It's all very well banging on about the latest shiny new kit, but what stuff has stood the test of time in my shed?
My Kona Lava Dome is 34 years old and still gets ridden most weeks. I've owned it since new.
A 2014 Santa Cruz 5010, with its Chris King headset, and SDG Bel Air Saddle that I ordered with it. Everything else has been swapped about/changed.
As will the frame and headset soon.
And a pot of grease I’ve had, at a guess, 18ish years, I’m about half way through it.
I've a screw-in crank extractor that is at least 30 years old that I haven't used in probably 25 years
I've got some Polaris roubaix tights that I bought in one of those cycling sales that would be advertised in the back of magazines and held in sports halls on a Sunday. It must have been about 2002.
Ignoring the bike I bought in '89, probably the red+yellow spoke keys I got around the same time which I think were a freebie stuck to a magazine, or maybe a subscription freebie gift
I have a few odds and sods but noteworthy would be the Edinburgh Bike Coop workshop stand and track pump that have seen around 35 years of regular use.
Nice.
I've still got an original pot of RC-7 grease on the go. Elastomers weren't the future, after all...
1997 Kona Aha , a Gore Wind stopper jacket in camo that I reckon I've had nigh on 20 years and I bought it 2nd hand off of here I think!
2004 Cove Hummer and just maybe my first ever MTB Marin Bobcat Trail from 1995 , see my other threads
It's all about the grease...
To be fair, the grease ports on the Y2K Manitou elastomer/spring forks kept them working to an acceptable degree of functionality for two and a half decades with them never being serviced
I've the same Pace grease gun.
However, I think it's possibly slightly newer than my chain splitter.
I've also got a Berghaus base layer that's meant to be resigned to garden work due to a couple of holes that I keep finding myself reaching for to ride in...
I have a purple Pace Ultra fleece pullover top from about 1992, still gets worn now and again.
Also an animal.watch from.late 90s, but it never gets worn.
Lots of tools but most don't get used nowadays as all the kit they did work on has long gone.
I thought my RC7 gun had died last week when it stopped pushing grease through. Turns out the plunger assembly has come loose so tightened up and off it went, just like new. The joys of a simple mechanism that is lubricated by use.
I have the dualco pace grease gun, but I also have the RC-7S push type grease gun that came with a set of RC35AB's bought back in 1993 I'd guess. I still have most of a cool tool...
kit wise, it's a bit older (though I do still have a very tired pace winteractive jacket that I can't bring myself to throw away), probably the oldest things are my endura cliplong winter tights, and my groundeffect frosty boy longs, bought when the exchange rate was favourable and there was no tax on their goods, around 2002 I'd guess. And some Nike ACG kneewarmers..
I've got some shimano spds on my gravel bike that are from about 2002/3. Not sure which model though.
A Shimano TL-20 chainring tool, bought in about 1990. Hadn’t been used for over a decade, until I replaced a chainring on a neighbour’s bike last year.
When I started riding again in about 2008 I subscribed to one of the Future mags and got a camelbak chaos as the subscription gift. I ended up buying two more and wore one of those out but I still have the original one, I've tried to find something I like more but I never have. Narrow, comfy, just <slightly> too small, and almost indestructible.
Older than my Pace RC7s grease gun is a red Spokey that has built most of my wheels over the years. Great bit of kit. I bought a second Dualco gun a few years back for liquid O ring. The Pace on has the blue grease in it that Hope uses for its hubs. Both are topped up from massive bulk containers that will outlast me and also possibly the tin of Coppaslip my girlfriend at the time liberated from work for me in about 1998.
And a pot of grease
This. Bought a massive pot of it from Edinburgh bike coop in fallowfield years and years ago. The guy gave me a "I don't think you need this much" look as I was paying. will probably leave it to my kids
On further thought, my track pump is 20ish yrs old, no idea if the gauge is still accurate, but it pumps up to satisfy the finger squish test.
My partner only gets on with m747 spds.
fortunately the m520 axles fit them so we have kept them going.
