Thread #1962645 | Image & Video Expansion | Click to Play
File: 1700572001206861.jpg (274.5 KB)
274.5 KB JPG
Disasters never have one root cause and neither did the destruction of cycling. But I know some important milestones in the decline and fall:
1. COVID 19. Enough said.
2. Full suspension mountain bikes. Enough said.
3. Reddit. Enough said.
4. Twitter. Enough said.
5. British "people". Enough said.
6. The d-tch. Enough said.
7. The state of Utah. Enough said.
8. Zwift, Peloton, "Spin Class", and other cancer. Enough said.
What were some other key moments?
256 RepliesView Thread
Showing all 256 replies.>>
>>
>>1962645
>more than a hundred years old hobby
>rich history with great influence across the globe
>not going anywhere as long as humans have legs and steel
yet somehow you fucking snowflake can announce it destroyed due to your imaginary reasons no one asked about
>>
>>
>>
File: 1699152871870189.jpg (80.4 KB)
80.4 KB JPG
What a garbage thread.
>>
>>1962679
>Steel bikes being premium
This isn't a conspiracy
Aluminium bikes are lighter for the money and so suit the entry level market better and so far many more of them are produced and so the price is cheaper, and for many other valid reasons.
>>
File: 818abac0ab87f1e0.jpg (9.8 KB)
9.8 KB JPG
>>1962687
Nope aluminum bikes are the standard slop now because logistics are cheaper with lighter frames
>>
File: 1699431768348750.png (277.7 KB)
277.7 KB PNG
>>1962645
>What destroyed cycling
What question is that? I ride my MTB's on trails for the last 10 years. Nothing was destroyed. Bikes got better tho.
My roadbike is faster and lighter. Saddle is comfier, di2 is a dream.
Commuting and shopping didnt change a bit.
Overall, cycling improved massively in my opinion. Its much more fun. Bikes are more capable, better geo for bombing hills/trails, suspensions are crazy good now.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>What destroyed cycling
Cyclists. Imagine letting riding a bike as a hobby become your whole personality to the point where call yourself a "cyclist". If you heard someone say "Yeah, I'm a driver." and driving cars wasn't their job, you'd think they were a lunatic.
>>
File: 20080226000028220080223000003_00.jpg (32.1 KB)
32.1 KB JPG
>>1962645
>China 1980
>>
File: 940x705.jpg (211.6 KB)
211.6 KB JPG
>>1963699
>China 2020
What went wrong?
Why did cycling fail?
>>
>>
>>1962687
Don't forget, it's easy to hydroform aluminium into more aerodynamic or more marketable shapes (you're not limited to cylindrical or oval tubes), and it's got a very low melting point compared to steel and therefore takes less energy to produce.
It's not a bad material all things considered.
>>
>>1963742
Yeah but what if I have to ride my gaspipe shitter on the surface of venus? Buyfag freds, the china menace, and dentist racers BTFO! I could totally be a pro I just don't apply myself because this isn't a race.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1962645
Pretty good image but I think people who are shitty and elitist about bikes are stupid morons.
If you aren't a bike mechanic or an expert, don't fucking chime in on technical discussions. If you are an obsessive bike nerd, don't be an asshole to the people that aren't. Conflict solved.
>>
>>1965577
It's a shit picture, muh trading card games are a laughable """hobby""" and gatekeeping such faggotry is beyond pathetic.
And hobbies that are respectable enough like cycling benefit from not being tryhard sausage fests. Imagine complaining about having women in your hobbies, as if they were something that scared you.
>>
File: gwrrsm84tnib1.jpg (82.5 KB)
82.5 KB JPG
>>1965620
Sex segregated hobbies are bad?
>>
>>1965625
Not all hobbies are sports. Segregate them when they become competitions, but don't gatekeep them when it's you and your shitty bingbingwahoos and other niggersoy fuckery.
Also your pic is of women fearing men, which is absolutely normal because women are weak and dumb.
>>
>>
>>
>>
File: PXL_20231012_172653894.jpg (3.2 MB)
3.2 MB JPG
>>1962645
Cycling is destroyed? Huh I didn't notice
>>
>>
File: unknown-2.png (818.1 KB)
818.1 KB PNG
>>1962645
You got it kinda wrong, OP.
There are several reasons why the Bicycle Industry is seeing collapse. And it's not due to cycling becoming mainstream.
1. Pandemic:
Lockdowns & "Shelter-In-Place" orders made exceptions for "outdoor exercise", and a lot of people who typically only went to the gym for a workout thought about what they could do outdoors that's exercise. For anyone not already running, cycling became the big one.
