What 'Old School' item do you miss the most if any?

IBISMojoHDamon

They had their flaws, which is why they aren't still around but I'll name the things I miss from 'Back in 't' day!'..

1. Spengle 3 spoke wheels
2. Hed Carbon Rims
3. Clark Kent Titanium
4. Tioga Disc Drives
5. SDG Kevlar covered, titanium saddles
6. Merlin Titaniums (used to dream about in the 90's)
7. Original Syncros and Control Tech stuff
8. Nike Pohbar's
9. Cannondale Delta V's
10. Pauls Components stuff

I never had more than 3 of the above so they may all be complete tosh, but they were nice to see out and about.

What do you miss, even if you never owned it?

Rushmore

spokie dokies

nicklouse

Nothing. Most of it was crap.

Clank

The Poohbahs were ace. I had a pair and I not long threw them out. Excellent shoe.

What about the Axo MTB boots? Interesting design, but the soles had so little grip!

Mental Mickey

Was never 'Old Skool' myself but the one item I've seen and would like to try is the 'Hite Rite'.

IBISMojoHDamon

Mental Mickey wrote:

Was never 'Old Skool' myself but the one item I've seen and would like to try is the 'Hite Rite'.

Never saw one being used ever.... Never understood what they actually were or how they worked other than the name that gives away what it is / was / did / does...

Mental Mickey

IBISMojoHDamon wrote:

Mental Mickey wrote:

Was never 'Old Skool' myself but the one item I've seen and would like to try is the 'Hite Rite'.

Never saw one being used ever.... Never understood what they actually were or how they worked other than the name that gives away what it is / was / did / does...

An early version of the seat post height adjusters that you get about today, but without all the mechanics of today's systems to worry about. Don't know how reliable they actually were, but they look like very little maintenance.

http://www.bikepro.com/arch_products/se ... hiter.html

IBISMojoHDamon

Thank you, learn something new everyday...

Would it not make a modern bike look a little..... old.... with a big metal spring stuck but your seatpost?...

larryb

As a kid I would always dribble over the Pro-flex in chrome with yellow hydraulic rim breaks!!! While I was riding my Raleigh Max, with Tektro front & rear cantelever brakes, with brake booster upgrades!!! ha!!! I seemed to do ok on it..

IBISMojoHDamon

larryb wrote:

As a kid I would always dribble over the Pro-flex in chrome with yellow hydraulic rim breaks!!! While I was riding my Raleigh Max, with Tektro front & rear cantilever brakes, with brake booster upgrades!!! ha!!! I seemed to do okay on it..

Not sure why, but I lusted over a Pro-Flex Beast and a Pro-Flex Animal.... looking back I was deluded thinking that these were great bikes... :0)

larryb

IBISMojoHDamon wrote:

larryb wrote:

As a kid I would always dribble over the Pro-flex in chrome with yellow hydraulic rim breaks!!! While I was riding my Raleigh Max, with Tektro front & rear cantilever brakes, with brake booster upgrades!!! ha!!! I seemed to do okay on it..

Not sure why, but I lusted over a Pro-Flex Beast and a Pro-Flex Animal.... looking back I was deluded thinking that these were great bikes... :0)

I would genuinely love any of those. But I am dead intrigued to see how one would ride now, say at dalby compared to a modern bike. Keep pondering over buying one and restoring it.

YeehaaMcgee

My childhood's lack of fear

cooldad

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In spades.

lawman

panaracer smoke and dart tyres... if someone were to upsize them to 2.25, put the tread on a nice light carcass and a nice and grippy triple compound rubber, I would happily pay for them, I loved the set I put on the maxlight when I first bought it, was gutted when I slit the sidewall those tyres were 15 years old and still looked new, how on earth they gripped and last that well I'll never know, my favourite tyre of all time, without doubt.

Also kinda miss the old white shimano DX shoes, never used a pair as I always wanted to ride flats, soon as I consider the switch to SPDs they go and bloody discontinue them thought I'd struck gold at Rutland water t'other week as they had a pair, but they were a touch too big

toasty

I have an old bike at my folks house that has seemingly been trapped in a time warp for 15 years, Daves Chain Device + Cog Hog, Sachs Wavy shifters, Smoke + Dart tyres.

