angles, and one climbs a steep hill on it, and in order to ease ones legs and also to push harder, one goes to stand on the pedals one immediately sits back down because it suddenly becomes hard work. Since then they have made them so they can stand up again...
But going back to the larger frames with the level top tubes. These old bikes were designed that way so that when the riders hit a steep hill, by standing on the pedals one could apply a LOT more force especially when one swayed ones bike back and fore. Now this also gave the same effect as using an extra set of lower gears which is why the old bikes had double chainsets and not triple, because these old bikes did not need it.
Now when I have seen younger riders in their prime on YouTube borrowing these lovely old racing bikes from 40 years ago to compare, they claim the modern bikes are so much better, BUT THEY RIDE THEM SEATED GOING UP THE STEEP HILLS OR WHEN ACCELERATING so the whole advantage these older bike frames are never being used. If they learned how to ride the older bikes and spent time on them learning their ways before they did the comparison, the timings and the riding experience would be a LOT different.

Now going back to cyclists doing old framed bikes up and modernizing them, which I have done myself, I refrain from widening up the back end other than to fit a six speed freewheel if it was designed for a five and a seven speed freewheel if it was designed for a six, as one is hardly making much of a difference, while increasing ones gear range with providing an extra inbetween gear so there is less of a jump between gears (I usually customize my freewheels using bits and pieces from a few old freewheels), but in general other than expanding the actual gear range, I do not add more cogs other than maybe an extra one if it fits, so I am not widening the stays other than perhaps a mm at most if needed. (An extra washer inbetween cone nut at the most. I do not force out the frame).
The chainset side I will add a triple. I lived on a steep hill in the past so as I got older I found a triple helped. I again customize my chainrings to widen my ratios as desired.
But that is how far I take it, as I do not want to alter the good quality of the ride of the bike. I want to retain the 531 springback on a 531 bike. I add a wider gear ratio aiming towards a few lower gears and a slightly higher gear but I do not want to prevent my ability to stand on the pedals, but at the same time, I also allow myself to sit if needed via having the lower gears. Means I get to have the best of both worlds in the same bike because I have sympathetically modified my bikes, and some of my bikes such as my touring bike which did have a triple since it was new, other than a repaint (Think I have repainted it several times since ai bought it) one may not have even realized that other than the frame and the forks themselves, not a single other part is origional as part by part I have upgraded or altered as things wore out and carefully selected components, so only an expert who knew the origional bike would even realize this, as the bike actually looks like I did when new other than I never bothered adding origional transfers as I don't want people to realize what it is.
Anyway... The point is, a little knowledge of why things were done as they were all those years ago, prevents one from making mistakes when one chooses to upgrade them, and I am 100% for keeping the old bicycles on the road!

 

[Shevek]

I remember the year that Campagnolo introduced a rear hub with a high flange on the cluster side and a low flange on the left. The lucky riders who managed to get their hands on one psyched out the other riders rather well. There was also the year (1909?) when Major Taylor won the track championship when he'd been convinced that using crescent-shaped cranks let him push directly on the end instead of sideways to it, thus putting in more power. Of course, the extra material only increased flex. There seems to be a lot of placebo effect in bike engineering. There was also the time that Bicycling magazine ran a whole article on quick mountain descents, instructing us to hold the handlebars perfectly straight, and steer by leaning, apparently by sheer force of will.

You don't need more gears to increase your range, just more difference between ratios. For more gears, going from a double to a triple on the front also works. IMHO, the best setup is 13-16-19-23-28, with 52-47-26. The range covers almost everything, and the splits are all very close to half a step on the rear.