Normies bought bicycles en masse creating massive profits for bike manufacturers.Except normies don't actually like cycling - they did 2-3 rides, didn't like how fit they needed to be to go up hills and didn't like the weather.
The result? A saturated used market for high-end bicycles.
2. Britain:
Look at the cycling brands collapsing and tell me where they're from. Islabikes, Wiggle CRC, GCN+, British Cycling, Evans Cycles - yes, they're all British.
Brexit has resulted in economic shrinkage, as various weirdos too scared of White Slavic Immigrants, now have political leaders who are all descended from former colonies. Immigration is now at record highs in the UK, and they're not Slavic people anymore.
Through a mix of Brexit fucking up the entire exporting of good, and also the Tories waging culture war on cycling, claiming that being a cyclist is "woke", and that being a cager is "freedom", it's had this impact.
3. Corporate Greed:
After the record profits from selling record numbers of high-end bicycles to middle managers with cabin fever, the bicycle industry was convinced that there's now a massive market out there for high-end bicycles.
Year after year, Specialized, Trek, Giant, Canyon, Pinarello, and Scott all made active decisions to shit on the entry level bikes, and make more and more $/€/£10k bicycles with extra special features that will save you 5 watts!
Of course, the used market is saturated with these high-end bikes going cheap, and no one buys a brand new bicycle every year.
>>
>>1962645
No offense but cyclists are some of the biggest elitist fags in any sporting community. It’s clear someone decides what is cool or not, and then the lemmings all fall in line. Examples:
- oh lol you have a dork disk
- lol aero bars ? You mean go fast bars?
- that’s a Cervelo? You must be a dentist
- Fred Fred Fred
- that’s not the right bike for this event. God forbid you own just 1 or 2 bikes
The grand irony is there is usually some sort of intimidation factor at play with gatekeeping. But anyone who takes cycling seriously looks like the just biked out of auschwitz. So as someone who lifts it bring a me great pleasure knowing I could snap all of these assholes like a twig at any given moment
>>
>>1966487
>brexit was caused by racists!
What? That makes no sense. It would only make sense to a pro-Commonwealth anti-Polish racist and they are pretty much non-existent.
>no it was caused by racists but they thought they were being racist and they really were being progressive!
>>
File: 1674007810591466.jpg (71.7 KB)
71.7 KB JPG
By what metric has cycling been "destroyed"? How is cycling worse now than it was in 2010, 2000, 1990, or 1980? I don't think OP put much thought into this thread. He's also probably a fag.
>>
>>
>>1966531
>It would only make sense
Making sense had nothing to do with it, except that people who wanted to avoid having to declare their money to central tax authorities were very very in favour of it. And those people own a lot of media outlets.
Makes you think.
>>
>>1966670
>every major financial institution and the sitting government of the day heavily anti-Brexit
>but the REAL powerbrokers didn’t want it
Fuck off, you’re literally the left wing version of Alex Jones listeners and you make us look bad. It’s not a “good vs evil” star wars plot.
>>
>>
File: 1510018266473.gif (809.5 KB)
809.5 KB GIF
for whatever reason, cycling attracts narcissistic do-gooders that think they're "making a difference" by behaving like an asshole in public and not accounting for the massive difference between a dude on a bike going 10 mph and a one ton car that can rip to 120 mph at a moment's notice
they're not comparable forms of technology and should not mix. if you go full bike, you really need the separate space for them or you're fighting a losing battle (while have to watch you blow past stop signs and red lights in your mesh suit). i'm supposed to feel "bad" about cyclists when they get hit by cars or killed, but i remember that it's usually an idiot that was so poor they couldn't afford a cheap car and made that inferiority complex their personality.
>>
>>1970460
Thank you for not lying and pretending to support cycling. Usually this argument is wrapped in a disingenuous concern troll shitpost about how in amsterdam blah blah blah. This one speaks honestly. John Forester did nothing wrong.
>>
>>1962811
as a lazy entry-level cyclist I am pretty happy with a light frame also. It's almost the only component I haven't worn out and needed replaced in the last 10 years, not sure where steel would be an improvement.
>>
>>
>>
>>1970639
Steel can give a different ride feel. Everyone groups aluminum as shit, but 2 decades ago it was the shit. If you care, ride more bikes and see if you can notice differences, then you will hone in on what you like.
Or just ride your current one.
>>
>>1962645
Bait image.
>1.
A point but things are mostly back to normal again
>2.
Don't ride one then
>3
Don't listen to anyone on there
>4
Don't listen to anyone on there
>5
Bait.
>6
Bait.
>7
Bait.
