Old bikes are not cool

si. d

For months i've been riding an old Raleigh roadie I borrowed off a good friend, partly to keep my commuting costs down and partly because I wanted in on the current 'old looking bike chic'. Except I was edgy and kept the gears. Bright yellow with "Can on ale" stickers, stunning old thing.

Over the 4/5 months i've been riding it I've had to fix:
-New spokes in the wheels, and extensive truing.
-Bottom bracket serviced by shop
-New cables
-New seat post
-Replaced the forks after someone kindly pointed out to me the old ones were bent.
-New Freewheel
-New chainrings
-New chain
-New BB bearings

And then after all the TLC and hundreds of punctures the other night I found a massive crack on the RH chainstay!

Why oh why didn't I just MTFU and buy a new bike to begin with.

I just can't bring myself to bin it.

posh_pedaller

Eventually you're going to be the guy who says "had this same broom for seven years... only needed 4 new handles and 3 new heads..."

Slow Downcp

Got me thinking. I've got a (lemon) yellow Raleigh Triathlon 531 frame hanging up in the garage - been using it for a winter fixed - did think about coldsetting and fitting new bits, but think I'm going to rebuild at the weekend using the original Shimano 105 6 speed bits that I kept. May become my commuter if I start regularly using the bike for work (and I can get used to downtube shifters again!)

alfablue

Trigger's Broom

AndyOgy

Gotta disagree totally! Old bikes can be very cool.

I was commuting on a Specialized Allez but was putting a huge number of miles on it, so I decided to rebuild a 1990 Trek 6000 that I had kicking about.

It's got a nice low front end and narrow bars because XC bikes did back in those days. Rigid Chro-Moly forks give all the shock absorption that I'd need on a commute. Fitted close ratio gears out back, Onza bar ends, slick tyres, slime tubes, Avid single digit brakes and it has toe clps so that I don't need to be wearing certain shoes to ride it.

I really cant imagine a faster rural commuter, this thing flies. And, if I changed the tyres, it'd still be a damn fast XC machine.

AndyOgy

Forgot to add, it's a shame that I no longer have a job to commute to.

chuckcork

Andy, seems to be a growing club, which I've been a member of for the last 5 months and which won't change until I maybe go for (and land) a job on 1/3rd of what I used to make, which would for a 40 hour, 5 day week be maybe what my missus would earn by morning tea on tuesday. I'm not sure at that kind of money I'd even be earning enough in a day to even cover the local creche for my child.

This recession thing is a right b*tch make no mistake, 20 years of training and work experience out the window and useless....

AndyOgy

Hell yeah, it sure sucks. I've never claimed benefits in my life but now it seems that I don't have a choice. I'm not going to feel too guilty about it though having paid a shed load of tax and NI my whole working life. It's going to mean a stack of lifestyle changes but at least I've got my bikes. I'm almost tempted to buy a whole heap of spare parts with my redundancy money as it looks like I'll struggle to afford something simple like a new tyre in a few months.
I'm finding the same as you. If I do manage to get another job, it's going to be on a fraction of what I used to earn.

chuckcork

Yeah, spare parts....bike could do with new sprockets and that will probably mean new chainrings, chain is certainly b*ggered too, sitting outside the rings. Just hoping it and every other bit lasts until I can earn something.

Did try and register with the JobCentre for benefits but didn't go through to interview due to childcare/interview clashes, the feedback from other people I've met who've done so has been so negative I'm not sure I want the hassle for £20 a week or so, given my missus is earning anyway.

Does seem to be a strange system, taxed on the basis of individual earnings, but assessed in the other direction on whatever your spouse makes. Wouldn't be so bad if she could reduce her tax using my personal allowance (they do this in Ireland) but HM Treasury doesn't see things that way....

