Modern bikes...

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120933605#Comment_120933605

I think any rim brake stock was cleared out in the Covid madness where people were buying bikes left right and centre, and then manufacturers just stopped doing rim brake bikes altogether for the most part.

You’d be better off trying to buy a frameset and getting a shop to do a build for you with whatever group set you want.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120933770#Comment_120933770

Yeah... I saw a think of beauty in Mount Usher Avoca at the weekend (maybe a poster here?)... Battaglin steel frame, polished green, Campy Super Record, mechanical rim brake... custom build. Custom build is definitely the way I'll go next, when I scrape together the pennies. Although by then will Campy even exist?! All the pro teams now Shimano or Sram and 99% of bikes in the usual online stores are all Shimano or Sram. Where is Campy selling to? I need to find a wormhole to that magic vortex.

magicbastarder

usually i'd suggest ringing humphries - as they own a distribution company too. they might have avenues some other bike shops don't have access to.

gn3dr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120933962#Comment_120933962

Looks like ringing them is the only option - just looked them up - their website is terrible.

magicbastarder

worth mentioning that they have quite a few frames hanging from the ceiling in the shop, some have been there ages. if you want a rim brake frame, they're worth a ping. i suspect very little to none of the ceiling stock is disc.

Alanbt

I think there is still a market for rim brake bikes, obviously not the full range, but sad to see them disappearing so quickly

Schorpio

Don't think high-end rim brakes are ever coming back, but it's sad that manufacturers are opting for mechanical discs on their lower end stuff.

I will die on the hill the rim brakes are better than mechanical discs, and the cynic in me suspects that mechanical discs are only there to try and make the lower-end stuff look more expensive than it is.

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120938562#Comment_120938562

I have rim, mechanical disc, and hydraulic disc across my "good", "winter" and "gravel" bike. I'd have the mechanical disc above rim in the wet tbh, especially carbon rim brake.

Just to revisit 8 valves post - I think modern bikes still have punctures and take a quick link to fix the chain? I've been on spins with plenty of older bikes and cyclists, who can't do the basics. I don't think that's related to age of bike.

Raam

I love my modern road bike with its hydraulic disc brakes and electronic gears... except when I forget to charge it, like earlier today.

gn3dr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120954231#Comment_120954231

That would wreck my head

hesker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120954231#Comment_120954231

I did that earlier in the summer and had to take out my 80s Raleigh. Stopped in Kinsale for a break and a guy came up to me admiring the bike and we had a 20 minute chat about old steel bikes. On the way home a guy in a 4x4 stalked me for a 100 yards or so until I turned around to look at him. He then pulled alongside, wound down the window and shouted “beautiful bike”. I was expecting something quite different but was happy and relieved to give him a smile and a thumbs up.

gn3dr

Is there not some kind of functionality to connect a power bank to the di2 system to either run it or charge it on the move for situations like that?

Raam

I see Time are going to stop making rim frames.

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960165#Comment_120960165

Pity, but I think they are struggling these days. They've been through several changes of ownership in recent years, the pedals division has been sold off to SRAM and they've lost one of their USPs - the fact that their frames were made in France as they've moved much of their production to Slovakia. The range is a bit weird too - three flavours of their Alpe d'Huez climbing bike (two of which have discs), a gravel bike based on their climbing bike and an aero-ish bike that's well behind the curve.

Plastik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120954539#Comment_120954539

Absolutely no other bike I own gets the amount of attention that my 1982 Carlton does any time that I take it out for a spin!

magicbastarder

rather than derail 54and56's thread with an OT question, will ask this here. Raam stated:

Electronic gears are just so much better IMO. You can shift standing up on climbs and under load on the flat.

what is it about electronic gears that allows this? i assume the chain, jockey wheels, teeth profile on the sprockets etc. is the same - so what's left that would explain the difference? the way the derailleur moves?

Raam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120980476#Comment_120980476

I guess it's the motor which helps make it shift better. I can still shift standing up on mechanical but you gotta be careful with it.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120980534#Comment_120980534

Same. Is it a cadence thing? That mechanical takes the 'skill' out of the riders hands (feet?) by judging optimal split second for making the shift?

gn3dr

Ah here. The electronic judges nothing. It doesn't have pressure sensors. The ruder does though (brain, hands, fingers) Perhaps the question should be reversed? The difference is the cyclist maybe. 😁

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120984077#Comment_120984077

Ah here. I never said it did. I asked a question out of curiosity. Thanks for your reply though, I actually care less now.

07Lapierre

It’s the speed and the precision of the derailleur movement that makes it possible.

rcklap

I was completely set on the opinion that I didn't need or rate Di2 until I tried it and my god I absolutely love it.

My day-to-day bike is a 105 equipped disc brake setup which gives me absolutely no issues whatsoever but then I got a lend of an Ultegra Di2 equipped bike and the difference is night and day. Firstly the hoods are so much narrower and the shifting is a joke.

Then.... I got a lend of an Aethos.... and yep you guessed it, I was blown away by the bike and the level of comfort vs. my day to day bike (which I do around 5k per year on).

I try a lot of bikes and I think for me the sweet spot is going light instead of aero and comfort. That's where I am fastest (I'm not fast).

I'm still riding around on the 105 disc set up but I think my next bike will be a Winspace SLC rim brake with Di2...

gn3dr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121011090#Comment_121011090

If you do go with a Winspace please post up your experience here. I have looked at that SLC frameset from time to time online and it is appealing - kind of like a new more reasonably priced TCR.