If you have any questions, please use the BikeGremlin forum (I try to respond to every comment, but UA-cam sucks at notifications, especially when it comes to any follow-up questions): www.bikegremlin.net/ Relja
Preach it brother! I agree with much of what you say. I am a second generation bicycle obsessed person. I raced, was a ride leader and had many positions in our local bicycle club in the past. I have had, broken and worn out all kinds of bicycles and parts over decades. I have learned to hate modern bikes. I like steel frames, Chromo or better is awesome. External cable routing. Rim brakes, clincher tires with tubes. Double wall rims, lots of strong spokes so one broken spoke does not leave you walking home. Double or even triple chainrings because I live where we have a lot of big hills. I stick to 9 speeds or less for the rear derailure because that was the last configuration where you can mix road and mountain components and most everything still works. I like downtube and bar end shifters because they usually keep working forever with easy maintenance. You speak the truth man! Thanks for your videos that show me that I am not the only one who thinks this way.
Love your sarcasm: "Since we are all racers and cannot waste even 1 Watt of energy on frame flexion"!! So much of anything, not just bicycles, is sold on people's vanity!
This video deserves more views. "Cycling culture" being all about impractical extreme sport fads is irritating, leads to people being ripped off with overpriced goods.
You can still buy Trek FX 1 here in Croatia! Comes with the V brakes,and steel fork! Fender mounts,rack mounts and the price is below 600€! Greetings from Croatia 😎
I started agreeing with your analysis as soon as you began. Everything makes perfect sense for people that do not have many thousands to spend on a new bike every few years.
Enjoy all the info you give in these types of videos. Your dislike of quill stems prompted me to change out the threaded fork on my 2014 Specialized cross roads sport model (hybrid). Put a Surly chromoly rim brake fork on. Just love this bike's upright geometry and the aluminum frame. Don't understand why there are not more bikes out there allowing riders a more upright position. It's so comfortable and still great for fitness riding. I spend time at the Serbian Orthodox Monastery here in Ontario. Love the Serbian people. God bless.
I fully agree with your thinking. The only bikes I have bought with my own money (besides one cheap beater bike way back when I didn't know anything about bicycles) are a couple of vintage steel bikes. First an early 90s touring bike that was made from trek(but sold in my country as crescent) with reynolds 531st(super tourist). This one is for the part of the year with no salt on the roads, I live in Sweden. The other a 90s hybrid bike in double butted cro-mo 4130. Both have long chainstays, can fit wider tires(both are 622mm), have proper mounts for front and rear fenders, can mount racks, have brake bosses for cantilever or v-brakes(I prefer canti), BSA bottom brackets, externally routed cables except the rear brake on the trek but not a big issue to get in and out. I also have cup and cone bearings for all the bearings on both bikes. I enjoy doing the maintenance each year and the satisfaction factor is a lot higher when fully adjusted compared to like the more plug and play of hollowtech 2 or a cartridge square taper. Keep em coming! :)
I think similarly, but I've completely switched to cartridge bottom brackets. High... even decent quality cup-and-cone BBs are not available locally. So I've been using Shimano square taper cartridges mostly, over the past decade, and haven't had any problems - those cost about $15 and can last for about 10 years (depending on the riding conditions and mileage).
You are in the real world with feet on the ground compared to other channels that blindly promotes the industry with apparently unlimited budget… The daily life in a workshop at fixing bike isn’t shown unlike you. Most of the time, we see reviews of ultra expensive technical products in clinical and perfectly clean studio : that is not the real life. Everything is done to make you want to buy without needing it… It’s purely advertising but more and more expensive each time… Of course, marketing is money… So, thank you for your work and for sharing your knowledge for the real world !
I have a steel road bike, a titanium gravel bike, and a carbon fiber gravel bike (3T Exploro RaceMax). My favorite of the bunch is all carbon, with a proprietary headset, aero seatpost, internally routed cabling, and press fit BB. The geometry, with its super short chainstays, and super low BB makes it ride super impressively. I'm not fast, but the thing abides. I love it so much. Which is all to say, as much as you're bike is super sensible, modern bike frames can ride well and be especially fun! To another point, my Ti frame has an amazing Lauf Grit SL fork that has suspension but zero service interval requirements. It's definitely not a high amplitude fork with tons of travel, but it is worry free. OBVIOUSLY, all these damn bikes are expensive...