Might have to go dig it all out again some time

stubs

I suppose it depends how old you are and how long you have been MTBiking. All the stuff you talk about was new school for me when I had been doing it for at least 15 years but then we started in about the early 1970s with a BSA or Hercules 24 inch Boys bike with a 26 inch front wheel and forks off your Mums bike, motorbike trials handlebars bodged in place with bean tin shims and trekking pedals with the straps removed and a good attack with a file to make them off road. It wasnt called MTBiking after all the yanks hadnt invented it yet about 100 years after everyone else had been doing it and calling it rough riding, scrambling or dirt biking. Old school for me would be Simplex deraillers, Dunlop steel rims, Rudge freewheel hubs and Sturmey archer drum brakes

IBISMojoHDamon

You miss that stuff?....

I started out on a Raleigh Euro 18 Speed Index (red) 23" frame rigid - Circa 1983

hobbo31

I miss my Cool-Tool left it out on the trail one snowy day many moons ago , quality

benpinnick

Tioga Hound Dawg tyres
X-lite saddles
RockShox forks (specifically Judys) in colours other than black and white.
Pace forks when they were ace.
Grips that would fly off half way down a hill
Those triangle bags that fitted in the frame.

But mainly....

Thinking £1000 was expensive for a top end bike.

thekickingmule

lawman wrote:

Also kinda miss the old white shimano DX shoes, never used a pair as I always wanted to ride flats, soon as I consider the switch to SPDs they go and bloody discontinue them thought I'd struck gold at Rutland water t'other week as they had a pair, but they were a touch too big

Do you mean these? If so, what size are you usually...?

Ghostt

benpinnick wrote:

But mainly....

Thinking £1000 was expensive for a top end bike.

^This - a friend had an old stumpy fsr (2000 model I think), pretty much the nuts at the time, all XT/XTR kit and Fox shock/forks. Set him back £1200 at the time which today will get you a basic full sus :evil:

lawman

thekickingmule wrote:

lawman wrote:

Also kinda miss the old white shimano DX shoes, never used a pair as I always wanted to ride flats, soon as I consider the switch to SPDs they go and bloody discontinue them thought I'd struck gold at Rutland water t'other week as they had a pair, but they were a touch too big

Do you mean these? If so, what size are you usually...?

Aye, they are the ones normally an 10.5/11 , but I can't find any

IBISMojoHDamon

what continental size are you?... I have some Eur 47's (come up a UK 11) that I doubt I'll ever wear again...

They did the Alps for 8 days and not been used since..

thekickingmule

Ah bugger, I have some 44's which are about 9.5 They fit me beautifully, but I don't ride with clips anymore due to my knee (and they take my confidence away). I should sell them really, as they're fantastic.

Foesrider

Crud claw :roll:

Northwind

They make a modernised Smoke/Dart don't they?

I've lost my rose tinted glasses... Old stuff was rubbish. Even the stuff that seemed good was only good because everything else was more rubbish, but it was still rubbish.

The only thing I miss is the stupendous reliability of my old Exage hubs. They're 20 years old now, I think they're on their 3rd set of fresh ballbearings and they've been rebuilt more times than I can remember but they must have covered about 20 times as many miles as any other hub I've ever had and they've given me a fraction as much bother. Supoib. Still knocking in 20 miles a week on these on my commute and I think I might be doing that for another 20 years.

lawman

Northwind wrote:

They make a modernised Smoke/Dart don't they?

Shit forgot about them!! found some darts in skinwall!! alas no smokes though not in skinwall atleast, they would look the dogs on my white crests 8)

.blitz

*ahem*


c/w SDG Kevlar covered, titanium saddle. How high is that seatpost and how low are those bars lol

No point in going ape sh1t with it you just have to pretend it's still 1996

d00m

Klein, rock lobster, early nukeproof hubs, red dx v brakes, girvin forks, stx rc 8) oh and the gt lts...

the phantom pieman

Sling-shot
Flex-stems
U brakes
150 mm stems
Those cycles carrier / bike bag combos that sat between you top and seat tube, making the bike easier to carry

benpinnick

Also AMP forks. I like rubbing the front wheel on the downtube