[Closed] Bike trends you'd like to see the back of

Fixies and everything that goes with them*

*Apart from real track bikes, ridden on tracks, and proper winter trainers ridden in the winter outside of cities and towns. They're allowed to continue to exist.

Inner tubes

Pressfit BB's.

I note with great humour that Superstar are now selling them. A part that, whoever makes them, seems to have a shorter than expected life being sold and backed-up by that muppet. Should be fun 🙂

Single ahem speeds......i'll get me cuppa

I have a white bike with downtube cable routing, and it's the best bike (and best cable routing) I've ever had.

The trend to cast disdain on what other cyclists choose to ride/wear/do even if their actions have no quantifiable effect on the disdainer.

toys19 - Member
The trend to cast disdain on what other cyclists choose to ride/wear/do even if their actions have no quantifiable effect on the disdainer.

Begone, infidel! You have no place here!
😉

non stainless bolts

Amen to that, also agree with you on internal routing.

My bugbear? Triple chainsets on 6in travel all-mountain bikes.

And press fit BBs.

And 2x10 chainsets that are obviously going to be too low or high geared for most riding (OK, I'll admit I haven't ridden one, but they look daft).

model years. Change for the sake of change. Built in 'obsolescence'.

off-road cycling..

it's ruining the bleddy countryside for us decent folk..

"Hardcore Hardtails" the label, not the bikes themselves

Mudguards

Got (top of) downtube routed cables on my new DH bike and it is brilliant, just thought I'd say.

Strokes for folks of course, my road bike has downtube routing and frame colour is simply aesthetics.

I think the downtube is a vulnerable place for a cable to be and prefer the look of white accent parts as opposed to a complete white bike. I'm glad you enjoy your bike, it's really none of my business!

The constant swiping and whinging about downhilling/armour/stormtroopers/gnar/overbiked/etc; it's daft and makes the people that peddle it look daft.

Wherever and whatever people do with their time on whichever bike(s) they have, it's better than festering in front of the telly, or doing laps of a shopping centre. I'm not sure why people can't let others get on with it.

The proliferation of the term 'finishing kit'. Too fatuous to contemplate really, but you hear it all over the place.

I have a white bike with downtube cable routing and a press fit BB, and it's the best bike (and best cable routing) I've ever had.

toys19 - Member
The trend to cast disdain on what other cyclists choose to ride/wear/do even if their actions have no quantifiable effect on the disdainer

Isn't that what you're doing? You've got yourself stuck in a logic loop and will NEVER ESCAPE!

Black anodized parts - cheap and ugly.

Dropper seatposts - will be ok when they work, I suppose.

Tubeless - as above.

Matt black frames - dull and unimaginitive.

Lock on grips - pointless.

Sat nav - get lost, you might just enjoy yourself.

Zesty perchance george?

Not had any BB problems?

toys19, this wasn't intended as a judge fest. More to see if there are consistent things we don't need. An mtb room 101 if you will. But yes, point noted; I agree with you.

This year's 'must have' tyre

I have a white bike with downtube cable routing and a press fit BB, and it's the best bike (and best cable routing) I've ever had.

Mine is too! I's just prefer it if the BB wasn't pressfit.

@Herman - white accent parts are fine - until it comes to rims. Rims should be back, and so should tyres. But I do like a white bike.

I suspect this dates back to the Raleigh Eclipse I got twenty something years ago. It had black rims. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world, and still did, long after the brakes had rubbed it all away. Just like this one:

[img] [/img]

I have to defend the dropper seatpost, maybe I'll route the cable on my downtube?

Press fit BB's, and any headset standard other than 1 1/8 or (pure) 1.5

No, it's a good thread - smart move to distract attention from all that pointless pontificating about the state of the nation with some far more important carping about bicycles.

Colourways. WTF? If you want to be 'merican then at least spell it colorways!

And people talking tosh about you buying too small a bike if you have lots of seatpost showing.

@chaka - Spicy - no hassles as yet. Would prefer if it wasn't pressfit, just for ease of replacement, but at the same time, I can see some reason to it, the BB area is massive, and I suspect it lends a lot of stiffness to the frame as a result.

TT cable routing - pointless.
The trend NOT to slag off folk on better bikes or noobs - WTF else is there to be happy about?
Carradice being fashionable.
People at bike events wearing only bike-branded gear. Get a life.
6' guys on 16" bikes. We know you STILL can't jump. "flickable" WTF LOL

+1 z1ppy

I can't see the need for more than 2 headset standards.

The trend to cast disdain on what other cyclists choose to ride/wear/do even if their actions have no quantifiable effect on the disdainer.