California here. Trek Fx are very popular. They are probably some of the best hybrid / road bikes around. I agree with every point you made. Note that basically this is like a classic mid range mtb frame from the 80-90s but for 700c instead of 26” I checked on Trek website: yep, FX are now all with disks and internal routing. Not great.
According to some articles I have red from the late 90ies and early 2000's, the reason they have switched from the rim brakes is,in some cases, especially on the downhill,or some technical terrain, when applied a lot of braking power for the longer period of time,the wheel rims can get VERY HOT, and there were cases of tires dismounting the rims resulting in the serious physical damage to the riders! I'm talking mtb's here, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened on the road bikes also... Btw...I love that single speed build on that Trek🫠 Greetings from Kris 😎
That is a known problem. The solution is to let some pressure out (even on road bikes). But yes, not affecting the tyre pressure is an advantage of disc brakes. Disc brake pros and cons (anf Froome's complaining video :) ): bike.bikegremlin.com/3871/pros-and-cons-od-bicycle-disc-brakes-compared-to-rim-brakes/ Relja
This is good advice. I've been cycling all my life and my 'keeper' bike is a 2013 Trek 7.2 FX. The 7.2 and the 7.1 FX in the video have an aluminium frame and steel fork. See the steel welds at the top of the fork at 3:31. I'd love to have a bike with a carbon fibre frame, but not one of today's brittle thermosets. A few years from now, perhaps low-end bike frames will be mass-produced using 3D-printed, flexible, carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastics? Some manufacturers - Superstrata and Kellys - are already producing frames this way.
Thanks, good video! I have a Raleigh bike with 531 frame, and then decided to buy an aluminium bike for winter, and it's so hard to ride on it. You are getting beaten everywhere. I much prefer steel frame, which softens bumps.
I rode "harsh" steel frames, and nice aluminium frames. A lot of it is down to design - both in terms of geometry, and in terms of tube profile, wall thickness etc. Having said that, my steel vintage road bike is among the comfiest frames I tried, while my current aluminium "haul-everything" commuter is surprisingly strong, but among the harshest frames I rode (doesn't cut it without at least 28 mm wide comfy tyres).
Great video interesting thank you, What a great advice on your derailleur hanger and they should supply two spares with every bike sold. It would make my job a lot easier when a guy comes in my workshop for a replacement hanger on his bike. But do you know what most of the guys would say! ( I had two hanger’s but can’t find them) I see you like your stand for working on your bike. You would like my bike stand! press a button and the bike goes upwards to work on at any level or height and you press a button to lower the bike. I can be working on quite heavy electric bikes. Do let me know when you do video on ebikes. Again thank you
Yes - I saw some electric stands by Unior, they are great. I did build the stand with electric bike weight in mind, but I need help to get most of them on and off. My DIY stand: bike.bikegremlin.com/9838/bicycle-repair-stand-diy/
Seems like you've found the perfect bike for you. With so much out there, it's definitely challenging but something that's got favorable geometry and replaceable components is a winner right away.
I agree with all things said! And I think every generation cyclists probably have said that the older stuff was more durable! One thing you did not mention is that fenders sold these days are at least 15-20cm too short to be of any real benefit.
SKS does make some mudguards that are almost excellent (quite good). On the generations - there does seem to be a trend of making stuff less useful, less repairable (if that's a right word for it) and less durable. Here, I wrote my thoughts on the (cycling) industry trends (and a "section" about AI, as it seemed to touch on the point): bike.bikegremlin.com/17645/cycling-industry-nonsense/ Relja
It's a steel fork (my mistake). And while a fork should be strong enough so that the frame bends first during a frontal impact (to prevent the fork itself from fatique cracking), it shouldn't be too stiff.
Don't get me wrong, but your English gives you away as if you are coming somewhere from the Balkan, from Zagreb to Belgrade and all the surrounding areas. Btw, I agree with most of what you usually saying, good logic leads to interesting educational videos, thumbs up!
