I’ve always been a proper luddite, proper snotty about new tech:

Alloy frames
MTB’s.
SPD’s.
6 speed, and every other single change since.
Helmets.
Guidebooks.
Decent tyres.
Risers.
Front suss.
Racing.
Discs.
Night riding.
Flats.
Skills courses.
Factory wheels.
Any saddle that’s not a Brooks.

Constantly amazed at my own stupidity in resisting new tech.

Currently still frowny about carbon, energy gels, full suss, tubeless, gloves with fingers in and siglespeeds.

Anyone else?

I’m willing to give most things a go. I do realise that we all prefer different things though, so I don’t expect to like everything I try. So – having always run Shimano brakes, I thought I’d try some Elixers. While they still stopped me, I didn’t like the “feel” of them.

OTOH – I was very sceptical of the whole 29er thing, tried it, and can now see I was wrong and for me it’s a good idea.

Tubeless – I have one bike set up but can’t see enough of a difference either way.

Singlespeed though – that’s just dirty.

Tapered head tubes
Bolt through forks
Twin & bash
740mm bars
10 speed

Marketing hype or necessary performance improvers?
I’m still in the former camp.

10 speed really dont see the point except to sell us stuff.. i dont feel under geared with 27 or 18 on my double
I will have to one day but in soem areas we have advcance for the sake dof sales rather than for any actual benefit.

I guess that we do get forced down certain routes, 10 speed being a good example. Nice 9-speed stuff will be impossible to find.

OS bars is probably another.

i always thought the proper dh bikes were way o.t.t, 200mm travel forks, 8 inches at the back……..but after riding a dh course for the 1st time on a 140mm forked 456, i can see where the stormtroopers are coming from………… 8)

“Tapered head tubes
Bolt through forks”

Once tried, you notice the front end has stiffened up making it better through rough stuff.

I seem to be against most new things until I’ve tried them and then find out they actually improve matters. I was against heart rate monitors for some time.

Forgot OS bars, and trail centres.
Quite like both now though.

Would love to try a Jones type bike, a Fatbike, tandems and hub gears.

My bike does everything I want.

I think it depends…soemtimes it’s hard to sort the genuine innovation from the opportunistic marketing, the latter certainly taints my appreciation of particular brands.

Carbon fibre? Why not, provided the warranty is good. Ten speed? Again, no issue here provided that I can keep my existing nine speed setup going for a while if I choose. Some things are definite no-brainers like hydraulic brakes and suspension forks or come into the “why didn’t anyone think of this before?” category like wide bars and short stems. Another notable has to be the Maxle, which tapped into the already proven 20mm hub standard and made it more convenient.

Things I am snotty about are the proliferations of marketing driven new “standards” – Fox & Shimano’s 15mm hub being one. Why? What does a 15mm hub do that a 20mm hub doesn’t do aside from creating an artificial gap between their 32mm and 36mm forks? Giant have really offended me with their new head-tube standard which is all of a 1/8th of an inch different to everyone else’s. Why? Why not simply adopt a 1.5″ headtube and let the consumer choose whatever fork they want to run? The 142mm hub standard…what does it do that my old 135mm hubs don’t do?

Rusty Spanner – Member
Forgot OS bars, and trail centres.
Quite like both now though.

Would love to try a Jones type bike, a Fatbike, tandems and hub gears.
Fatbike – tick. Just soooo much fun.
Hub gear – jury is currently out. I have a full 11-speed Alfine set up currently languishing.

Once tried, you notice the front end has stiffened up making it better through rough stuff.

Nope to both of those [ tapered and bolt through] and yes I have both

I noticed a big difference when going from Q/R to a bolt through, but I haven’t noticed much difference on tapered headtube bikes I’ve tried. The perennial oft asked, never answered question is ‘So why not go 1.5″ on all new bikes?”. It would certainly give you more options for choosing a fork in addition to tinkering with the head angle or stack height of the headset when running 1.1/8″ forks.

Carbon still scares me. An irrational fear no doubt, but I can’t help being put off by the pictures of broken bikes and subsequent injuries that keep appearing on teh internet. I’ve seen two on this very forum in the past couple of weeks.

