things that sucked/were cool back in the day

[steve garro]

steve, you're a maniac!

that'll be "positron" for 50, bob

umma-gumma tires for sure - andy rode them one year and while they gripped like crazy in dry they turned into snot on a gear shifter when wet.

pre-king headsets sucked

just showing my time in the trenches....i bet i can tell 20 different freewheel tools apart.......hey, i really liked the old tange levins and the hattaswan headsets - they musta weighted a pound, but they spun nice and once you locked the nuts together, they were good to go. and hey, thanks for the positron reminder. shit, that's gonna haunt me all day doing seatstays tomorrow......how about the browning automatic front transmission......steve.

[agilismerlin]

aerolite pedals = sbt :hahaha:

[old_school]

Stick shifts on the top tube
Early Campy index shifters (the hatred runs deep)
Spinergy Wheels

[Bittersweet]

Brancale helmets were hotter than Hades and you looked like you played in the NHL. Skid Lids were mentioned but those dots of black foam to fit them should be noted as especially ridiculous. Duegi 101s with oak soles. I still suffer terribly from the frostbite I got in those shoes riding in northern NH in April '83 with wool socks cut out as "booties". 40 miles out and the drizzle turned to snow. NFG. Benotto cellotape was both fabulous and terrible all at the same time. Was it clement glue that was red? Awful stuff. Fiamme gold rims in 32h. Like tin foil with spokes. Hard silver and Red much better. GP4s in 36h were the best and still have 'em along with my precious Hard Silvers with Dura Ace AX (yes AX) hubs. The list could go on but really the availability of the best stuff at a click away is unbelievable. When I explain to people the difficulty in even finding proper cycling shoes never mind a selection they go cross eyed but then again cycling is the new golf - everyone does it.

[taz]

things that were cool (circa 76-79):

Full chrome Paramount track frames
BMX before the freestyle crap
MKS pedals
Campy gold anodized BMX hubs
Original RedLine Proline frame in white, Cook Bros

things that sucked:

alloy seatposts without integrated seat clamps
GrabOn grips

[WadePatton]

Stick shifts on the top tube

IIRC that was a t-handled stick shift on the top tube--what was the total range of a three-speed hub gear anyhow...and those "suspension" springs for the "moto" seat. and that silly little tire!

Then as an adult in the 80's (I still refuse to grow up) I suffered with some early c-dale atb stuff (yeah, it wuz kewl-for about three days)...there's a forever bad taste in the mouth.

[coylifut]

campy nouvo record seat posts sucked. the two bolt tilt idea was great, but getting the bent wrench in there to adjust it was a pain. I still have the wrench.

[twowheels]

campy nouvo record seat posts sucked. the two bolt tilt idea was great, but getting the bent wrench in there to adjust it was a pain. I still have the wrench.

i still have one of the posts. raced alpenrose in the mid-late 80's on one of those seatposts in the guerciotti. they were very heavy and too short by modern standards but they never slipped.

[turd ferguson]

BITD was 80-84 for me

sucked: my huffy pro lightning

cool: my rich friend's hutch pro star

[Saab2000]

I have owned very few products that really ring a bell as having been shitty. Most were fun to own and did not detract from riding.

Some that did were:

• ball bearing headsets that became pitted
• Specialized latex inner tubes - about as strong as a balloon.
• Araya CTL-370 clincher rims. WTF was I thinking.
• Continental Sprinters - the base tape came off. I have yet to recover and am very suspicious of Continentals to this day.
• Coombe pedals. Again, WTF was I thinking.
• 'anatomic' handlebars by 3TTT
• Modolo synterized brake pads. Sand paper brake pads would not have been worse.
• 700x19 tires
• Hügi hubs. Some folks swore by them. And they were spendy. But they sucked ass.

[JackB]

Clinchers

[jerk]

methamphetaamines and cortisone injections.
cutting up a jersey so itd hold a sony disc man.
hunger=the new training
getting your calves grabbed and being stared into your eyeballs by a gauloise smoking fatfuck putting on a race.
weighing less than a skinny girlfriend.
shoulder tattoos.
riding 100km to race and missing the train meaning another 100km ride home in the dark.
calisthetics in the middle of the night.
having 30 year old heroes.

[Mordalo]

Tioga Disc Drive rear wheel

Clouds (those little foamy things that went against the inside your BMW grip)

Anything anodized purple

Shoes with laces (which I loved when I had 'em...and hated shoes with straps. Not sure when I changed my mind)

Fanny Packs (you know you rode with one at least once)

Square taper crank arms/BB spindle attatchment

Oakley Factory Pilots

Etto Helmets

[bironi]

stuff that sucked:

Modolo breaks
Mavic indexed shifters
Mavic sawtooth cassette cogs
Simplex derailleur
Huret deraillleur
skid lids (mine broke strapping it on my head)
Conti 18x700 clinchers (160 psi, what the hell was I thinking riding these on 200 mile rides)

stuff that did not suck:

Simplex retro friction shifters
Dia Compe breaks
Rivat shoes (mine felt like slippers)
Flite saddles
Conti clinchers before the faulty sidewalls

[Bssc]

Positron sucks
front free wheel sucks
french spec components bars, stem, HS,BB suck
Campy MTB parts suck except for the seat post
Mavic Z hub, and the next proprietary cass system too, zap, metronic sucked
Suntour cass system sucked

[72gmc]

The very first Specialized smooth clinchers (mid-80's).
Your standard mid-80's inexpensive cycling jersey--bowlers looked and felt better.
My mid-80's tape jobs.

What was cool, for me, was the old "exotic" Performance catalog and the shop employee deal on Wheelsmith wheels. My first ride on a first-gen Ultegra/Open 4 CD set was like having a blindfold lifted.

[Shinomaster]

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?

Wow, I'm glad I was born in the 70's... I grew up with all the good stuff.

[XXXX]

Galli equipment. No, scratch that. It always sucked and was never cool.

[kemptonslim]

Tri-dorks wearing speedos for 112 miles on bicycle. Sucks and cool at the same time.

[El Chaba]

Sucked:
Every water bottle cage manufactured prior to 1985
Bell V1 Pro helmets- the positive aspect of this helmet was that you could devise a rcaing stategy based on it...as my friend said "when you are back with the Bell V1 Pros, it is time to move up!"
Michelin Elan Clinchers- 100 miles would wear out a rear tire....if you didn't puncture first. Convinced me that clinchers were way too much hassle...an opinion I still hold to this day

Didn't Suck:
Clement Tubulars....especially the Strada 66
Simplex Super Lj's