Thanks. :) BTW, good guess - I'm from Novi Sad, Serbia. :) Edit: I also run the BikeGremlin RS - channel version in my native. www.youtube.com/@BikeGremlinUS/community
I rode stiff steel frames - though it's fair to say that aluminium ones are stiffer more often. In this article, I explained bicycle frame materials in great detail, as well as why I think it still boils down to the frame design (and manufacturing quality), not to the materials used: bike.bikegremlin.com/11144/bicycle-frame-materials-explained/
You could also have titled this " The Antidote to Modern Bike Frame Marketing " 😁. Most mechanics would agree with the majority of your tick list as they're all good points for a large number of recreational cyclists. Ask a mechanic which shop jobs they don't like and why, they will usually say proprietary headsets, fully internalised headset cabling now often hydraulic, other internal cabling and badly manufactured carbon frames at the BB apertures and proprietary wheel builds. Excessive cost for customers and frustration, fiddly time consumptive complication of systems that were previously open to transparent inspection and maintenance. IE : Removal of customer choice to sell less suitable bikes for the vast majority of cyclists, for grossly excessive profits. Particularly noticeable at certain market levels. Perhaps somewhat unfair on BTwiin frame as the geometry clearly shows it was designed as an outright road race frame , as opposed to the Trek which appears designed as a CX bike with very different geometry. For years BTwin have produced good value road bikes in the entry/ mid level. Just saying as an observer, I have no links to BTwin. Would it be possible to follow up your valid theme and do a part 2 ? ...... to address the replacement of tried and trusted inexpensive bike design & componentry contrasted to "less than ideal" modern carbon racing frame trends. The former simply works, the latter creates solutions to non-existent problems for Most Bike Riders, Simply to satisfy the greed of a distinct proportion of the cycling industry. Glad you made the video, great job once again 👏👏👏
Good points. I have touched up on much of the nonsense in this article (road bike buying guide, technically): bike.bikegremlin.com/12108/the-best-road-bicycle-buying/ I'll also mention at least some of those in the following videos about my road bicycle build. Can't promise any deadlines (sourcing parts is just one of the problems), but with some luck and good health, it will be done. :) P.S. The BTwin is a road bike frame, though my objection is that, for recreational cycling (even for racing), such geometry still doesn't make much sense (at least in my opinion and based on my experience). The build quality of the frame was quite good, a friend of mine was selling it and it is now sold for a road bike build (with all its pros and cons).
@@BikeGremlinUS I really appreciate the reply and link. Brother as a fellow mechanic were on the same page. The content of your link is ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING and if I had my way sellers should be obliged to give it to all potential purchasers before any sale ! I've followed you on YT (subscribed for the last few years) and wasn't aware of the weblink until now. Is there anyway you can give it more prominence by a 30 sec mention on YT ? Chapeau to you for advancing this crucial knowledge and helping significant numbers of cyclists to have more fun, as that's how the cycling world should operate. Finally when you mentioned the BTwin seat geometry and showed the position, Colnago immediately came to my mind with 1cm frame increment sizes and each frame geometry adjusted to the individual frame size, although on additional thought for it's price that may be beyond the BTwin budget and so your point about mismatch, with changing frame sizes but no according adjustment to standard geometry would reflect exactly the point you make in the video. Keep the love coming whenever you can, incalculable cyclists are and will benefit from all your generosity and hard work 👏👏👏 🌟🌟🌟
Hahah. Yes. :) I'm regarded as a retro-grouch by the local enthusiasts - but not by the local mechanics, they understand what it's about. :) I'd make sure to link to the article explaining it in more details when I make a video about the road bike build.
I used to work in the LBS as a mechanic for over a decade, i service people's bikes from time to time as a hobby but i refuse to service anything made recent, i utterly hate modern bikes in general with their shitty cartridge bearings and the ever lacking standards making a simple servicejob a nightmare, anything made up until the early 2000 and down is generally a pleasure to work on.
There's nothing the big cycling frame manufacturers make that interests me, if you want useful and fun bikes you have to look at smaller manufacturers or custom frame builders now.
A great video which also reveals the hyper capitalism around the bicycle industry today. I have an aluminium Trek Domane 4. It’s an affordable entry level bicycle. However, people around me who are amateur cyclists went for “carbon bikes” and they try to push me to uggrade for a carbon bike. What do you think about carbon bikes? Are they worth it? Why people go for carbon bikes which are more expensive and less durable than aluminium ones?