The opposite of this, people who cast distain on people who know perfectly well that a 100mm (or even rigid) hardtail singlespeed isn't the correct the tool for the job, but choose to ride one anyway because it's fun in a completely different way to a 6" travel bouncy bike.

Evangelists of any type of bike or bike part, infact I'm going to put SPD's on my Pitch when I build it back up, and cut down my bars to make then narrower!

Stans No-tube rims, the biggest con ever? They're just a normal rim, but without the spoke eyelets and a slightly different shape bead. Thats the same manufactureing process as an Argos BSOs rim! And no they're not a small volume manufacturer exploiting a good idea whith high overheads to cover, no economy of scale etc etc etc, they're a division of Sun-Ringle, one of the biggest rim manufacturers out there!

This weeks "New Industry Standard" - it's only an industry standard if the majority adopt it. Square Taper cranks and 1" (and to a pretty big degree for quite a while) 1.125" headsets were in effect industry standards (I'll ignore English and Italian threading cos I can). Now everyone who invents a new headset/BB/drop out spacing/size claim it's a new Industry Standard. It's not. Things like Cannondales BB30 and ISIS were attempts (as far as I have evidence/understanding) to create I.S. as they were offered for take up license free.

Downtube/under BB cable routing - IMHO the "best" for gears. The one bike I had with top tube routing I found rear shifting deteriortaed often and required lubing/cleaning. I beleive that water hits the bare cable on the seatstay and runs down and into the loop of outer at the rear. On bikes with under BB cabling I've never had the shifting "go off" as badly or as often.

Black anodized parts - cheap and ugly.

Dropper seatposts - will be ok when they work, I suppose.

Tubeless - as above.

Matt black frames - dull and unimaginitive.

Lock on grips - pointless.

Sat nav - get lost, you might just enjoy yourself.

Your just wrong about all of these, I'm afraid.

+1 for triple chainsets on big bikes - in fact, they have no place on anything other than out and out XC bikes.

Home made tat like disc brake mounts and cargo bikes.

😉

yearly price increases would be a nice trend to get rid of.

Rusty Spanner - Member
Black anodized parts - cheap and ugly.

Dropper seatposts - will be ok when they work, I suppose.

Tubeless - as above.

Matt black frames - dull and unimaginitive.

Lock on grips - pointless.

Sat nav - get lost, you might just enjoy yourself.

All wrong, I'd say.

Lycra worn on the outside when off roading.

Non slammed road bikes of course.

Triple chainsets on anything. Just pointless, unless you're incredible unfit but bonkers fast dh.

Press fit BBs.

Tubes are good as standard, but I'd like to see more tubeless compatible rims come as standard too. It is the way forward for most people.

I love the idea of internally routed cables, makes everything look much neater. Never had any experience of them though.

EBBs on anything with gear cable routing, and only then with a brilliant, well thought out design that actually works.

Always thought that rear derailleurs have no place on a Mountain Bike

Hardly trends Rickos!

Cable wise, my PA runs the front mech along the toptube then ends in a stop with a little vertical inner showing. The rear mech cable is completely enclosed from end to end. I'd like to see completely covered front mech cabling.

Planned obsolescence with year names +1

I heard someone in a bike shop saying that the customer pretty much had to get 10 speed as they were going to stop making 9 speed components soon! Bikes with 8 are still being sold, smells like bullsh*t to me.

There are quite a few cycling related issues which irk me. However there are a handful that drive me into a blind rage:

All the new headtube standards which inevitably appear every eighteen months. Away with them now! All new headtubes should be 1.5" so people can be left alone to fit any fork of their choosing. Yes Giant, I am talking specifically about you.

Can we also please have a arrangement at press demonstrations whereby the first marketing type who uses the word "colourway" is taken outside into the car park and beaten senseless with a frying pan?

Price increases. Lovely though SLX cranks are in return for £160, I still remember that they cost £89 at launch in 2008. The Yen hasn't risen THAT much in three years.

SRAM kit - see above but substitute the Yen for the New Taiwan Dollar.

Stans Rims - double the price of Mavic and no where near as good quality.

ISIS BBs.

The demise of square taper BBs. They last longer than any other design. Did anyone ever genuinely think "I need a stiffer bottom bracket design" when square taper was king?

Carbon rims. Why? On a road bike, they are grabbier on long descents and cost a fortune to replace. On a mountain bike, the weight difference is marginal. They look cool but that's about it.

Carbon frames.

Carbon components.

Oversized steerers. Jeez, another statndard that renders older standards obsolete.

Fixies ridden on the road sans brakes with teeny totey bars. Fashion gone mad.

