[Closed] Stuff you don't see any more that, well, just worked....

Good honest trolling with a bit of thought to it in here.

If they where that good why did they stop making them?

Kona Impact Headsets. Still the best.
Un 72 bottom bracket. How shimanoi have the front to turn out hollow tech I don't know.

Suntour XC Pro Groupsets...

I put an XT thumbshifter on my bike yesterday, perfect for front mech duties

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Thumbshifters. I'm down to one bike with them now. Still really like them and they couldn't be simpler.
I would consider Microshift ones on at least one of my bikes if I'd ever seen any to try.

Component design and the bike market is pure natural selection. If it didn't work, was no longer needed, or did not sell... It died.

So finding stuff that worked that is no longer around is tough.

Zak tempest
Bula hats
... What was the point.

Even onza bar ends died.

There are still alternatives to the DCD around such as the bionicon guide.

Thumb shifters are back too now.

Everything in this picture is excellent and missed.

[img] ?w=584[/img]

Suntour XC Pro Groupsets

I still have one hub left now with greaseguard in it from back in the day and one of the thumbshifters still running on my commnuter. It was great stuff

And greaseguard for stuff you don't see around any more 🙁

microshift thumbies from your lbs
http://shop.upgradebikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Gears/MicroSHIFT-Thumb-Shifters-9-Speed

threads about helmet wearing - don't see those any more either 🙂

Indicators

Skinwall tyres
Gears, mudguards and racks on commuter bikes. Especially the actual use of gears when they exist!
Front/Rear tyres - Two different jobs, two different treads
Coloured zinc suncream
Bar ends - OK, so some people use them, but the fashionistas have driven them underground. They just work. They make a huge amount of sense for lots of riding, and can't really see why people don't use them more! (Disclaimer - No bar ends on any of my bikes. Oops.)

If they where that good why did they stop making them?

bionicon started again...

Even though Charlie's point is true for a lot of it, I think fashion has a lot to answer for in driving out perfectly good products.
Riser bars are pure fashion for e.g.

That said, I'm struggling to think of many retro bits that I personally miss apart from thumbshifters.

I rode for ages with a frame pack shouldering thing though, and also a bum bag.
(this type of thing):
[img] http://76.my/Malaysia/deuter-triangle-bag-bike-bag-1103-05-modesto66 @3.jpg[/img]

Component design and the bike market is pure natural selection. If it didn't work, was no longer needed, or did not sell... It died.

Cycling is also a fashion business. Manufacturers wouldn't be re-designing kits every year if it wasn't. So sometimes products aren't superseded because they weren't good enough, they're just superseded by a different solution to the same problem for the sake of change.

Square-taper BBs and normal 1 1/8" headsets.

normal 1 1/8" headsets.

How on earth have we arrived at the cluster-fudge situation we're now in with headsets. Its a complete joke.

Cup and Cone BBs

Indexed six speed

quill stems

Sorry Alex, but flat bars are crap! Unless you want to spend all day riding in a straight line! And bum bags are for Germans! 😛

26 inch wheels?

Someone had to say it!

On a more serious note, a lot of change is driven by fashion rather than necessity, although some stuff has changed for the better (brakes, tyre compounds) but stuff like BB and headset 'standards' are a joke. The one that has wound me up recently is the change from ISCG to ISCG05; my chain guide was so easy to set up on the old standard but in the new standard I'm having all sorts of clearance and chain line issues. All in the name of 'progress'.

Nope - not one thing. Well if pushed Mavic did make nice headsets.

Suspension was rubbish, little wheels were rubbish, anything before 2013 XT brakes were rubbish -
You get the idea.

Suntour XC Pro Groupsets

Don't miss them, Shimano won out for a reason you know

I miss the days when you had one bike, rode everything on it, and everything was XC

Windows 7.

I had to buy a laptop for my darling wife. How bad can Windows 8 be I thought? It's just so rubbish. Confusing, irritating, frustrating junkware.

The Crud Catcher was a silly idea that deserved to be forgotten... oh, hang on..

