Sometimes we get a little nostalgic about old road bikes and what they offered to the world. In this day and age simple steel frames brandishing local names and aluminium wheels feel like a far cry from what is available to buy today. So, tech writer Simon Smythe took a trip down memory lane to reminisce on some of his favourite things about old road bikes but also a few things which he doesn't miss as much!
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00:00In this video I'm going to go all retro grouch as you can tell by my moustache and I'm going
00:04to take a pedal down memory lane and have a look at some of the things about the bikes of my younger
00:09years that I miss and why I miss them. I'm also going to have a look at some of the things that
00:12I definitely don't miss and I'm glad to see the back of. Just look at this beautiful Colnago Master
00:22Olympic. Is there anything more beautiful than that? It's the traditional geometry that gives
00:25it like a lovely sort of form as a horizontal top tube, straight down tube, seat tube and seat stays
00:31that aren't dropped. They go directly up to meet the top tube at the back. It's just like got a sort of
00:36lovely stability and integrity even an honesty that modern bikes with drop seat stays and funny shaped
00:42tubes just don't have. And while I'm on the subject of beauty, have a look at the paint. I mean this
00:46is just incredible. This is what Colnago called the art decor paint and you really don't see anything
00:52like that anymore. This Colnago, perhaps controversially, but actually team Mape used
00:57Shimano has Dura-Ace groupset. It's a Dura-Ace 7700 9-speed groupset and it's just beautifully
01:04polished. I mean you don't get polished group sets anymore and I think that's a shame because you
01:08know that just is lovely. It's not just about the shape of the tubes but it's about what they're made
01:17from. Now good quality steel tubing like this Columbus Gilco tubing this Colnago is made from
01:23just has a lovely ride quality. It's so smooth that it doesn't need drop seat stays or funny shapes.
01:28It just has a ride quality that's like nothing else. This bike just has exactly the right blend
01:33of comfort and stiffness and a lot of the ride quality is down to the steel fork which just soaks
01:37up road vibrations perfectly. A frame builder once said to me that every other material tries to emulate
01:42the ride quality of steel and he was right, although obviously he had a vested interest.
01:47Sure steel's heavier than carbon and aluminium and there was a time about 10 years ago when the
01:51gap was actually pretty big when carbon bikes were really light but now with the arrival of disc brakes
01:56the gap's narrowed again and actually this bike weighs just over nine kilos or 20 pounds in old money
02:01and really you're getting some top disc brake road bikes race bikes weighing upwards of eight kilos
02:06so the difference is really not that massive anymore.
02:08Okay so an Italian bike like a Colnago really was the pinnacle but you used to see names like Jeffrey
02:19Butler, Bates, Roberts, Bob Jackson, Brian Rourke, Mercian and all of these British names were associated
02:25with regions and local cycling communities. You don't really see that anymore. Once you got to a certain
02:30level in your cycling you went to see a local frame builder one of these guys and you got a frame made to
02:35measure and it was not only a rite of passage but it was also supporting local industry.
02:39The name on the downtube told the story as did the bike which was unique like nobody else's.
02:48I don't think anybody would disagree with me that life was much simpler before the era of the
02:52proprietary component. Shimano Campagnolo compatibility was all you had to worry about.
02:57Properly established standards like the ones specified by ISO, the International Standards
03:02organization meaning you can get parts for about years after it's no longer the current model
03:06which is why it's so easy to buy a bike from the 70s, the 80s or the 90s like this Colnago
03:11and just restore it very simply. But there's light at the end of this particular tunnel.
03:15The bike manufacturers themselves are coming back around to the idea that there are benefits to a
03:1968mm threaded bottom bracket or 27.2mm seat post. Even Cannondale, the inventors of the BB30,
03:26have gone back to a 68mm threaded bottom bracket shelled on the new Synapse.
03:32Anybody could build up an old bike like this Colnago. All you might need a bike shop to do is to press
03:40in the headset and the rest of it you can do yourself. Get a set of allen keys and the right
03:44bottom bracket tool. Even internal cable routing didn't use to present any kind of problem. Now
03:49this is an internally routed rear brake cable that just goes straight through the top tube. It's
03:54literally the cable just pushes straight through, comes out the other side. Now you've got a sort of
03:58spaghetti of cables, wires, hoses that go through the bars and the stem and down in front of a head
04:04tube. And really, who's going to make any sense of that? And it's all for what? For the sake of,
04:09well, a what? A what or two? A clean looking front end?
04:17Now I think disc brakes are dominant enough, but it's possible to say that you miss rim brakes.
04:21They were just so simple to set up. All you need is an allen key. And for this, you just need a pair
04:26of cable cutters. And there you go. The brake pads are right there. Easy to see, easy to check the wear
04:31and easy to replace. There's no bleeding necessary. There's no working out what kind of fluid you need.
04:37The brakes are just there. And the other thing about rim brakes is that they work really well.
04:41People seem to forget that they're really all you need on a road bike. I mean, ask yourself,
04:45how many times do I stop on a standard hour ride? For me, it's probably less than 10 times if I'm
04:51riding on my own or even with a mate. I stop at junctions and that's all I need the brakes for.