>8
Not real cyclists, ignore them.
Cycling isn't destroyed, it's fine.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1962645
>COVID 19
plandemic was peak cycle boom, especially if you were lockdown rebel larping. We had like weekly cycle group rides on empty streets. Now that my city is pretty much back to prepandemic business as usual and everything has been open for like 1-2 years now, everyone is going back to their old ways and not cycling as much as they did during covid
>>
>>1963684
because driving is the standard, my friend who only uses a motorbike considers himself a biker. So do many who have a motorbike and only ride it in summer as a hobby. Besides that there are tons of people who identify with car brands, state what car they have on social media even if its completely unrelated and take selfies with cars. They dont call themselves drivers, they call themselves shit like mercedes owner or bmw drivers and sometimes even join local clubs.
>>
>>
>>1962645
Cycling became a lot more popular in my area when Covid happened, councils even started making new pop up bike lanes, some of which are still around.
I don't even know why you think it's 'destroyed', you come across as some Lycra larper who's annoyed that muh sanctity of cycling as an elitist hobby is being degraded by more people picking it up casually.
>>
File: 1707067952735480.webm (2.8 MB)
2.8 MB WEBM
>>1962645
Cyclists themselves destroyed it.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1962645
Cycling when I started in 2008
>New bikes were cheap
>Used market was small. Word of mouth/car boot sale
>Seen as a hobby
>0 bike lanes
>30mph roads in every city
>Cars were smaller and less scary though
>Nowhere to lock up bike
Cycling now
>New bikes are astronomical
>Who cares because there are top-tier used bikes selling for pennies
>They're easy to find with the internet
>So many because casuals bought new and rode once during covid
>bike theft is basically an industry now, further reducing used prices
>"Car replacement" is in fashion now
>lots of cargo frames, baskets, rack types available
>No-one looks at your weird for biking to work any more
>Dedicated bike parking everywhere
>20 roads and more bike lanes
>Filled with idiots who have no clue how to cycle and SUVs
>>
>>
File: hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.jpg (278.6 KB)
278.6 KB JPG
>>1981635
>toob is part of the urbanism NJB YIMBY crowd
well that's a shame. oh well. guess I'll ignore all her videos from now on
>>
>>
>>
>>
File: aerobars.jpg (88.6 KB)
88.6 KB JPG
>>1966530
t. bought a cerevelo with aero bars and was told off by the cool group ride guys
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1970460
Preach. It works both ways. Cyclists certainly don’t behave as though they are the most vulnerable road users.
It’s a shame. Bikes should be fun and cheap transport. Let’s all maintain order and follow the rules of the road so there are fewer accidents and everyone gets to go home safely whether they’re on two wheels or four.
Known tons of cool cyclists who ride responsibly. I like to ride in quiet areas for leisure on a nice day. Unfortunately a small group of entitled activists have utterly ruined the reputation of a genuinely great idea
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1970460
>for whatever reason, cycling attracts narcissistic do-gooders that think they're "making a difference" by behaving like an asshole in public and not accounting for the massive difference between a dude on a bike going 10 mph and a one ton car that can rip to 120 mph at a moment's notice
this is why I switched to riding a motorcycle outside of short trips around town and dedicated MTB trails
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1962645
The gravel riding boom was a sign that things were going downhill into a consumerist pit of money loaded casuals trying to make things that are low skill more competitive. Admittedly cycling technology has been booming for the past 10 years, especially in things that might not be obvious like tires and brakes, but cyclocross has always been a thing and riding off road fast on road bikes had been reserved to people with better than average to elite bike handling skills as something they did intermittently with competitive road cycling. Now chad bros and dentists have made a sport that’s not discernibly different than road cycling except for a few key factors so they can claim athlete status without entering spaces where they have to either be a good bike handler or in exceptionally good shape and know racing strategy. For the same amount of money as a “gravel bike”, you can get an XC mountain bike that can ride actual trails and features but gravel bros will never because they can’t do those things with a bike.
>>
>>
>>
>>1963742
>low melting point
>therefore takes less energy to produce
please don't talk shit and delude people when you don't know shit
Even IF this was a question of merely recycling materials you'd still have to factor in the specific heat capacity.
But in reality not all aluminium is recycling material (who would have guessed) and thus the mined bauxite needs to go through the Bayer process first and the resulting AlO needs to be electrolyzed... which is crazy energy intensive.
Once you want to do anything worthwhile, like build a bike, common aluminium alloys like 6061 will need to be heat treated after welding which essentially requires the entire bike to be in the oven.
I imagine a bicycle from commonly used steel alloys is much less energy intensive to produce but I wont be fucked to come up with numbers just because of morons like >>1963742 .
