Modern bikes...

My road bike isn't integrated cockpit or disc brake, but has internally routed cables for it's mechanical groupset... but fwiw I'd add a pro of disc brakes of no issues with rim wear/ carbon braking surface in the wet. Tubeless isn't that new either, and the hassle is more in the fitting (and a mess if you have to fit a tube.

In my experience, people showing for spins without spares isn't confined to new bikes, and isn't new!

I retired 18 years ago. Finally got my Ti road bike at the beginning of this year. Should have done it years ago, most comfortable bike, I've ever owned.

OP - you remind me of those drivers around 20/25 years ago or so when power assisted steering, electric windows etc. were becoming standard in normal cars.

"What do people want with electric windows? How hard is it to wind up/down a window?" which usually translated as "I can't afford it so no one else should show me up by having it either".

I don't know if you drive, but if you do, I'm pretty sure your vehicle has electric windows, power assisted steering, automatic choke, ABS, AC etc. You probably have an automatic washing machine at home, maybe even a dishwasher. Sure the cost of servicing those must be shocking compared to the old basin of water or the old washboard.

....and as for those new fangled cellular telephones, what was wrong with the old pay phone with the A and B buttons?

Life moves on - get over it.

(But I do agree with you regarding tubeless - pain in the arse on a group spin spending 45 freezing minutes on the side of the road in winter while the tubeless one tries to remove the tyre and fit a tube. A solution for a problem which doesn't exist.

I work in the motor trade. i The last "Decent" cars built were in 2000/2010 or older. The latest cars equipped with Advance braking, adaptive cruise control, electronic handbrakes (what's wrong with a good'ol rachet lever?) self drive capability etc. are going too far with "Driver aids". they've taken all the fun out of driving a car.

I gradually upgraded bikes, went from Sora to 105 to Di2 over 8 years or so, I wouldn't be without Di2 to be honest, doesn't make me faster at all but takes the faff out of indexing them, although battery charging is another task to replace it. As poster above says I think the integrated cockpit is pig ugly and wouldn't go near one. My good bike does have disc brakes which I think are brill, I haven't had to bleed them yet but being slightly nerdy I look forward to the task at some point. As WA alludes to, Life goes on, progress and all that.

I don't know what an integrated headset(or a tracker mortgage) is!!

Which is a shame because you nearly need a mortgage to get a new bike these days!

I wonder has the shortage if bikes pushed buyers into the next level a bit sooner than they had planned for?

I had an alu defy with claris and changed to a TCR Advanced pro with ultegra carbon etc.

I was looking to go carbon and was thinking 105 but could get nothing, washoung to just leave it so but came across a good deal in the above. I'm actually hardly off it these days so the money was well spent.

The deep section rims weren't a clincher, pardon the pun, for me. I'm not sure if people land in off the road a d insist on an integrated cockpit or whatever, it's just what's there and available.

I think we all know what its like to get clearance from the other half to get a new bike, you don't hang around, you buy before the mind changes!! 🤣🤣

Earlier this year I decided to upgrade to a new 7k bike if only because I was spending a fortune on old tech keeping the old one (with over 40 thousand kms on it) in the game. I wanted to upgrade the ultegra groupset (which I'd taken off an even older frame) with Di2 and there was no neat way to facilitate it on the frame and I think the sram equivalent was either too expensive, too hard to find or was obselete. Wheels were old zipp rims on rim breaks which inevitably wouldn't last a more than a couple more years etc. I had been saving for a new bike but after an expensive crash that had me spending 100s on a rear mech, wheel truing, new lever etc and then a headset I but the bullet. Both bikes are great I love having both of them, both really decent in their own right. What I wasn't expecting was how much id love the disc brakes, gears I don't really see the big deal tbh, and even prefer the ultegra 6700 mech hoods. I do miss how light my old bike is in comparison and the stock carbon wheels that came with the new bike just don't rate against my old zipps but at least I know when I eventually upgrade them they'll last a lot longer. I probably won't be spending any more money on the older one except for general keeping it on the road type stuff. I'm mostly just dreading the price of keeping the new one on the road when things like 12 speed cassetes, bbs, bearings etc start to need replacing as they seem quite expensive, at the moment anyway.