I wrote an article explaining the specifics (pros and cons) of each popular bicycle frame material (it's super-long, but there's a table of contents that lets you skip to the parts of interest): bike.bikegremlin.com/11144/bicycle-frame-materials-explained/ TL/DR carbon too has its pros and cons. I wouldn't say it's less durable in and of itself, but for me at least, its cons along with its price make it a poor choice. There is a lot of marketing and "hype" in the cycling industry. Disc brakes, 1x drivetrains, tubeless tyres even for road bikes... It's what drives the sales and the industry, as I've seen bikes that are literally almost hundred years old still in good, rideable condition. So most companies would go bust if it weren't for their marketing departments.
That black frame looks like a cyclocross bike. It's supposed to have a short chain stay to increase traction for loose terrain like gravel or mud and its makes for more stable climbing. Cyclocross frames are not designed for comfort
I don't think it helps very much with steep climbs in the saddle when, because of the short chainstays, rider's center of mass gets behind the rear wheel's axle, unloading the front wheel. Of course, one can lean more forward and compensate for such poor design, but it still doesn't make it good in my opinion. Also, it's worth noting that this frame doesn't provide enough clearance for 28 mm wide road tyres, so I doubt it would fare well in cyclocross - I'd say it's a pure road cycling frame.
I like this video. But in my experience rim brakes are way more squeaky and need more maintenance than even a basic mechanical disk brake. I won't ever buy a bike with rim brakes again. And I had the trek 2011 7.3 fx, horrible brakes and they look very similar to the 7.1 fx in this video
Informative video. We need Greta Thornberg on this issue immediately. Crappy modern bikes means less bikes on the road means more global warming. In your opinion, do you think UBI will reduce the chances of corporations building crappier products in order to increase profits?
I wish to be wrong on this, but the trend is towards more power (money is just a means to get power and resources) being put in the "hands" of fewer people, while increasing the control over all the others (cameras, smartphones, paying by cards...). In theory, once we start leasing everything (without really buying and owning it) there might be some incentive to increase durability and quality - but not necessarily (there could just be an extra charge to change to a newer model).
@@BikeGremlinUS there is a way to escape capitalist omnipotence... create your own build then make a popular video mocking the generic capitalist's build. Then society will demand (supply and demand) a better build. There are 2 problems with this approach. 1. You will probably not receive a fair reward for your efforts, instead you will just help a rival capitalist succeed. 2. Your video becoming popular is determined by some corporation's algorithm. Instead you suggest a "Leasing Model" (Own nothing, be happy.) This has been previewed already, with game culture, and people don't like it, they prefer owning physical games, and its cheaper to own physical games. Lease culture gives capitalists more omnipotence, and it prevents people from modding and improving technology. For example, capitalists overcharge rent and 50% of americans cannot afford housing rent prices. Also, after watching your video, I measured all my bikes... Every one of my newer bikes has a 17 inch chainstay, all of my vintage bikes have 18 inches... what was the chainstay length of the rubbish one in the video? I didn't see you measure it. And I looked online, there might be a new explanation other than greedy capitalism... there is a bike blog that had a survey...most of the tall riders voted for a 43 centimeter chainstay as most popular, its strange... short people voted for it as well... I think they prioritize the ability to do wheelies over handling and efficiency...
For the chainstays: can't remember (I returned the frame), but you couldn't fit a 28 mm wide tyre (it would start hitting the seat-tube). Consumer votes: easily manipulated, which marketing experts know and exploit very well. Similar goes for the capitalist and corporate exploitation. It has a great way of turning the good, basic human tendencies to work against those same humans (especially in the long run - for those who are yet to be born).
@@BikeGremlinUS yeah it could be fake poll results. and with capitalism its like the jobs thing, every politician always talking about how they will make more and more jobs. And the sheeple are always talking about how they want jobs. Because they have to work 2 or 3 jobs to pay rent. And the ones who can afford rent are just creating more slave livestock for future generations. I have a question though, i have a mountain bike, it looks cool, but it is too heavy, i didn't measure it, but it feels too heavy. The frame and wheels are factory stock. But i take off the wheel to adjust it, and now the wheel is not true on the frame, but also, the chainstay gap is too large, I have to pinch it so the locknut can fit onto the bolt. Is this a rubbish frame or is this normal? On my other bikes I do not have to pinch the frame.