>>
it's because cyclists are either annoying poorfags that seethe over not being able to afford a reasonable car or annoying narcissistic rich fucks that want the society reformed to cater to their shitty hobby. no, we're turning the usa into the fucking netherlands. no, we not making bike suburbs. no, you shouldnt be able to take up a whole lane when you go 10 mph up a hill. go take your lycra wearing ass to the bikepath.
>>
>>
>>2001367
it's partially the memes from here and partially being in dc for almost a decade now. the cyclists are all rich yuppie types that run lights in dangerous intersections and end up dead because of it. they also bitch and moan at council meetings about how they need more bike lanes while fucking over the bus routes.
cyclists also aren't good for the nerd urban renewal thing because they want to replicate car society on a slightly smaller scale rather than putting the pedestrian as what matters the most.
>>
>>2001380
Ah, yeah DC would make me sad too. Never been to a council meeting nor have I met urbanists IRL so I consider myself blessed to have dodged that shit.
TBQH my gut tells me there are 2 types of people you would meet at those places. People who try to keep order, and people you describe wanting their way.
>>
>>2001382
its a bad hive for entitle nerds that "love politics" aka love power and dictating how budgets are set. i will say i am fortunate to be in the second best mass transit city in the US and i haven't needed to have a car ever.
the problem ends up being that there is no holistic plan for transit and housing. congress has been good about bailouts for the metro system since covid hit, but that's not a way to really run a city. for council & wmata issues its ends up being the same people fighting for pet projects rather than finding a way to make downtown dc a great place to live. too many big buildings that were zoned for business/government use only and too few apartments/townhomes in places where people could walk to those huge offices. the stupid federal height ordinance from 1910 fucked up developing the city and arlington was too fucking stupid to build a mini-manhattan across the river in the 1960s & 1970s. they're turning that round now with nice high rises and ending single family zoning, just 55ish years too late.
>>
>>
>>
>>2001661
Oh, and the killing of the 26'" wheel and its millions strong affordable 2nd hand inventory (the actual real goal of industry's move to 29", as openly admitted back then by multiple industry insiders), and the subsequent atomization of "standards", all of them contributing to the price inflation.
>>
>>
>>2001999
checked.
Non pro welder here, and yeah titanium is levels above aluminum. If I am remembering correctly to do it right you can only tig weld, purge the tube internally, plug the end, and it's more finicky then aluminum.
>>
>>
>>2002029
Taking a wheel off has never required a special technique. You either turn the nut, or release a lever. Even if it has lawyer lips I reckon 99% of normies would figure it out, it's not like it's complex.
The actual problem with thru-axels is that they still haven't standardised them.
>>
>>2001096
You can say the same shit about the development of mountain bikes. The early mountain bikers were riding road bikes, then slowly bikes better fitted to offroad riding were introduced. Keep in mind, there was a time before knobbly tires allowed you to corner confidently.
The gravel riding boom was just about capitalising on the fact that there are guys who are interested in road bikes, but don't want to ride on the road and prefer nature. It's not that complex nor is it about athletics. Watch Unbound and tell me that what they're doing is low skill. The physical ability required to ride fast on rough terrain for long distances is much the same as road biking, a sport that is very high skill.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2002248
if you're using cantis with 2 inches of travel then obviously you're not going to notice but on mech dicks (notoriously common combo with QR for bikes of a certain era) there is in fact what you might call "something magic going on anon" in that the dropouts are prone to a wide range of tolerances
>>
>>2002102
Valtteri Bottas, a professional athlete from a completely different division of sport with no racing history or training, got 3rd in his age group at Unbound. I think a clear line needs to be drawn between physical conditioning and skill. To your point, road cycling is not far behind. Jonas Vingegaard(Tour GC 2023) was a professional soccer player before getting scouted out to cycling because of his physical conditioning, and Primoz Roglic(Giro GC 2023) was a ski jumper scouted under very similar pretenses, both athletes trained on a bike to get in shape for their respective sports and their managing sponsors discovered they had a physical ability that was relevant to the world stage of competition. Neither athlete has ever even attempted racing cyclocross because they lack the bike handling skills, Jonas can barely ride a bike with no hands.
>>
>>2002101
There's also plenty of headset standards; should we go back to "standardized" threaded headsets, because of that?
The benefits widely outweigh any hypothetical problem, and these are highly subjective, anyway. Thru axles are an integral part of the fork/frame, but either way china will gladly sell you cheap replacements for pretty much any standard out there, if you ever need one. So what's really the problem here?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2002325
Personally I like threaded headsets and I can’t see why the industry ditched them. You can’t uncut a steerer after all. Regardless, the normal 1-inch and 1-1/8 inch threadless headsets are pretty the standard these days and I wouldn’t object to the proprietary stuff going away.
