[Closed] What won't you let go of as MTB technology advances?

Handlebars

Haha 😀

Gone to
Carbon
Wide Bars (a long time ago)
Back to single ring after my first go in 09
Shorter travel rear
Tubeless
Dropper post
the right tyres
Sealed cartridge bearings in my wheels
Twist Shift

The only thing I seem to be hanging onto is a rear mech.

Rigid seatpost.

26" wheels

cane creek ergo bar ends

26 inch wheels.
Triple crankset.
Hardtails.

I don't agree with the use of the words 'Luddite' or 'advances', both of which imply that the alternatives are in some way better. 🙂

Anyway, here's a song about Ned - It sounds better on vinyl. 😀

My money 😕

Pedaling

Charge spoon, Comfiest saddle I've ever used

I started out on a 90mm travel alu hardtail and have gone full circle back to a 90mm alu hardtail after something like 15 years.

bar ends - arthritis in hands means a regular change of position is needed

triple - had the choice on a new bike build recently but worried that I might need the granny (turns out I hardly use it!)

26"
Triple chainset

steel

Handlebars

Dude, wait 'till you try clinging to handlebar grips. They bring the trail so alive.

For me it's 26" wheels.

Fixed seatpost.

Singlespeed.

Blimey, I thought I was the only person to have Bob Calvert vinyl LP's.

I'm with Rorschach - I'll be working for my descents for as long as my legs have what it takes to grind me up a hill.

120mm stem
580mm bars
Purple bar ends
DCD chain device
Steel forks
1.9" tyres

Everything else is a marketing conspiracy by the bike industry and the corrupt media to help keep them rich and you poor.

26"
Square taper BB
bars as wide as my shoulders not 800mm monstrosities
Hope C2 disk brakes
Non-dropper seat post

2 wheels, pedals and handlebars.

Hite Right

Joke

Clipless pedals,totally improved riding a bike for me.They would be the last thing I would give up.

Cables. Do not like the idea of needing batteries or the extra chance of something expensive breaking.

A normal seatpost. On the right ride an uppy downy post is good but again do not like the fact that it is something else to go wrong, they are expensive and heavy and I don't mind peddling standing up.

The act of letting go opens up endless possibilities. If you can't let go. You can't move forward.

Cake.

comfy saddle

Nothing - I'm happy to try different things and if they are an improvement then I embrace them. So many people seem to thing that there are big evil companies trying to force things on us, where as many things I think are improvements (and I used to regularly kill square taper bottom brackets).

Tubeless is so much better than tubed that I'd never use tubes again, except emergencies. I've just gone to dropper post and I think it's the biggest advancement ever! I've been single ring when I was running 9 speed - a compromise but 10 speed improves things a bit.
I do run flat pedals but I also use clips and change every so often.

The only thing I can think of that I'm not convinced on is 15mm vs 20mm bolt through.

26inch
(since when was finding an ancient, virtually obsolete format to push "advancement" ?)

cake

oh and conti tubes

I find myself hanging on to HT2 for some reason.

HT2 is new tech to me!

Still using tubes in my 26" tyres.

I've no plans to ditch my triple chainset. Not sure why 2x & 1x are such a big deal. The fact that people are removing one of the normal, useful sprockets from their cassette in order to fit a 40 or 42 bail out gear makes me think a granny ring is actually quite useful ??

I have a dropper seatpost but always forget it's there and never use it !

The act of letting go opens up endless possibilities. If you can't let go. You can't move forward.

Au contraire - if I let go of my bike, it will fall over, and I will end up on the floor, not going anywhere at all.

Sundayjumper - Member

I've no plans to ditch my triple chainset. Not sure why 2x & 1x are such a big deal.

it's been done to death, but just to recap: if you're not using 'component x', why carry it around? - undo the bolts and take it off.

(and shorten your chain, so it's less noisy)

i have no need for a 42t chainring, as i never need to pedal to over 30mph

for me, it's cup and cone hubs.

Single pivot and I love my triple.
Would possibly go double.

I was sat in the Woodbine Cafe in Hope on Sat morning leafing through a mag (left there) from 2006. ALOT of the kit looks similar (the same) as now.

I never realised that the Cane Creek Double-barrel dates over 8yrs+

Alot of the kit (bar carbon and the look of the frames)- if you put a different date on the mag I'd have happily bought it off the shelf now. Infact- I read most of the mag in the cafe OVER the copies of recent Dirt mags also left there.