I figure that my Crank Brothers M19 (or is it a 17?) multitool must be donkeys ages old. It’s a bit rusty, but seems to be in just as good working order as ever. And I still haven’t found anything better after all these years. I’d estimate 2012?
I threw away some roubaix bib tights last year that I bought in the original Ribble shop in Preston in 1990 - the knees finally wore through - but still use the flo orange Pertex rain jacket I bought on the same day!!
Avid brake levers on one bike are from 1998, probably the oldest component in use.
Grease, one pot goes back to 1985.
I've also got one of those Muddy Fox handlebar pouches that were made when twin stems were the thing. That still gets occasional use and is from 1986. Only realised fairly recently it was made by Karrimor.
A good few tools are pretty old, a third hand and a Cool Tool are probably the oldest
But the winner for oldest thing would have to go the the chrome shraeder dust caps that are late 50's early 60''s and I have the tin for them too
Topeak multi tool. Bought it 2003 for a trip across France and Germany.
Lost one lever, but otherwise working fine.
To be fair the Lava Dome is an absolute classic
I’ve just dug out a USE XCR suspension seatpost from around 1998 and popped it on the gravel bike, it looks surprisingly good
Wrench Force track pump still in use from 1998, and as I left work tonight I realised I put on 20year old northwave boots to ride home in...
I've also got loads old tools (and grease!) including one of the pace grease guns in the article.
Taking those out of the equation,. probably the oldest stuff still. pressed into regular service is my on one pickenflick. Guessing a bit, it's probably from around 2015. Still going very strong. Built up as a winter/commuter road bike presently, which it's excellent at. Still on most of the original components I built it up with although it did get a wheel swap when superstar were selling off their wheel stock silly cheap
I've no plans to change it at all.
The oldest bits still in continuous use on my bikes are the 19 year old rear BB7 brake and Pro 2 hubs on my monstercross. The front hub is still on its original rim, a Sunn Rhyno Lite; I opened up the rear hub on Mayday Bank Holiday for its yearly service - quick clean, regreased, good to go...
The Lava Dome frame that I commute on is, I believe, a 2006 model, thus 20 years old (I bought it eight years ago). The Surly forks are 19 years old and have been in constant use since I bought them in 2007:
Time ATAC pedalsMy first ones only died a few years ago. Bought them and some matching shoes when they still had the "time only" bolt spacing on the shoes/cleats, bought a second set of "normal" cleats a couple of months later so i could use my sidis as well. Must have been 93 or 94? They ended up on a mates bad weather commuter in Edinburgh after i'd used them all over the place for ~20 years.
Yes, still have a pot of Pace grease, and the grease gun (and the forks that went with it).
The forks are on my first "decent" XC race bike. Which i still ride occasionally, that's 1996 vintage.
Lots of kit that's 20+ years old, winter gear, boots/shoes, gloves, sun glasses, tools...
I still carry my 90s Cooltool and same vintage leatherman in the bottom of my Camelbak in case of absolute emergencies. My goto dry weather winter jacket is a Polaris smock that I think I got in 1998/9 and is still a brilliant bit of kit now.
About 20-25 years ago there was a brief plague of bampot kids shooting at cyclists with airguns and catapults around Stirling. I thought I'd fallen victim to this on a group ride one day, but what had actually happened was the toggle which cinched the elastic at the bottom of my trusty Polaris smock had caught on a bush as I'd gone past at speed and when it eventually pulled free it shot me in the arse so hard I thought I'd been taken down by a sniper.
Happy days
I've got an old Edinburgh Bicycle Coop branded rucsac, made by Vaude, that still gets regular use. Admittedly not for 'proper' MTBing but it's a superb bag and built like a tank. From 2002 I think.
Also an animal.watch from.late 90s, but it never gets worn.
I have a W001 that I got for my 18th in the drawer!
Reminds me I need to replace the battery in my Animal watch, also bough mid/late 90s. Deserves to be worn.