04:55If you live in the Alps or if you ride technical gravel, then it might be a different scenario.
04:59And then there's a good case for the disc brakes. But for a road bike for ordinary road riding
05:03in Britain, this is all you need.
05:10One of the reasons why rim brakes are disappearing is because tyres are getting too fat for them.
05:14Why are tyres getting too fat? Because frames are getting too stiff. It's a vicious circle.
05:19Now with a steel frame, there was enough comfort in the steel frame itself that you didn't need
05:23balloon tyres unless you were touring and carrying heavy panniers. You might think I've gone mad saying
05:28I miss skinny tyres, but the difference in performance between an expensive skinny tyre and a cheap skinny
05:32tyre is not as great as the difference in weight and performance between a cheap 30 or 32 millimetre tyre
05:38and an expensive one. Fat tyres are great if they're supple, lightweight and tubeless,
05:43but cheap heavy ones with thick inner tubes just dull the ride and add weight.
05:47So to sum up, I'd say that a cheap narrow tyre is less detrimental to the performance of your bike
05:52than a cheap fat one.
05:58Now some people might think I'm going too far here, but I'm going to add to the list of things I miss,
06:02aluminium wheels. Now there used to be wheel builders at the back of bike shops who would build you the
06:07wheel you wanted. You chose the hub, the spokes and the rim and he built it for you. Now you buy a carbon
06:12wheel set that was made in China or Taiwan and it's incredibly expensive and it's the same as everybody
06:17else's. Okay, so the carbon wheel set might be a little bit more aerodynamic, a little bit lighter,
06:23but really is that a priority over serviceability, durability, individuality and price?
06:34Talking of price, the top road bikes today can cost over £12,000. Now looking at the inflation rate in the UK
06:41over the last 30 years, it's just over 100%, which would mean that a top road bike in 1990 would cost
06:47£6,000 and I certainly don't remember them costing that much. And if they had, would any cyclists have
06:52actually been able to afford one? Now if you want a prestige classic bike like this one, the good news
06:58is that you can get one off eBay pretty cheaply. I bought this Colnago as a frame and fork off eBay
07:03for £450 in 2014 and I sourced all the rest of the components separately, all the Dura-Race 7700
07:09groupset. All that came off eBay as well and the whole thing cost me just under £1,000.
07:18And finally, will I be standing here in 2052 praising whatever it is in my opinion makes the 2022 bike
07:25better than the 2052 one? Well hopefully I'll still be here, but I really doubt that many bikes from 2022
07:30will be, or at least in a rideable state. Even if I was able to replace the proprietary components,
07:36would the carbon fibre have suffered from some sort of galvanic corrosion from being next to metal
07:40parts, metal inserts and bolts? Would it have been damaged? You can't always see it. I'm not so sure.
07:45Whereas a steel bike will last a lifetime if it's properly looked after and cherished, as it should
07:50be. And when it does come to the end of its life, it can just be recycled. It's not going to end up in
07:55landfill or even worse in the sea. So those are some of the things I miss, but that's not to say
08:00old bikes were perfect. I might have been suggesting that the cycling industry has been
08:04fixing things that ain't broke, creating solutions in search of a problem and generally charging us
08:09too much money. But there are certain things about old bikes that I'm really definitely glad to see the
08:14back of. We've done a quick bike change just to illustrate the things that I don't miss. And the
08:23first of these is toe clips and straps. Now strapping your foot into a steel cage and then pedaling,
08:29that sounds like torture and it does feel like torture. And it's pretty dangerous as well,
08:33I would say. So thank God for the clipless pedal, which has been around for the last 35 years,
08:38pretty much unchanged since Look came up with the original ski binding derived pedal. And only speed
08:43player have messed with the design. And they've really just turned the whole thing on its head with
08:48the spring mechanism in the shoe rather than the pedal. And that works really well. So thank God.
08:52For racing bikes, a 5339 chainset or a 5242 even was standard. That was fine as long as you had a
09:04decent spread of gears at the back. But you generally didn't, which meant that if you were going uphill
09:09and at the same time you wanted a reasonably close ratio, then you'd have to really put your back into
09:13it. And you can see that literally that's how it used to be. If you look at footage of old racers going
09:18up hills, it's like... So good riddance to big gears.
09:27Down tube levers. Now I had to think hard about whether to include these in my list of things I
09:31don't miss because some people really like them. Some people actually enjoy that you have to finesse
09:36the lever and even listen to whether the chain is on the correct cog or not. But for me, I mean,
09:41no, no thank you. I appreciate the fact that there's a really nice direct connection,
09:46just this cable running straight to the derailleur and it's lightweight as well. But really, I don't
09:50want to sit down every time I want to change gear. I just want to do it with a button. That's all I
09:54want from shifting. I don't care. Some things are best consigned to history and sadly, down tube levers,
10:00they're one of them. Or two of them. So those are the things I miss and don't miss about old bikes.
10:07If you think I'm just a nostalgic old fool, then let me know in the comments underneath.
10:11And if there are things that you miss and don't miss about old bikes, then let me know about those too.
10:16And don't forget to like and subscribe.