@@earthenscience As I like to say: "one accurate measurement beats one thousand expert opinions." :) Measure the dropout width (the inner side, where the wheel's hub leans against), and measure the hub's outer width. You may have a 130 mm OLD hub placed in a 135 mm dropout width frame. But it's better to measure than to guess. Standard hub widths: bike.bikegremlin.com/158/bicycle-rear-hub/#5
Not really - that is my point of view and I've explained why in the video. Edit: How would you name the video without the title being over one sentence long? :)
Some of the things you mentioned in video has common sence, and with some of them I must disagree. First off all you compared the chainstay and the design of two different frames. One is hybrid and the other one road bike frame, and even though they look similar they are different. It is good to have longer chainstay on the bicycle because it allows you to have more clearence for bigger tyres, but for road bike anything up to 28mm wide will do the job and that is why road bike doesn't need bigger tyte clearence. Nevertheless, shorter chain stay will affect how the bicycle handles, and quicker handling is very desirable on road bikes on curvy descent. Also, it is much more simple to change cables when they are sitting on the frame instead inside of it, but also when the cables are internaly routed it helps to protect cables from weather influence, mud and dirt, which should improve lifespan of the cables. Yes, it is a bit pain in the ass when you have to replace cables, but the smart man will not completely remove the old cables before he installs the new. He would rather use old cables as a guide for new one. The whole process lasts a bit longer but is actually not so complicated. The new tech in bicycle industry is sometimes a bit exagarating, but not everything is bullshit. There are actualy some really helpfull stuff and improvements. :)
Different people have different education (theoretical knowledge) and different experiences, hence different opinions. My opinion (based on my experience) is that shorter chainstays result in less comfort and more difficult control at high speeds - both when cornering and when going straight, especially (but not only) when the surface is not perfectly smooth. Yes, there are ways to route cables through a frame, but for me they are a lot less practical and take a lot longer. Over the past decades I rode bicycles whole year long and in all kinds of terrains. The biggest problem has always been the cable portion along the rear chainstay, going towards the rear derailleur. That's not solved by internal cable routing. The way it's solved on some trekking and mountain bikes is to rout the cables along the top tube, instead of along the downtube. That makes a greater difference than the internal routing does. I'd argue that the cycling industry had reached its peak around the year 2000, with most things "invented" since then have been to the detriment of people who want bikes to be durable, and cheap to maintain. When it comes to road bike frame design, the short chainstay problem existed on the "high-end" frames for as far as I can remember.
I agree with your views. In the USA at least, it seems the bicycle community is mentally ill. I think most suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD 😊 I appreciate your common sense. Start a bike mfg company 😊 I found this video because I searched for: Modern bicycles suck Haha 😊
If you have any questions, please use the BikeGremlin forum (I try to respond to every comment, but UA-cam sucks at notifications, especially when it comes to any follow-up questions):
www.bikegremlin.net/
Relja
Preach it brother! I agree with much of what you say. I am a second generation bicycle obsessed person. I raced, was a ride leader and had many positions in our local bicycle club in the past. I have had, broken and worn out all kinds of bicycles and parts over decades. I have learned to hate modern bikes. I like steel frames, Chromo or better is awesome. External cable routing. Rim brakes, clincher tires with tubes. Double wall rims, lots of strong spokes so one broken spoke does not leave you walking home. Double or even triple chainrings because I live where we have a lot of big hills. I stick to 9 speeds or less for the rear derailure because that was the last configuration where you can mix road and mountain components and most everything still works. I like downtube and bar end shifters because they usually keep working forever with easy maintenance. You speak the truth man! Thanks for your videos that show me that I am not the only one who thinks this way.
Thanks for taking the time to comment - I didn’t think anyone cares about this stuff anymore.
Relja
Love your sarcasm: "Since we are all racers and cannot waste even 1 Watt of energy on frame flexion"!! So much of anything, not just bicycles, is sold on people's vanity!
Quite right
This video deserves more views. "Cycling culture" being all about impractical extreme sport fads is irritating, leads to people being ripped off with overpriced goods.
Your post posts are always full of useful information and easy to understand.
As always, thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge.
Nice of you to say that - thank you. :)
You can still buy Trek FX 1 here in Croatia!
Comes with the V brakes,and steel fork! Fender mounts,rack mounts and the price is below 600€!