Rich158

chuckcork wrote:

Andy, seems to be a growing club, which I've been a member of for the last 5 months and which won't change until I maybe go for (and land) a job on 1/3rd of what I used to make, which would for a 40 hour, 5 day week be maybe what my missus would earn by morning tea on tuesday. I'm not sure at that kind of money I'd even be earning enough in a day to even cover the local creche for my child.

This recession thing is a right b*tch make no mistake, 20 years of training and work experience out the window and useless....

I thought you had something lined up, what happened? I know exactly how you feel, I'm just about holding onto my job by the skin of my teeth, but it looks like 10 years of grafting to get qualified will be down the pan before too long :evil: The last round of redundancies has just come and gone and my boss thinks it may only keep us safe for 2/3 months or so if a few clients decide not to pay us, at most it will keep us safe for 6 months. Still had to take a 15% reduction in salary with the potential for going to a four day week on top of that :shock: Still at least I'm still here for the time being.

Keep your head up dude, it's got to get better soon.

chuckcork

Rich, what happened was that I was selected as the candidate to go forwards, and then after waiting 2 weeks for something to happen, the Director I interviewed was told by one of the partners at the firm that there was to be a recruitement freeze and they were not going to employ anyone for at least 2 months. Rather gutting all round as this Director had been after someone to fill a role since late November last year, given his current crew don't (apparently) quite cut the mustard when it comes to the Autocad Architecture side of things and on what apparently was to be a decent sized project too. It will really be their loss but hard to explain that to an accountant.

At my last workplace, the girl I worked with who was also made redundant alongside me, her husband is himself in the same position as you but already on 3 days a week, how much longer that can last they don't know either.

As to years of grafting to get qualified, the ARBitrary people next to the RIBA don't recognise my degree so I can't go Part 3 here, and the Part 3 had going with the RIAI is on hold until work with an Architect's practice happens and I can get a project. No worky work, no case study.

Trying to look at doing something to upgrade my skills seeing as I have the time at the moment but training for anything either takes forever or like Project Management training suggests you have a framework in place to make use of it. Getting a handle on something like Revit in case something comes along is an idea but boring and unfocussed.

As to getting better soon, the list of worries is: 1 child to look after, 1 mortgage currently being paid out of savings which won't last forever, 1 rent to pay, wife is the main earner and paying for everything else and pregnant and will be out of work for a few months come mid-July, all Capital AARRGGHH Responsibilities which I have no way of covering at the moment.

Looks very negative and to be so for a while yet.

c12345

Spooky


:shock:


I just posted this:

in the SCR thread, then read your post.

And then after all the TLC and hundreds of punctures the other night I found a massive crack on the RH chainstay!

raliegh dynatech 7050 or similar. also broke chainstay last night. :!:

prehaps they've just passed the 15 year warrenty period and all decided to fail at once?


PPS - sorry to hear about the redundancies. it sucks.

I briefly considered getting mine welded. Somebody tell me I'm being stupid and just go get a new bike please.

Rich158

Sorry to hear that, sounds similar to one of my colleagues girlfriend. She was offered a job at PRP, handed in her notice, only for PRP to withdraw the offer two weeks later. When she tried to withdraw her notice with her current employer she was told, sorry no can do we're going to have to make redundancies.

I'm just hoping that the money promised by the HCA actually comes through and allows Boris to build the affordable housing he wants. £135 million doesn't go far these day's though and I suspect it will be a drop in the ocean compared to what's needed. the £93 mill to bail out stricken projects will also be welcome, but again it's peanuts.

I have a horrible feeling things will get worse before they get better. We've still got projects being cancelled, and are having trouble getting paid for the work we have done. I suspect unless something drastic happens the practice I work for may have gone under by the end of the year. All I'm doing at the moment is freebe feasibilities, not good for profitability.

Here's hoping something happens soon

roger_merriman

Old bikes can be cool but never cheap! Old red I bought for beer money. It has new drive chain wheels brakes and various other bits a bobs. That is I've left the frame/forks but not much else!

secretsam

TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!