Flex stem

Nail catchers for road tyres. Little widget mounted with your brakes that rested lightly on your tyre and brushed off the crap to prevent punctures. Before kevlar was invented.

Given my pf30 issues this week , its not just taper bb that I miss but threaded bb shells full stop that I miss

While I'm on why ever did threaded headsets die, still have an xt one on my sure ht and just keeps Woking

TJ 🙁 (although it's probably good for both his health and the general mood of the forum)

flat bars are crap! Unless you want to spend all day riding in a straight line

I just don't understand this comment. Lots of wide, flat (or nearly flat) bars around now that people have realised that a bar with a big rise/bike with a high front end is useless if you want to ride uphill as well as down. And for 29ers for the same reason.

Groupsets that last. Life of most modern MTB groupsets parts is really poor. Light yes, shift fantastically when new, but nothing seems to last long.

Rollamajigs

The Flex-Stem

Those brake booster horse shoe things ...

How on earth have we arrived at the cluster-fudge situation we're now in with headsets. Its a complete joke.

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I still have one hub left now with greaseguard in it from back in the day

I always thought that the suntour greaseguard BBs were a great idea,keep meaning to do that conversion thing on a Hollowtech set.

+1 for XT thumbies 8)

The Flex-Stem

I think redesigned versions of the Flex-Stem and Hite-Rite will have a rebirth ,thanks to the trend for minimalist stuff. 😉

Philippa Forrester.

super burners and pay rises

Somewhat tangential

Guernsey sweaters (saw me throught the bitter cold of my Scottish education)
Airtex (?) shirts for summer sports/walking
Paper maps and a compass!!!
Personal responsibility (plus freedom to do potentially dangerous things eg, can I ride highly popular UK mountains solo?)
Dunlop "blue" flash (but then again perhaps I should just say squash as a sport)

Bar ends - OK, so some people use them, but the fashionistas have driven them underground. They just work. They make a huge amount of sense for lots of riding, and can't really see why people don't use them more! (Disclaimer - No bar ends on any of my bikes. Oops.)

I miss empty trails - you need crap weather to find them these days

Lots of wide, flat (or nearly flat) bars around now

this. As forks have got longer bars have got flatter to keep the front end at a rideable height, none of this 2" rise monkey bar action today.

Gee atherton.

[img] [/img]

Pretty flat, and no reason why that bar couldnt be completely flat and the minimal amount of rise accommodated in the stem. Keith Bontrager used to rage against riser bars as a retrograde step (any bent tube is weaker than a straight one) but began making and selling them as that's what the market demanded.

^^^ are you sure thats Gee 😕

amongst other things looks to have a lot of hair.

I agree tho, flat bars have always been best

^^^ Thats more like Rachel Atherton!!??

A Wolf Guard !

- Grease ports! I know there's still the odd one to be found, but they are rare because manufacturers don't want to encourage positive maintenance to make things last longer...(the Pace RC80 being a good example)

- Pace Cycles. They have been very quiet the past year or two..?

- Rock Lobster frames on Merlin. Why no more, they were fantastic?

^^^ Proof! Flat bars give you moobs............ 😉

I rode for ages with a frame pack shouldering thing though, and also a bum bag.

Same here, and thinking back that was a pretty good way of carrying a few smaller things compared with the sweaty backed, over loaded joy that a "Modern" camelbak brings...

I've been trying to minimize the amount of crap I lug on my person and finding ways to place stuff on the bike more... A nice triangular frame bag would look awesome on my 456 I reckon...

Ron Hills.

"Zak Tempest" 🙂

Oh, and mtb races where you could have a few beers and be silly with your mates without being vilified.

Dynamos - surely it's time for a comeback.
(I know Exposure do one, but I wouldn't have if it hadn't been for looking at Mike Hall's kit list)

Swinley Forest 😀

^^^ Thats more like Rachel Atherton!!??

I thought so after I posted the link, blame google images, and the point about the bars stands 😀

frame packs have made a come-back thanks to all the long-distance/multi-day events that have taken off. I can see a new version of the Hite Rite working, but the Flexstem was an abomination, unless you like riding with a bike that feels like its broken. The SoftRide cost as much as a sus fork, too.