The difference between that and thru-axles is that you don’t have to worry about bullshit like figuring out the properties of the thread to find a replacement. If you can just look up your bike brand model, cool, but information has a tendency to rot over time, as you’ll find out if are interested in vintage bikes.
>>
>>
>>
>>1962645
FFS what are you blathering on and on about? Cycling isn't destroyed.
Just regulate e-bikes by mandating training testing licensing and require insurance, and ban all the other motorized bullshit (stand-up scooters and all those monowheel things) and things will calm down. Then only people who are capable of being proficient at riding an e-bike and are old enough to be responsible with them will be using them.
>>
>>1962680
Strava is the same as any other social media site, spiral down into intrusive ads, plans, subs, fake data, irrelevant shit and so on.
I have a 2018 version of the app that still had performance comparisons in segments, while the web does not even do this without paying for some shit plan.
I was tilted enough to code my own app, had it all setup and started adding different stats to it but just said fuck it, its not worth the effort and dropped any tracking tool entirely, rides have never been better and performance is irrelevant, I can still see I can do longer rides and more difficult terrain than before without having it written down.
>>
File: thirst.jpg (359.2 KB)
359.2 KB JPG
Instagram is worse but all influencer cycling is cancer
>>
>>
>>
>>1962645
Suburbia. Allowed the fetishization or pretending rural roads with no shoulder are bike tracks for bored yuppies at 5pm. If they were in the city were they belong, they could have been in a parks bike path and EVERYONE would have been a lot happier.
>>
>>
>>
Also massive amounts of entitled clowns who won't even turn their heads at intersections to save their lives
I assume most cyclists go through their rides hoping to get a big payout from some hapless driver who didn't see the idiot in their blind spot
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1970460
i fucking wish there was actual seperated spaces for bicycling instead of the poor excuse that is the broken overgrown sidewalk. but until i get my own lane I have no choice but to risk my life and use the car lanes.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2018214
I haven't been that far. I know there is hundreds of miles of local bike trail, and in october I will ride around davis at an event, but I honestly don't venture out much beyond my normal ride that I slowly increase the mileage on. Currently doing 40-50 miles and I want to get to 75 miles.
There are a fair amount of backroads one could take to go accross to the bay, south, or north but it will probably be sketch for some parts.
>>
>>
>>2018216
you can ride from sacramento to davis tho at least? I might need to relocate there for a while and I've seen how flat it is, I'm afraid I would lose my mind but if I can get some change of scenery without going in circles that would be a plus
>>
>>
>>2018222
Yeah there is a bike path from davis to sac over the causeway at i-80. TBQH I haven't done it, and I would bring ear protection since cars regularly do 50-80mph depending on traffic.
Of course beyond that you have all the bike trails, and some other ones north east like the El dorado bike trail that I want to try.
Lots of mtbing around here too if you go east into the foothills.
>>
>>
>>
>>2002029
What special skills? You turn a 15mm nut or a 4/5mm allen key and just pull it off. Are you talking about managing the chain and derailleur? I'm a single speed monkey so sometimes derailleurs confuse me but it's not anything special that a little common sense can't fix.
>>
>>
>>
File: maxresdefault.jpg (188.3 KB)
188.3 KB JPG
>>1962645
>What were some other key moments?
Disc killed cycling. Every oldfag with a working brain stopped buying new shit and stopped participating in the discussions. The industry is rudderless yuppie scum trying to look cool now, but they don't have the autism they need to thrive. Disc is the reason.
Such a garbage move on the industry's part. I completely stopped buying new bike stuff and started shitting on the industry non stop since then. I've been right the entire time. The new consoomers will scream and cry every time you talk shit in disc because that's what they own and they don't want to believe it. Disc was never appropriate for the bikes it has been added to and the industry knew this from the start. Absolutely disgusting move on their part and it destroyed all faith the real ones ever had in them. I hope they all fucking rot
>>
File: Delta-HubLox-Anti-Theft-Locking-Skewers-Bicycle-Security-QR-Axles_51144290-02c1-4887-b6c3-378cf91e3385.756bdec93a73c2aa109750ba67f33603.jpg (95.3 KB)
95.3 KB JPG
>>2002029
>Retrogrouches hate thru-axle
This is the level of total ignorance the new consoomer cyclist has. The discussion has sunk to the rock bottom of retarded ignorance. Each new product that nobody needs is defended by ignorant children repeating the marketing BS they heard on their favorite YouTube channel. These people have no context for the current state of cycling and think all of this is normal. They have no clue
>>
>>
>>2018633
>Each new product that nobody needs is defended by ignorant children repeating the marketing BS they heard on their favorite YouTube channel
People parroting marketing spiels as a stand-in for actual experience is what's destroying a lot of hobbies. Maybe things have always been like this and I was ignorant to the fact when I was younger, but it seems to be worse now.