Bike shop just rang me, replacing BB will now also involve replacement of old pedals (frozen to cranks) and also replacement of chain (split link)

And the chain's fairly new!!!!! AAAArrrrghghhhghghghghghghh (froths at mouth)

chuckcork

SecretSam wrote:

TELL ME ABOUT IT!!!

Bike shop just rang me, replacing BB will now also involve replacement of old pedals (frozen to cranks) and also replacement of chain (split link)

The pedals are welded in or just stiff? Having had to get out seriously stiff pedals in the past, using lube, pedal spanner and extra tube length or leverage, it might just be the latter?

Roastie

I just can't bear to art with my old early 90's race bike. The bottom bracket shell is poked, one dropout i s broken, the seat tube needs honing, and it will probably cost about as much a new frame to fix...

Can't imagine tossing it tho'.

wgwarburton

Hi,
I think the problem is old bikes and Bike Shops... bear in mind the difference between a barely used old bike and one that's on its last legs, too. A garage fresh Dawes Galaxy that hasn't turned a wheel in 20 years will provide years of painless riding, but an abused Raleigh Record that's being ditched because everything bar the frame is worn out will not....

If you're running old bikes and paying mechanics to look after them you are risking big bills. The way to run old bikes cheaply is to do your own spannering and have access to cheap parts, somehow.

Cheers,
W.

Jay dubbleU

Coolest bike ever


http://www.pashley.co.uk/guvnor/images/ ... r24DTT.jpg 8) 8) 8)

nwallace

Advantages of steel: Some form of welding activity can fix any fault, welding skill required, new steel may be required...

When I got 400 quids worth of welding done to my car's rear wheel arches I only wondered what I was thinking for a few seconds. The rest of the beast is solid, the engine is still fresh at 113000 miles, and almost every European government would want me to get it melted down and turned into something else.



See "Green Car" thread for similar rants.

itboffin

The dents & cracks on my old Raleigh SS are getting worse pretty much each time I ride it and I can now feel the frame flexing when climbing hills, it's just a matter of time before it breaks, since I bought it from fleabay I've changed every part bar the frame n forks in some cases more than once.

Old steel bikes are cool if you get a good one it'll out live most components several times over.

OldSkoolKona

I can add to the joys of old bikes, my 14 yr old Kona Kilauea is still going strong as my commuter bike, and though the broom handle quote earlier holds in that a lot of things have been changed in that time (new wheels, new drivetrain components) a lot of things are as bought, including remarkably the brake blocks which are still the original Ritchey Logic set and still have wear left in them :shock: I'm obviously not going fast enough..

secretsam

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Coolest bike ever


http://www.pashley.co.uk/guvnor/images/ ... r24DTT.jpg 8) 8) 8)

I've frankly sh :shock: t cooler things than the Pashley Guvnor, it's deeply horrible and only bought by "Design" professionals (can you guess that I've still not got those pedals off?)

il_principe

SecretSam wrote:

Coolest bike ever


http://www.pashley.co.uk/guvnor/images/ ... r24DTT.jpg 8) 8) 8)

itboffin

biondino

Thing is, a bike with a basket on it can't be uncool because it is immediately and unequivocally functional, and its purpose means cool rules no longer apply. This would even be the case if Liv gets one on her Viner. In fact, can someone with photoshop skillz mock up for me what that would look like?

roger_merriman

yup indeed, baskets = work bikes, though i rather like the look of some of the older styled gents/ladies bikes, though i think the gov is trying too hard thus looks as fake as it is.

secretsam

jashburnham wrote:

SecretSam wrote:

Coolest bike ever


http://www.pashley.co.uk/guvnor/images/ ... r24DTT.jpg 8) 8) 8)

OI!!! I've been misquoted, I did not say that the execrable Guvnor was nice. Only good thing about it is the use of nice old 531, though it's wasted on such a horror of a bike.