I am an old school cyclist; I love old school bikes (which, at this stage means anything pre-2000!!!) and their relative simplicity.

Technological advances in road bikes are driven by top-end competition, every watt gained or second saved matters in the pro peloton.

People who cycle for leisure, if they have the disposable income, like to have the latest tech, which the cycling industry tells them they NEED - many don't need it, but it is nice to have on the coffee spin. It's a cool brag over a petrol station mocha-choca-soy-lattaccino, made from ethnically sourced beans, picked by a lady in a straw hat in the third-world country of your choice.

Many use the latest tech to improve their cycling; speed, distance travelled for energy expended, general fitness etc.

Many, however, just do the same spin, same speed, every Sunday...just on a more expensive bike.

Tech trickles down from the top tiers eventually; the recent arrival of Shimano 105 Di2 is a perfect example.

From my point of view, I fix and build up bikes all day, every day. I don't care what's next in the queue to be hung on the work-stand. I give them all the same level of care and attention. One day this past week consisted of a 80s steel racer for full mechanical overhaul, a carbon Giant for new internal cables/pressfit BB/headset bearings, brake bleed on a modern MTB, two new tyres on a pram, a couple of kids bikes assembled out of their boxes and a wheelchair with a puncture....every day is different. But I'm wandering off topic.

Some new tech I can understand being used by pros, but not by the everyday cyclist; lots of it is over complicated, for the sake of over complication and lacks the durability of lower end stuff, for the sake of shedding grammes. It can't be fixed by the average Joe and it royally sucks donkey balls trying to fix it for you, especially when you have ''had a go'' first...here you can add in not washing your bike all winter after cycling country roads or giving it to me with a winters worth of crusty sweat from the turbo trainer. Yuk.

The biggest drawback to all this new tech is the lack of end-user friendliness, when it comes to maintenance; you have to bring the bike to me if something goes wrong (and the cyclist's fear of making an expensive error compounds this).

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, back in my day (lol) you could do EVERY job on your bike by yourself, providing you had the tools (or could borrow a tool from a cycling club mate); this added to the joy of cycling...being able to diagnose and fix bikes as and when something went wrong. The loss of this is one of the saddest things about modern cycling, in my humble opinion. Knowing every nut, bolt and bearing is working because you made it work, makes cycling that bike an even more joyful experience. I wince when men and women who, having been swept up in the surge of popularity for cycling over the past couple of decades, come in to me for a puncture repair, gear tune or chain replacement; all basic jobs, needing basic tools...but beyond the capabilities of too many. In recent years, I ran a basic maintenance class for one of Munsters largest and well established cycling clubs - I ended up showing most of the atttendees how to remove the wheels, before we could move on to the neurosurgery complication of changing a tube!

And yes, in answer to some posts above, a retirement titanium frame is on my wish list. But it will have external cable guides!

That's a good point, but cyclists having their spin ruined by a puncture or a snapped chain is easily avoidable with some basic training and a decent quality multitool.

Also, having some basic mechanical sympathy and knowledge stops cyclists from quickly turning a twenty quid repair into a 200 quid repair.

I think your question WA is best answered by 8valve's posts here and in other threads where he is extremely generous with his advice. Back in his day (and even mine), bike shops like the Rutland were places where you could drop in for advice and even the ocassional loan of a tool you might rarely need. Unfortunately now, some bike mechanics, or more likely bike shop owners, are quite happy to generate work for themselves with OTT reports on what needs doing.

I'm getting more and more old school in my frame preference for sure. Waiting on delivery of Colnago Master x-light for my best weather bike (probably be waiting til next summer, even though told be delivered in November). Just don't like the aesthetics of modern disc bikes. Totally get that they are faster, better braking etc, but just not my preference. I think rim brake bikes look better, and perform well enough for me for sure.

Industry only going one way though, and each to their own.

There is a dedicated Specialized store on the N7 by Citywest.

Joe, were you born in 1919? 🤔