>>
>>2018639
It's always been this way, it's worse now because the loudest "experts" have the means to shout via social media, idiots now have accessibility to a very wide audience. Before social media, there was TV, radio, records, magazines, newspapers, books, etc, it's just the barrier for entry to a global audience is as easy as having a phone and being loud. Everyone is a self claimed "expert" now to the point where only real experts can filter the noise.
>>
File: YES-BIG-MBA-Cover-May-1988_e-copy.jpg (1017 KB)
1017 KB JPG
>>2018639
>>2018642
Yes, prior to twitter cyclists had to rely on reliable neutral sources sold in newsstands printed and distributed at a loss by devoted enthusiasts who didn't care for sponsorship or advertisement money at all, zoomers finally figured it out!
>>
>>
>>
>>
File: IMG_8918.jpg (723.7 KB)
723.7 KB JPG
Unpopular opinion. But speaking as a definite luddite and tightwad, it's a great time to be into cycling, if you can ignore all the douchebaggery (I USUALLY can.) The tech explosion of the 80's and 90's is long gone, but the bikes and parts are still out there, scattered across the landscape. Many boomers were caught up in the hype during that time and (practically accidentally) bought great shit, only to enbalm it in storage units so that it could trickle feed into craigslist for decades to come. The last 2 decades have seen the almost total success of the industry in burying old standards for high-tier new bikes, which means current-day consoomers not only don't want the old stuff, they're barely even aware of it. With some specific exceptions for collectibles, bikes that cost thousands in 80's money now turn up for a few hundred; you just need to be ready with the knowledge to know what you're looking at. You can even go on a shameless, overpaying online shopping spree for top-shelf components and pay maybe 10% of what many people normally do for their "gravel bike." And the consumables like pads, tires, drivetrain etc. are still available and mostly better than ever.
I was worried for a while that the hipster-resto-mod-confused-cruiser treatment would boost up classic mtb prices a lot, but unless you NEED a stumpjumper or klein it doesn't seem to have had an effect. I hate the gravel trend for bringing cyclist goons onto roads that used to be my private property for rides, but at the same time I think it may have distracted people from wanting to buy the great bikes all around them and leaving them for me. Get a roomy old roadbike and put great new 35's on it, or get one of the lighter classic mtb's and go anywhere, delete social media, enjoy yourself.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
File: oMpMlNbNmQSFtZOofDwBCwJr6y4ORivRqk3qD9I792Y.jpg (309.2 KB)
309.2 KB JPG
>I have an irrational fear that my QR wheels will fall off through the dropouts when I jump curbs and make sicknasty maneuvers.
Neurotic zoomers feel safe following marketing hype
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
File: frayedknot.png (81.4 KB)
81.4 KB PNG
>>2027696
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>1981709
>stiff
Steel and titanium can be more stiff than average alu
>Bottom Bracket Sag Test - 56cm Bike (Range)
>Aluminum - 45 to 87 N/mm
>Carbon - 39 to 84 N/mm
>Steel - 42 to 77 N/mm
>Titanium - 44 to 68 N/mm
>Head Tube Sag Test - 56cm Bike (Range)
>Aluminum - 69 to 145 N/mm
>Carbon - 63 to 131 N/mm
>Steel - 69 to 115 N/mm
>Titanium - 75 to 106 N/mm
>>
>>
P*destrians have gotten massively worse. Even when their head isn't buried in their phones they just act like total zombies now and are completely unpredictable and oblivious. It never used to be like this, like yeah they were always kind of retarded but 8/10 times when someone heard free-wheel clicking as you pulled up behind them, they would move to one side and when walking where there was cyclists they used to be at least conscious of the fact there are cyclists around. Now I have people yell shit at me when I go past them without ringing my bell, totally ignorant of the fact that when you ring the bell they jump rapidly in an unknown direction like a fucking spastic and increase the chance of me hitting them 300%.
Also groups of fucking pajeets, mob of 10 of them were occupying an entire cycle lane bridge like 3 metres wide jabbering away in their revolting tongue while playing some shitty Bollywood music from a Bluetooth speaker. Seriously considered just plowing into them at full speed.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2030691
>P*destrians have gotten massively worse.
