Non-cyclists perceptions of bikes

MaxwellBygraves

I was talking to my Father and Grandfather the other day and they mentioned that when they were younger drop-bar racers were the norm. Nowadays, if you asked a non-cyclist to draw a bike it would undoubtedly look like a 'hybid' bike, flat bars, upright position etc.
Now road bikes are considered to be something of a niche and I'm just wondering why you lot reckon that it changed -when did a 'normal' bike go from being a drop bar roadie to being something like a hybrid, and why?

bompington

1982

MaxwellBygraves

bompington wrote:

1982

rick_chasey

Explosion of mountain biking in the '90s made them the norm.

Then people realised that in order to get anywhere on the road, say, to work, you should ditch the mountain bike. They just can't get over the postion and suspension that they got used to ni the 90s however - so they want suspension and a mountain bike position- hence the hybrid.

pneumatic

My 84 year old mother regularly reminds me in a slightly scornful tone that, in her day (aka The War), she went everywhere on her sit up and beg steel bike and it had a basket on the front and NO GEARS!

It seems churlish to point out that it must have had at least one gear.

lae

When I was a lad I used to work in Halfords (yeah) and most of my time was taken up trying to persuade people that they don't need suspension or knobbly tyres to go to work on. I suppose when it's all that Tesco or Argos etc sell then people just get used to it.

I have a couple of old racing bikes. If people see me riding one they invariably say 'Oooh is it an old Raleigh?' even if it says 'PEUGEOT' in massive letters down the side.

Drysuitdiver

late 80s. I remember wanting a bike for christmas and wanting a "racer" not a BMX. I got a 10 speed drop bar bike made from lead ( it felt that heavy) raleigh Phantom. would have been christmas 1986 and i was 14 as my dad broke his back Jan 87.

my mate had an equipe , another had a scirroco and another had a raleigh that was white with red yellow and blue striping decals .

not ong after this they started to talk about BMXs with gears called Mountain bikes.

Richard_D

pneumatic wrote:

My 84 year old mother regularly reminds me in a slightly scornful tone that, in her day (aka The War), she went everywhere on her sit up and beg steel bike and it had a basket on the front and NO GEARS!

It seems churlish to point out that it must have had at least one gear.

Reminds me of my dad's story, he is of a similar age and worked as a delivery boy for his father's grocery shop in north Wales.The standard comment amongst the boys was if they could ride up a road without getting off they did not need/use brakes to go down it. The idea of a fully laden shop bike going full pelt down some of those roads would have been frightening.
And it was my Mam's comment that she always seemed to cycle into a headwind when she cycled from St. Helens to Southport and back. Those sort of distances on a standard bike were the norm in war time. So my father and grandfathers idea of bikes was definitely sit up and beg bikes

Pigtail

I'm not sure that was the case. As a teenager when I needed a new bike, I was desperate for a 'racer.' Two LBS did their damndest to put my mother off. Everything from it would wreck my back to it would ruin my shoes and clothes. So I got a huge Raleigh bike with 3 speed - dynamo and a big chain guard. I didn't use it a great deal. Then at the age of 20 after I moved to study I bought a 12 speed Carlton drop bar bike and was hardly off it for the next 3 years or so.

Although my Raleigh was bought in the mid 1970's I'll bet it didn't vary much from what my father would have had some 25 years earlier.

James

unixnerd

Got my second bike in the early 80s, a drop bar five speed Peugeot. Loved it :-) Back then it was certainly the norm for youngsters to have a racer rather than anything else.

My fathers cycle to work bike was amazing. It was a black Raleigh with 3 speed Sturmey Archer (stopped working years before) and mechanical linkage operated brakes. You could see the inner tube through the rust holes in the wheels, so how the brakes worked I'll never know. The chain was totally encased in a metal cover and I'll bet it was the only chain ever fitted to that bike. The cotter pin cranks were so well used there was about 10 degrees play in one side. When he retired he put it to the local auction rooms and some one (likely drunk) paid a tenner for it!

He worked in the Post Office sorting office for 28 years so all the spares were marked GPO :-) They had their own brand puncture repair kits and everything. I used to be taken to school on it as a wee lad, sitting on top tube! They'd jail you for that these days....

Drysuitdiver

I remember the linkage operated brakes from the posties bike from when I was a kid. and the covered chain. Huge metal frame on the front for the post bag.

definitley not drop bars

pneumatic

Pigtail wrote:

I'm not sure that was the case. As a teenager when I needed a new bike, I was desperate for a 'racer.' Two LBS did their damndest to put my mother off. Everything from it would wreck my back to it would ruin my shoes and clothes. So I got a huge Raleigh bike with 3 speed - dynamo and a big chain guard. I didn't use it a great deal. Then at the age of 20 after I moved to study I bought a 12 speed Carlton drop bar bike and was hardly off it for the next 3 years or so.

Although my Raleigh was bought in the mid 1970's I'll bet it didn't vary much from what my father would have had some 25 years earlier.

James

I agree about racers not being the obvious choice back then. I was bought three bikes in the 70's. The first was a Moulton Mini (very new age), the second a Raleigh Sports (timeless 3 speed with chainguard), the third was a Falcon 5 speed, but it came with straight bars. First thing I did was to remove them and put on a pair of drops so that, at last, I had a "proper" bike.

rolf_f

Drysuitdiver wrote:

I remember the linkage operated brakes from the posties bike from when I was a kid. and the covered chain. Huge metal frame on the front for the post bag.

definitley not drop bars

Just been in Milan and loads of bikes there have rod brakes. You can still buy them new:

http://www.dutchbikeseattle.com/_product_77935/Gazelle_Toer_Populair_Gent



How much more cool than FS/SS are these?

unixnerd

Those full cover chain guards did a wonderful job extending the life of the chain on my father's bike. A light plastic version would be an excellent idea for some of today's hub geared bikes. Although I suspect belt drive would be even better.

I've been looking at 70's "shopping" bikes for the wife, things like the old Puch Picnic. A very practical idea with no modern equivalent? I suppose a modern folder is similar but much more expensive.

In some ways bicycle design (or what is generally sold to the public) seems to have gone backwards a bit. In my youth bikes had proper mudguards and a luggage rack was quite common. I think bikes were built more for practical uses then than now.