Mostly though, just the things that are forced onto the consumer in a sense. Like 10-speed. Which isn’t necesarilly a bad thing…..it just costs us a bit more for a chain. But it would be nice to have the choice. I wonder if it’s all getting a bit roadie like. In the sense that we’ll all have to have two bikes: one ‘perfect’ trail machine, and one that is actually more practical for 90% of your riding.

Roadies are grumpy.

They’re actually far more friendly than the average MTBer.

What does a 15mm hub do that a 20mm hub doesn’t do aside from creating an artificial gap between their 32mm and 36mm forks?

Allow Shimano to make a bolt through hub without investing in a new hub shell forging.

+1 on bolt through making a difference, much more obvious with cantis than disks though.

Roadies are grumpy.

They’re actually far more friendly than the average MTBer.

Piss off

They just seem to enjoy riding more DeBz. I think they’re more in it for the love of cycling than the fashion.

Which is contrary to my preconceptions of the two disciplines.

The 142mm hub standard…what does it do that my old 135mm hubs don’t do?

It’s easier than a 135mm bolt up as the axle rests in the dropouts (it’s stil a 135mm hub, with the 3.5mm ends) rather than floating in mid air while you line the axle up and slide it in, more like a bolt through QR. Also the syntace 142mm standard defines the mech hanger as well as the pinch bolt on the drive side holds the mech as well and has a deliberate weak point in it so in theory the bolt should shear much quicker than a mech hanger, therefore protecting the mech and hanger (norco frames even have a spare bolt in a little taped hole under the BB!).

I can’t help being put off by the pictures of broken bikes

Alu bikes break too, you know. I know of loads of cracked alu and even ti frames, never heard personally of anyone breaking a carbon frame.

Also, on the few roadie rides I’ve been on, no-one gave me the time of day. Miserable buggers.

no-one gave me the time of day

Weren’t you just sprinting past them?

brant – Member

What does a 15mm hub do that a 20mm hub doesn’t do aside from creating an artificial gap between their 32mm and 36mm forks?

Allow Shimano to make a bolt through hub without investing in a new hub shell forging.

But Shimano also make 20mm hubs though so they must have already had the forging, or have I misunderstood?

Ahh…my old nemesis change…must resist change.

Alu bikes break too, you know. I know of loads of cracked alu and even ti frames, never heard personally of anyone breaking a carbon frame.

Oh, I know. But…either carbon brakes more, carbon is more popular at the moment, or people just prefer to post more pics of broken carbon parts (perhaps because it’s more expensive/more interesting/more whatever).

But I’m not 100% on Alu either. It’s just I’ve been riding it for years so I’ve had time to accept it. In 10 years time I might’ve accepted carbon fibre too 🙂

tsy is right roadies are more friendly. when on a mtb i say hello to roadies; they always say hello back when on a club ride on the road bike i say hello to mtbers and more often than not they look through me as though i have crawled from a sewer or portal from a dark world. Plus I seem to have more of a laugh when on the road bike.

I never felt I could notice flex in forks until I went to bolt through. Now my SIDS feel proper noodley – basically bolt-thru has ruined it for me…

“Tapered head tubes
Bolt through forks”

“Once tried, you notice the front end has stiffened up making it better through rough stuff.”

Nope I still don’t get this one and my latest bike has both, yes its improved compared to some bikes, but you have been able to get good frames and forks for years. Like this combination…

and

”

how on earth can you put ‘singlepeeds’ and ‘new tech’ in the same bucket?

i still don’t like factory wheels.

weird spokes and difficult spares. no thanks.

RC36s? Are you saying they’re not (weren’t) flexy!? 😆

supple is the word you are looking for Dez

what disappoints me most with progress is that filter down really doesn’t seem to happen – take the Klein above – what is it, 15 years old or so? and still perfectly rideable. Everything on it was probably just about the lightest and refined version of what was availble at the time.

So why do Shimano continue churning out pressed steel mechs, and why do taiwan waste so much metal on supermarket specials, when they should be concentrating on giving everyone a riding experience at least as good as a 15yo hardtail for under £300