Road bike prices going through the roof. I wonder how many of the super brand carbon machines are churned out in the same factories as the nameless wonders that can be picked up for considerably less cash.

Downtube/under BB cable routing - IMHO the "best" for gears

get rid of silly money price trend 🙂

I think carbon rims are just an experiment in proving that old adage about parting fools with money.

Glad it's not just me that gets irked by "colourway".

atlaz - Member
Isn't that what you're doing? You've got yourself stuck in a logic loop and will NEVER ESCAPE!

Sorry, misunderstanding, I meant the things like hermanshake said - snobbery to new riders, and what brycey said:

Brycey - Member
The constant swiping and whinging about downhilling/armour/stormtroopers/gnar/overbiked/etc; it's daft and makes the people that peddle it look daft.

Wherever and whatever people do with their time on whichever bike(s) they have, it's better than festering in front of the telly, or doing laps of a shopping centre. I'm not sure why people can't let others get on with it.

Not this thread. There are some actual bike design things that annoy me, seat tube bottle bosses for one..

The demise of square taper BBs. They last longer than any other design. Did anyone ever genuinely think "I need a stiffer bottom bracket design" when square taper was king?

Carbon rims. Why? On a road bike, they are grabbier on long descents and cost a fortune to replace. On a mountain bike, the weight difference is marginal. They look cool but that's about it.

Carbon frames.

Carbon components.

Oversized steerers. Jeez, another statndard that renders older standards obsolete.

So... you're a bit of a luddite?

Carbon clinchers are pointless (road or MTB), but carbon tub rims save vast chunks of weight.

Aha! I have another; well known companies fleecing newcomers to mtb by putting out horrifically poor entry level bikes and charging a packet for it.

Carbon rims - only way to get the lightest.

stan's rimes - way lighter than mavic, seem strong too.

Bike parts made from spoons.....

Can we also please have a arrangement at press demonstrations whereby the first marketing type who uses the word "colourway" is taken outside into the car park and beaten senseless with a frying pan?

Can I expand that to ANYONE using that word seriously?

Likening the action of suspension to a spreadable dairy product...

Bottle bosses get me too, especially on frames which are intended for harder use. I think enough of us have hydration packs to leave cages to roadies and XC folk.

They do give you a place for a pump mount, but then again I keep mine in my pack...

what word do you suggest using instead of colourway?

I'll add "soak up" to "buttery". Absorb is a better word, "soak up" reminds me of a sopping rag.

Colourways. WTF? If you want to be 'merican then at least spell it colorways!

[url= http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/08/subjective-realities-lifestyles-of.html ] Mostly, what I thought was that the hillbombers [Fixietw[s]notupsettingethmodword[/s]] are nothing like rally car drivers, since rally car drivers use specialized equipment on closed courses and the hillbombers use the most ill-suited equipment possible on public roads. Actually, in my opinion, the hillbombers are more like unlicensed drivers in Formula One cars with no brakes who are rallying in a national park.[/url]

If it's a type of riding that is already well-established, only you're using the wrong bike for it, then it's silly.

See? Simple. For example:

--Doing tricks on BMX bikes=not silly. Doing tricks on fixed-gear bikes=silly.

--Commuting on commuter bikes=not silly. Commuting on custom titanium bikes=silly.

--Riding downhill fast on bikes with brakes=not silly. Riding downhill fast on bikes with no brakes=silly.

The USA market still likes bottle cages and they're much much bigger than us.

what word do you suggest using instead of colourway?

Colour?

Damn those silly people having fun. Damn them to hell I say.

I've never heard anyone ever use colourway. I'm clearly not mingling with the right kind of people.

Honourablegeorge and Fortunateson:
I am right and you are wrong and possibly a bit thick as well.

I don't really mean any of that, btw, but it seems to be the latest fashion and I missed out on the earlier thread 😉

I think disliking matt finishes might be an age thing. We used to call matt paint primer 🙂

Yay - someone agreed with me! I must admit I wasn't thinking Full Suss, having not owned one for almost 2 years. I was using my experience of MTBs over the last 16 years or so, the majority of which have been hard tails.

chainrings with no guard. who needs a big spinning sawblade between the legs ?

I'm clearly not mingling with the right kind of people.

Although I will go with

The demise of square taper BBs.

@ Rusty - I'll give you matt finishes, fair enough.

Lock on grips - for ease of removal and refitting, and never sliding around - I think they're great.

Uppy-downy seatposts - have one myself, love the thing. It's as much part of my riding now as gear changes, maybe moreso. Not given a moment's bother.

I like black ano. Anything black, really, if it's not white.

And tubeless works - I have Stan's rims with tubeless-ready Nobby Nics on them - been mint since I got them, no flats, no hassles.