Objectively correct post.
Every pedestrian now has noise-cancelling buds or headcans and all it takes is going a bit over 60% volume for them to not hear your bell.
The worst being sausage moms with their airpods on at full volume, a beanie AND the faux-fur-lined hood up because it's below 10 degree outside. I'm honestly surprised we don't see that much of an increase in accidents, especially with scooters because the combinations of people who do everything in their power to not hear you coming and scooters that aren't even noisy, ride on the sidewalk and don't even have a bell or horn in many cases should be recipe for disaster.
At this point we're going to need fucking bluetooth bike bells to ring directly in their feed or something because as it is bells are no longer fit for purpose.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
Cars and motorcycles can be bought for $500-$3000 used. Bicycle should not be costing more than $500 for top end. Ideally they should be costing only ~$100 for average model. Bike manufacturers were price gouging off of rich liberals and they destroyed the market.
>>
>>
>>2040505
>Cars and motorcycles can be bought for $500-$3000 used.
those cars are only worth buying if you or someone you know is mechanically experienced. For a person who doesn't know or unwilling to learn how to wrench, those vehicles aren't reliable enough and will be bigger problems in a short amount of time. Especially nowadays with the used market demanding a premium for piece of shit vehicles and mechanic shops practicing predatory behavior to make quick bucks through unnecessary work. However, I do agree with you on the cost of vehicles. For a the cost of a high end bike, I can buy a nearly new used motorcycle. Bicycles shouldn't be less accessible than a motorcycle, that just doesn't make sense and why I will buy a motorcycle this summer soon
>>
>>
>>2040505
>>2043438
I literally just bought a road bike from Walmart brand new for $100 and it's nothing fancy but it has two wheels and a crank and is faster than walking, plus it's something I can always upgrade later down the line. You can still get bikes for dirt cheap but the Cycling community is too elitist for that. Like many communities, elitism is ultimately what kills it. In the 90s you could get by with a fixie beater and nobody would give a shit but in the year of our lord 2025 God forbid you buy a department store bike or you're not a real cyclist™
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2043467
If you run into any roadblocks, you'll come back asking questions that prove you don't even know what you don't know, and everyone will tell you you shouldn't have bought a Walmart Special.
It's like buying a $100 Android tablet and saying you'll upgrade it when you want to game.
>>
>>
hey thanks for the thread reminding me how eternally immature brain dead zoomers can believe men can have babies and still puke out cycling advice and opinions like they are all knowing cycling pros. its really just like politics. too many people have too many beliefs, too many agendas, too many opinions or straight up bullshit etc etc to collate and sort into neat piles of useful rational information to get anything passed thru congress without long drawn out arguments. in the end who tf cares what "people" think. grow up. ride your bike, get a bike, whatever. stop thinking your so important. your not.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
File: wizard.jpg (16.6 KB)
16.6 KB JPG
>>2043478
>I will never reproduce therefore sex is something that only happens on TV
I love /n/ so much
>>
>>
>>
>>2010927
By container. They generally don't really give a fuck how heavy it is for calculating the freight cost. They'll still weigh it, but that's more for safety and figuring out where to put it in the stack. Trains and trucks care, but the difference between a container full of aluminum bike frames and a container full of steel bike frames isn't enough to really matter to a bike business.
The containerization of modern shipping is a modern wonder on the same scale of grand achievement as any of the ancient wonders of the world.
>>
>>
File: 5yvilsn64p5e1.jpg (109.9 KB)
109.9 KB JPG
>>1962645
>enough said
>enough said
>enough said
are you stupid or something
>>
File: Screenshot_20250925-042145_Samsung Internet.jpg (378.9 KB)
378.9 KB JPG
>>2002101
>Not standardized
>>
>>1966487
>the used market is saturated
Time for another wheel size change, then, I guess (that's what *actually* motivated the coordinated mass push for 29in: killing the enormous 2nd hand 26in market - this, as candidly admitted by plenty industry insiders, back then)
>>
>>1962645
I've been riding yesterday, and I think I've figured out why I don't like cycling as much nowadays. Back when I started 20 years ago, I was the fastest guy on the bike lane or trail, so I didn't have to care about what's behind me, I could just look forward and go. Nowadays all the totally-not-motorcyles, delivery guys and even rental e-scooters (when going uphill) keep blowing past me, and every single one seemingly makes a point out of buzzing by as close as possible, as if saying "it is YOUR job to avoid us, we are the new kings of the road". Send all those motorized carriages onto the open road with plates and licenses in tow, and cycling will be great again.
