- 07/06/2025
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
01:51the gap was actually pretty big when carbon bikes were really light but now with the arrival of
01:55disc brakes the gap's narrowed again and actually this bike weighs just over 9 kilos or 20 pounds in
02:00old money and really you're getting some top disc brake road bikes race bikes weighing upwards of 8 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
02:18Geoffrey Butler, Bates, Roberts, Bob Jackson, Brian Rourke, Mercian and all of these British names were
02:24associated with regions and local cycling communities. You don't really see that anymore.
02:29Once you got to a certain level in your cycling you went to see a local frame builder, one of these guys,
02:34and you got a frame made to measure and it was not only a rite of passage but it was also supporting
02:38local industry. The 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. Properly established
02:58standards like the one specified by ISO the International Standards Organization meaning
03:03you can get parts for about years after it's no longer the current model which is why it's so easy
03:07to buy a bike from the 70s the 80s or the 90s like this Colnago and just restore it very simply. But
03:12there's light at the end of this particular tunnel. The bike manufacturers themselves are coming back
03:17around to the idea that there are benefits to a 68 millimeter threaded bottom bracket or 27.2 millimeter
03:22seatpost. Even Cannondale the inventors of the BB30 have gone back to a 68 millimeter threaded
03:28bottom bracket shell on the new Synapse. Anybody could build up an old bike like this Colnago.
03:37All you might need a bike shop to do is to press in the headset and the rest of it you can do yourself
03:42with a set of allen keys and the right bottom bracket tool. Even internal cable routing didn't
03:47use to present any kind of problem. Now this is an internally rooted rear brake cable that just goes
03:52straight through the top tube. It's literally the cable just pushes straight through comes out the other
03:57side. Now you've got a sort of spaghetti of cables, wires, hoses that go through the bars and the stem
04:03and down in front of a head tube and really who's going to make any sense of that and it's all for
04:08what for the sake of well a what? A what or two? A clean looking front end? I think disc brakes are
04:18dominant enough but it's possible to say that you miss rim brakes. They were just so simple to set up.
04:23All you need is an allen key and for this you just need a pair of cable cutters and there you go. The
04:28brake pads are right there, easy to see, easy to check the wear and easy to replace. There's no
04:33bleeding necessary, there's no working out what kind of fluid you need, the brakes are just there. And
04:38the other thing about rim brakes is that they work really well. People seem to forget that they're really
04:42all you need on a road bike. I mean ask yourself how many times do I stop on a standard hour ride? For me
04:48it's probably less than 10 times if I'm riding on my own or even with a mate. I stop at junctions and
04:53that's all I need the brakes for. If you live in the Alps or if you ride technical gravel then it might
04:58be a different scenario and then there's a good case for the disc brakes. But for a road bike for
05:02ordinary road riding in 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 but cheap heavy ones
05:44with thick inner tubes just dull the ride and add weight. So to sum up I'd say that a cheap narrow tyre
05:49is less detrimental to the performance of your bike than 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
06:06you the wheel 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
06:40rate in the UK over the last 30 years it's just over 100% which would mean that a top road bike in 1990
06:46would cost £6,000 and I certainly don't remember them costing that much and if they had would any
06:52cyclists have actually been able to afford one? Now if you want a prestige classic bike like this one
06:57the good news is that you can get one off eBay pretty cheaply. I bought this Colnago as a frame and
07:01fork off eBay for £450 in 2014 and I sourced all the rest of the components separately all the Dura
07:087700 groupset 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
07:302022 will 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 be
07:51and 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 fixing things
08:05that ain't broke, creating solutions in search of a problem and generally charging us too much money
08:10but there are certain things about old bikes that I'm really definitely glad to see the back of.
08:14We've done a quick bike change just to illustrate the things that I don't miss and the first of
08:23these is toe clips and straps. Now strapping your foot into a steel cage and then pedalling that sounds
08:30like torture and it does feel like torture and it's pretty dangerous as well I would say. So thank
08:35god for the clipless pedal which has been around for the last 35 years pretty much unchanged since look
08:40came up with the original ski binding derived pedal and only speed player messed with the design and
08:46they've really just turned the whole thing on its head with the spring mechanism in the shoe rather
08:49than the pedal and that works really well so thank god. For racing bikes a 5339 chainset or a 5242 even
09:02was standard. That was fine as long as you had a decent spread of gears at the back but you generally
09:06didn't which meant that if you were going uphill and at the same time you wanted a reasonably close
09:11ratio then you'd have to really put your back into it and you can see that literally that's how it
09:15used to be. If you look at footage of old racers going up 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 don't
09:31miss because some people really like them some people actually enjoy that you have to finesse the
09:36lever and even listen to whether the chain is on the correct cog or not but for me I mean no no thank
09:42you. I appreciate the fact that there's a really nice direct connection just this cable running
09:47straight to the derailleur and it's lightweight as well but really I don't want to sit down every time
09:51I want to change gear I just want to do it with a button that's all I want from shifting I don't care.
09:56Some things are best consigned to history and sadly down tube levers they're one of them or two of them.
10:04So those are the things I miss and don't miss about old bikes. If you think I'm just a nostalgic
10:09old fool then let me know in the comments underneath and if there are things that you miss and don't
10:13miss about old bikes then let me know about those too and don't forget to like and subscribe.
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