Oh yes and:

- Headset, bottom bracket and axle standards that change size, diameter and fitting every 6 months 🙄

- Sloppy frame design where the designer (usually some metro-cool seal of social networking type) hastn't tested or peer reviewed their design or prototypes sufficiently. Eg On one cable routing, down tube and chain stay clearance or the Titus FTM Carbon which has a fancy seatpost clamp so you cant use a quick release and then doesn't have additional internal routing for a dropper seatpost. 🙄

..and one more:

"slam that stem"... WTF??? What if you need a small frame for the correct length, which means you need a bit of seatpost and higher bars?? 🙄

Lycra worn on the outside when off roading.

OK, I'll bite. Lycra is not a trend, its what people have been wearing on bikes for decades, and arguably would still be doing if we hadn't all suddenly got scared of showing girls our legs.

Honourablegeorge, I'm just an old Luddite.

I prefer simple solution to problems and am inherently suspicious of new tech.

I prefer a qr to a dropper because it's lighter, cheaper, does the same job, isn't ugly, is more reliable and gives me the chance to stop for a breather.

I secure ordinary grips with hairspray, never have them slip and change them when they wear out.
Lighter, cheaper, simpler and better looking too!

I only started using discs and suspension about five years ago - I've got tubeless pencilled in for round about 2025.

Press fit BB's, BB30 etc, internal cable routing, no set tapered steerer standard, unique frame hardware (bolts).

"slam that stem"... WTF??? What if you need a small frame for the correct length, which means you need a bit of seatpost and higher bars??

Slammed = extra big drop = extra awesome.

Gimptards who wear replica team or TdF jerseys.

Alternatives to "Colourway" (aside from beating the user with a large, sturdy skillet).

Colour scheme
Livery
Paintwork

@Rusty - I'm a constant tinkerer, always removing bars and swapping things and that - anything other than lockons would drive me mental.

As for a QR seatpost doing the same job - I don't believe it does. To be able to charge towards a steep descent, drop the post, charge down, and then flick a switch, have the saddle come up to meet you, and pedal straight up seated, all without stopping - it's great. I stay on the bike longer, and go faster both up and down. For me, it's worth every bit of the extra weight, complexity, expense, maintenance and ugliness - can see it might not be worth it to everyone, and not necessary for all types of riding, but I wouldn't be without it now.

Horses for courses, I suppose. I enjoy the tinkering and spannering and trying out new bits almost as much as the riding - I find a couple of hours in the shed very relaxing - and hugely enjoy the buzz of getting and fitting a new part. All my bits for 1x10 are arriving next week 🙂

Luddite? Moi? Mais non. I just like reliable stuff that works that isn't going to have me in tears when it breaks. I still happily run UN73 BBs as they last for years. Put simply, they just work and keep working. As for £700 odd for an Enve rim? Fools and their money is indeed the phrase that springs to mind. If you have the money, by all means spend it and be happy with your purchase. It's just not going to make that much of a difference at the end of the day. There's no number on the front of my bike when I ride so the perceived performance benefits from carbon are negligible.

As for Stan's, having seen two almost brand new rims bent or buckled beyond repair this week, I can fully understand why my local wheel builder doesn't stock them and refers to them as Stan So Flats. Ha! Ha! Personally, I prefer to buy rims that are in true when they come from the manufacturer. Mavic rims may not be on trend but rims like the Open Pro CD work and work well.

Gimptards who wear replica team or TdF jerseys.

Again though, not a trend, people have been doing it forever, and lets not forget EVERY other sport in the world where its perfectly normal to show support for a team. 8)

RealMan - Member

Slammed = extra big drop = extra awesome

Which equals an unhealthy need to conform with "what's accepted" in certain circles.

Things that do my head in:

-All these head set standards.
-Stuff that gets released for sale that is basically not up to scratch, maybe we need the BS kite mark back?
-Crazy ass ideas that reach down from the media, get misinterpreted by the masses and become the "truth" when it comes to general discussion. For example, my mate wants a FS frame to swap all his bits from his HT onto, he's been 'told' by one of his 'well informed' riding buddies (from outside of our group) that his forks (1" 1/8" Fox 32's) won't fit a new style frame cos they're an old standard - WTF

Gimptards who wear replica team or TdF jerseys.

THIS!

Locally we have...

- A guy who commutes in full 2009 Euskadel-Euskadi kit.
- A guy who wears full British kit.
- And a guy who were's full Paolo Bettinni - Quick Step - World Champs kit. Gloves, helmet, the works.

The first guy looks daft, but the other two are just being plain disrespectful.