[img] [/img]

Go on, tell me I've posted a pic of Carol Vorderman instead....

Happy news! [url= http://www.interlocracing.com/shifters.html ]THUMBSHIFTERS[/url] are alive and well. And I bought a triangular frame bag/carry pad last year.

Most of these things are still out there. I think a some people on STW just like to complain about how 'useful things aren't available now' and 'The Industry is forcing us to buy blah blah blah....'.

Try looking for the things you want instead. or do you then risk finding them? And realising that some things are best viewed through rose-tinted lenses.

flex-stems indeed!

Brahma Bars, a bar and bar end combo all in one !

Any one even heard if them

[IMG] [/IMG]

Here's one that probably [i] does not [/i] work well. Can't say I've had the pleasure of riding one!

[IMG] [/IMG]

The original Z1 bomber - still the plushest and best forks I've ever owned, every one since has just involved a lot more faff...

[img] [/img]

I remember brahma bars, or possibly a cheap raleigh equivalent. The concept was so useful that variants only seem to be available for 'trekking'.

[url= http://www.alibabike.com/en/hangers/9224-xlc-hb-c04-trekking-handlebar-600-mm-black-254-mm.html ]trekking[/url]

[url= http://m.dhgate.com/product/germany-humpert-x-act-bicycle-handlebar-adjustable/131882195.html#pd-024 ]german trekking[/url]

[url= http://www.parker-international.co.uk/19668/BBB-BHB-30-MultiBar-Trekking-Handlebar.html ]extreme trekking[/url]

[url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBOOBINGO/on_one_bingo_handlebar ]bingo[/url]

still not quite the thing though....

Any one even heard if them

pretty much a bar, bar end and tri bar combo. Ahead of its time and ugly as sin.

The original Z1 bomber - still the plushest and best forks I've ever owned, every one since has just involved a lot more faff...

Lovely Tim - always lusted after some of them

All my bikes have bar ends
i ride them to be comfortable not to appeal to some notion of the fashion police who are now busy [s]being fleeced and conned into getting[/s] buying 29 ers and 650 b

I'll have you know that my next bike will almost certainly be a 29er, and I'll be putting flat bars and bar ends on it. Mind you, my next bike is probably a long way off.

I'd go for the 44 RC3ti

Haven't been able to fault them yet. Plush and reliable, superb damping. Not made any more (I picked up the last two sets in the country from Windwave)

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Purely by accident my new wider bars are also ALOT flatter haha. 25mm rise I think. or 20mm.

Singletrack mag iPhone app

Oh no wait, that's never worked I'll try again - threads about bearings

Strangely the mag app has started working for me after 5 months 😆

[img] http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/download/file.php?id=86481 [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

i have to admit that i never owned/tried any of them,but i have always lusted after all of them. i know that kona have re-issued the explosif now,but it's 27.5" and it doesn't have project two forks.

why the hell don't gt start to do the zaskar again too (the re-issue doesn't count as it was ltd edition)i mean have it back full time in their bike line up (just the frame only,that would be fantastic).

if gary klein also made a comeback (no chance) and made a modern version of his adroit/attitude e.t.c (with disc mounts) up to date aluminium tubing e.t.c but still with the over sized rigid forks and those awesome paint jobs.i would consider selling one of my kidney's to buy one* 🙂

* metaphorically speaking

[url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HB3TINTMTB/3ttt_integral_mtb_handlebar ]another bar similar to the brahma[/url]

(looks like old stock)

well having perused the rose tinted nostalgia fest, I'm fairly happy with my modern mountain bike and the kit on it 🙂

If we're doing nostalgia, recently I've been riding my '92 vintage Dyna-Tech metal matrix whilst my susser has been out of action - pretty much the same frame as Barry Clarke etc. rode back in the day. It's kitted out with rather modern kit though - 8 speed gears 80mm sus forks and a front disk. Non-compact chainrings though. It rides like a bike.