Advances? Apart from materials I can't really see it being any different in 10yrs (apart from the look of the frames). Its a bicycle. Dress it up how you want but its a bicycle.

Selling pixie dust to middle management since 1998.

Thumbshifters
Square taper BBs
Decent grease in whatever bearing(*)
Quick-link chains
8-speed (if not single)
Malt loaf or Sainsburys granola slices
Cable-operated discs

(*)One of my biggest bugbears with 'sealed' (they aren't - they're 'cartridge' bearings in any other industry) bearings is the woeful amount of vaseline-type grease they tend to come with as standard. Pop the seals and get something decent in there, you'll thank me in the long run.

Inner tubes. Easy to fix and gunk free

and don't need a compressor
and 99.9% of the time, hold in all the air and seat the tyre bead first time

forgot before...
my fixed seat post, with quick release lever.

The chain. Rollers, rivets, plates.

Lock on OURY grips.

32:14 only

Pretty sure someone somewhere is hatching a plan to meddle with this for some reason.

They joy of riding whatever bikes are available with whatever technology that allows me to explore further - faster

Hanging onto:
26"...like I can ride well enough to make a difference? Spare me!

2x9 and 2x 10. Fat, arthritic 50 year old pushing a 32t single up any sort of hill? Do me a favour!

Currently embracing :
Tubeless. At last count there were over 30 self sealed holes in my tyres. That's a lot of riding time, or getting on for two centuries in middle-aged MTBer faffing years.

Oh, and HT2. Light and it works.

My 26" wheeled filing cabinet with triple rings, all of which I use & have absolutely no bother with.
No plans whatsoever to change anything about it.

Cane Creek Ergo bar ends for me.

Riding uphill

685mm is wide enough
9 Speed

I'm staying with mechanical gears, I can't be arsed with having to keep an eye on whether the battery in my bike is charged so that it will move the gears - whole point about a bike is that you can get it out of the shed and go and ride it save for a quick tyre pump and chain lube

The things I'm holding onto are the things where I don't think the claimed advances, are actually advances- they're just differences. When things are better, I'll switch.

and don't need a compressor
and 99.9% of the time, [b]hold in all the air[/b] and seat the tyre bead first time

Multiple bikes would be my keeper I guess - arguably a stupid idea. Droppers, 1x11, carbon super bikes, leccy shifting etc all sound good but costs too much. If I went to one bike I could probably afford bling stuff, but....I like having a singlespeed, a lakes bike (slacker, heavier and more travel) a nice "normal" bike and a parts bin bike that gets all my old parts to eke every bit of moneys worth out of them and gets ridden through winter/rain/mud without worrying about ruining my bestest gear.

Only owning 1 bike at a time would mean switching to the new "standards" every 3 or 4 years would be less of a PITA too.

Hmm. Well by the end of the week I will have the following.

FS Bike
Carbon
160mm forks(20mm axle)
Wide bars
1x10
26" wheels
Tubes
Short stem
Dropper

HT bike
Steel
140mm forks (20mm axle)
wide bars
2x9
26" wheels
Tubes
Short stem
Rigid post

So on the FS its tubes and arguably a 20mm axle on a trail bike. And on the HT its tubes, 20mm axle, 2x9, rigid post and steel frame.

I refuse to call different wheel sizes an advancement.

Someone pitched in with 15mm vs 20mm, I now have stiffer 15mm forks than a lot of 20mm used to be, it's a con in some ways spec a 20mm axle to cover up the fact you cant make stiff light forks 🙂

Circular wheels. Not sure square ones will be as effective.

Seriously though, I'm currently riding a rigid single speed 29er. So there isn't much I have.

However, it does have big wheels, short stem and wide bars.

Next build though will be 140mm, 650b hard tail running 1*10, have a dropper, tubeless, and all the other commodities I miss from my Meta before it was stolen. Cannot. Wait.

and release all the air upto 6 times a ride.

I'm hanging on to 26 inch wheels, 20mm axles and cables.

I've embraced wider bars, dropper posts, slack head angles, 1x10, tubeless because it all makes by bike better.

I have no interest in electric shifter or suspension control. Water and electrics don't seem like a good idea to me in the long run.

I've mostly avoided carbon to date too, but that's because I'm tight.

DMR V8's, bought some of these thinner pedals for one bike, can't say I notice much of an improvement tbh, they can stay on the other bikes.

26" and inner tubes.