>>
>>
>>
File: pdZPL0CW0VU0Mocj3y60ePoi3VEXzBXMt3MWpLNvQkY.jpg (104.2 KB)
104.2 KB JPG
>>2030960
all of these run on some sort of fuel where as a bicycle don't. actually most of my coworkers use bicycles as transport (some incl. me use cars) because e-scooters are chinese unreliable pieces of e-waste you have to charge every night just to drive to one place a day and only during warm seasons because cold halfs or straight up disables the battery. my friend actually owns an entry level e-scooter and it fucking sucks and since i have some experience with fixing electronics/bicycles/lawnmowers he always nags me to fix his shit, like always there is something creaking, scratching or straight up falling apart. recently my $20 shimano derailleur gave up it's ghost after what 8 years of heavy wear and tear? and this goddamn idiot says to me that all i do with my bicycle is fix it. like for fuck sake dude i spent a whole bottle of loctite on every thread on your piece of shit scooter so it doesn't fall apart and you point out that i regularly fix my bicycle so it fucking works? my opinion is that only lazy idiots who don't understand personal transport or basic maintenance use e-scooters, and there are a lot of them out there that's for sure.
cars in terms of transport are in much different league, i have a car and a bicycle, if i need to get a lot of shit done fast during the day or i need to pick up groceries i choose the car, for anything else i go for bicycle, if one breaks i can choose the other so i can reliable get to work in the morning without worrying about my car engine not starting or my bicycle malfunctioning.
public transport is for people who either prefer it (you can sit in a bus and do things on a laptop, talk with people, listen to music etc) over personal transport or for people who just cannot afford it, its same with walking, one of my coworkers likes walking to the jobsite because he can listen to e-books and eat breakfast on the way there.
>>
>>
>>2030631
What are you saying? It looks to me that it take a higher force to achieve the same deflection as aluminum. Plus aluminum allows a greater cross section as compared to steel yielding a stiffer tube by weight anyway. Steel will never be as stiff as aluminum from its limited tube designs and heaver total weight to compensate
>>
>>1976567
If anything, Roadies should be psyched about the developments in the last decade. Tons of people got into biking because of the pandemic, realized they enjoyed the fundamentals of it, but spent like 5 minutes engaging with the culture and realized that it's super fucking gay and weird, and then swapped their wheelsets to gravel and changed over to that. So now there's a fuckton of money pouring into biking overall, but you still get to keep your section of the hobby pure.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2055618
Ebikes, as well as e-scooters and monowheels, are not cycling, but they ruin cycling by letting absolute NIGGERS get cycling function without cycling effort and etiquette. When it doesn't take effort, you start riding like a retard, having to pedal is what keeps actual cyclists in check.
>>
>>2058218
It only takes a few experiences of pedaling hard and near miss/braking hard to train a noob to not ride like a retarded asshole, because not only is it rude but it's a waste of energy, but if you don't expend your own energy getting yourself up to speed then why would you even think twice about going at 70kph around a blind corner on a narrow path?
The anti-elitism culture of coronatardery and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race
>>
>>
File: america.jpg (197.5 KB)
197.5 KB JPG
>>2058226
>I need to be able to ram people on the sidewalk with my 75kW mobility scooter because think of the old people!
You'll be lucky if you live past 40 with your current lifestyle though, ask your doctor about ozempic
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>2058228
anon
bikes are ridden everywhere
on bike lanes, on sidewalks, inna woods and on the road
fuck, i ride my bike in my apartament building, it has a long corridor from my door to the elevator
bike is universal transportation, if you can walk you can ride
>>
File: Firewalk.jpg (146.1 KB)
146.1 KB JPG
>>2058409
>if you can walk you can ride
checkmate
>>
>>
File: IMG_0344.png (1.1 MB)
1.1 MB PNG
>>2059373
Damn time flies…
I moved into a new town Right around when this thread was made, still here
>>
>>
>>
My town is putting in an ordinance to ban bikes on sidewalks and streets unless your a child. There will be bikes allowed but only from 11 am to 3pm and late evening. Also parking your bike anywhere on city property/sidewalks is now illegal Cops are being aggressive about it and impound bikes.
You know so actual working, contributing memebers of society can do things like commute to work, pick up groceries/kids and overall be a functioning memeber of society.
I hope this administration will turn the screw on bike culture. My town is one of the most bike unfriendly places and im glad, get these fuckers off the streets. Its clear when people ride a CHILDS TOY and become
>>
>>
File: 20260202.jpg (233.8 KB)
233.8 KB JPG
>>2030960
https://youtu.be/OQE_5MFCekg
>>