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Old school roadies..how did you all manage!!?

tpbiker · 2023-11-07T16:18:22Z

Following the acquisition of the road bike I always lusted over as a kid (I was a mountain biker but always thought those old school dynatech bikes were lovely), myself and a couple of club mates (who have dug out their bikes from the early 90s) have decided to instigate a retro bike ride once a month the thing that still astounds me however is the gear ratios on those old things. Mine has a relatively generous (for the time) 39-23 lowest gear. Which by my estimation is equivalent to me using a 50-28 nowadays. I like to think I’m of a reasonable standard. Have an ftp of anywhere between 3.5-4 w/kg, yet anything above say 7% gradient I’d be in the small ring. (And I run a 32 T the back) now I appreciate back in the older days roadies were hard as nails, and climbing involved knee ruining cadences, but how did mere mortals cope? im thinking of some of the groups that go out with our club. It’s a great mix of folks, old timers, beginners, ladies and gents of all fitness levels. There is absolutely no way many of these folks could manage to cycle 90% of the routes they do nowadays due to fact they’d be pushing up the climbs. Was road cycling only partaken by stick thin athletes back in the day and more social groups didn’t exist ? Or has the world got hillier?

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timba

Posts: 6678

Free Member

Alf Engers took his 1978 25-mile TT record on 57x13 top gear.

Single chainring 177.5mm cranks, no aero, no lycra but lots of lightening holes 🙂

I had an Alan Shorter track bike, but as a "junior" I was limited to a low gear, I think 48x15. The restriction has gone now

(full article https://pezcyclingnews.com/interviews/time-trial-king-alf-engers-part-2-rider-interview/ )

Posted : 09/11/2023 9:28 pm

dovebiker

Posts: 6932

Full Member

6049493D-D5FC-4676-A2A5-7F2621320556 <br />Photo of me riding L’Eroica in 2013 on my old Gios - 52/42 chainset and 13-21 freewheel. When racing you just had to HTFU because if you couldn’t keep up with the bunch, you were toast. Using downtube shifters in a fast-moving, tight bunch also required a degree more forward thinking, likewise braking because they were rubbish in comparison to modern brakes.

Posted : 09/11/2023 9:38 pm

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