Well I’m after something flat and light which takes bar ends – I’m not sure that’s desperately demanding given there used to be plenty of options – which somewhat limits things in the <£60 category. A quick search suggests my current bars are still available on ebay or if I want to import them, but how much longer for?

My “old bike” which was state of the art when built up in 2007 (at which point amongst other things 31.8 hadn’t taken over completely enough that it was most common for XC stuff – the bike is a compendium of state of the art at the time but now obsolete standards). We’re already getting to the point where the availability of anything comparable is very limited – something twice the weight of what I have doesn’t really count. For a change which has no advantage at all for my use.

25mm axles!

I do still rather love the fork, though!

For example you buy a (insert part here) for a Ford Focus in the same way that you buy that same part for a BMW 3 series, They arent interchangable due to various reasons (i appreciate that some bits are) yet the aftermarket makers of performance kit, on a similar level to the bikes and kit STWers buy seem to be able to cover all standards. (based on a quick flick through a performance parts catalogue the other week

I don’t think that compares really. What people are use to doing is more like buying a Ford Mondeo and then the next year buying a BMW “frame” and expecting to be able to fit every component from the Ford.

I know that often you can buy all the bits to make a bike for less than the cost of the bike. Or at least a similar amount

As i understand it if you were to build a Ford Mondeo buying the bits to make it new it would cost many times more than the new car.

So I expect that whilst it may be possible to keep popular bikes going it might get harder

Anybody remember Marzocchi disc mounts? Looked like IS, but not quite, vanished off the scene after a couple of years. There was probably something out there, but I don’t ever recall seeing adapters to fit anything else to them. Chainring BCD and number of bolts used too, I abandoned a beautiful Suntour XC Comp microdrive chainset as I couldn’t get inner rings for it many years ago(before t’interweb),replaced it with industry standard 5 arm compact drive, for which Shimano now only list a 32t middle (luckily, I have Middleburns, and swapped to a 4 arm spider,but now have to put up with a crap 50mm chainline designed to clear much wider tyres than i’ll ever need).

My late 80s rockhopper has a u-brake and biopace chain rings.

From earlier – yes i did mean 4 bolt, and the hope disc actually says 163mm on it :/

@coatesy, those mounts on the Marzocchi were for Formula brakes, and back then the standards hadn’t really taken hold so makes sense that Italian fork fits Italian brake, but those forks can still take a rim brake, as that’s what most of them used at the time anyway as it was very rare to ever see any off the pro-circuit with the Forumlas fitted.

Chainring BCD is a pet hate of mine, not because you can’t get them, but because they make it un-necessarily annoying finding the right ones.

BTW, 5 bolt 94BCD chainrings are still readily available from Middleburn, TA, Stronglight and others, I’ve still got 5 or 6 94BCD chainsets in regular use and no trouble getting rings for them.

ampthill – Member

I don’t think that compares really. What people are use to doing is more like buying a Ford Mondeo and then the next year buying a BMW “frame” and expecting to be able to fit every component from the Ford.

It’s more like something totally different than cars, tbh.