Originally Posted by
hampco
the poster thread and near perfect parts thread got me thinking (uh oh) about how much stuff we used that totally sucked when we were young (mid-70s for me) - but we didn't know any better 'cause we were all in the same boat.
here's a start:
helmets: it rocked back in the day because they didn't exist so no one wore one; it sucked racing in hairnets because you knew if you crashed and hit your head it wouldn't help a bit. fortunately it never happened.
shorts: wool with real chamois? sucked big time. so did the alternatives.
jerseys: see shorts
shoes: they were cool because you had to have a cobbler's last to mount cleats - or it helped, but c'mon - leather shoes with leather soles? or wood soles?
frames: cool because they were steel, sucked because heavy and poorly made. anything that wasn't steel (graftek, teledyne titan, alan) sucked even worse
parts: campy was the best and it sucked still. shimano and simplex were surprisingly good - that's how bad it was
tires: sewups for racing didn't suck, flatting them, trying to fix and failing, sucked. clinchers, both elan and schwinn le tour, sucked
saddles: oh boy. brooks, unicanitor, or ideale 90 or 2001 were the choices. brooks was better back then than now
pedals and clips: cool in a pre-industrial sort of way
gearing: please... 42/52 5-or-6 speed with 13-19 on the rear
riding: awesome, couldn't be beat. did not suck
food: bananas or pb sammiches
races: big fun
your list?
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