Greetings from Croatia 😎
I started agreeing with your analysis as soon as you began. Everything makes perfect sense for people that do not have many thousands to spend on a new bike every few years.
Enjoy all the info you give in these types of videos. Your dislike of quill stems prompted me to change out the threaded fork on my 2014 Specialized cross roads sport model (hybrid). Put a Surly chromoly rim brake fork on. Just love this bike's upright geometry and the aluminum frame. Don't understand why there are not more bikes out there allowing riders a more upright position. It's so comfortable and still great for fitness riding. I spend time at the Serbian Orthodox Monastery here in Ontario. Love the Serbian people. God bless.
Best channel on UA-cam! Thank you sir!
Greetings from USA!👍🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴🚴
I fully agree with your thinking. The only bikes I have bought with my own money (besides one cheap beater bike way back when I didn't know anything about bicycles) are a couple of vintage steel bikes. First an early 90s touring bike that was made from trek(but sold in my country as crescent) with reynolds 531st(super tourist). This one is for the part of the year with no salt on the roads, I live in Sweden. The other a 90s hybrid bike in double butted cro-mo 4130. Both have long chainstays, can fit wider tires(both are 622mm), have proper mounts for front and rear fenders, can mount racks, have brake bosses for cantilever or v-brakes(I prefer canti), BSA bottom brackets, externally routed cables except the rear brake on the trek but not a big issue to get in and out.
I also have cup and cone bearings for all the bearings on both bikes. I enjoy doing the maintenance each year and the satisfaction factor is a lot higher when fully adjusted compared to like the more plug and play of hollowtech 2 or a cartridge square taper.
Keep em coming! :)
I think similarly, but I've completely switched to cartridge bottom brackets.
High... even decent quality cup-and-cone BBs are not available locally. So I've been using Shimano square taper cartridges mostly, over the past decade, and haven't had any problems - those cost about $15 and can last for about 10 years (depending on the riding conditions and mileage).
You are in the real world with feet on the ground compared to other channels that blindly promotes the industry with apparently unlimited budget… The daily life in a workshop at fixing bike isn’t shown unlike you. Most of the time, we see reviews of ultra expensive technical products in clinical and perfectly clean studio : that is not the real life. Everything is done to make you want to buy without needing it… It’s purely advertising but more and more expensive each time… Of course, marketing is money… So, thank you for your work and for sharing your knowledge for the real world !
I have a steel road bike, a titanium gravel bike, and a carbon fiber gravel bike (3T Exploro RaceMax). My favorite of the bunch is all carbon, with a proprietary headset, aero seatpost, internally routed cabling, and press fit BB. The geometry, with its super short chainstays, and super low BB makes it ride super impressively. I'm not fast, but the thing abides. I love it so much. Which is all to say, as much as you're bike is super sensible, modern bike frames can ride well and be especially fun!
To another point, my Ti frame has an amazing Lauf Grit SL fork that has suspension but zero service interval requirements. It's definitely not a high amplitude fork with tons of travel, but it is worry free. OBVIOUSLY, all these damn bikes are expensive...
California here. Trek Fx are very popular. They are probably some of the best hybrid / road bikes around. I agree with every point you made. Note that basically this is like a classic mid range mtb frame from the 80-90s but for 700c instead of 26”
I checked on Trek website: yep, FX are now all with disks and internal routing. Not great.
According to some articles I have red from the late 90ies and early 2000's, the reason they have switched from the rim brakes is,in some cases, especially on the downhill,or some technical terrain, when applied a lot of braking power for the longer period of time,the wheel rims can get VERY HOT, and there were cases of tires dismounting the rims resulting in the serious physical damage to the riders! I'm talking mtb's here, but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened on the road bikes also...
Btw...I love that single speed build on that Trek🫠
Greetings from Kris 😎
That is a known problem. The solution is to let some pressure out (even on road bikes).
But yes, not affecting the tyre pressure is an advantage of disc brakes.
Disc brake pros and cons (anf Froome's complaining video :) ):
bike.bikegremlin.com/3871/pros-and-cons-od-bicycle-disc-brakes-compared-to-rim-brakes/
Relja
@@BikeGremlinUS Thanks for the link!
I honestly love your videos! I learned a lot 🙂
This is good advice. I've been cycling all my life and my 'keeper' bike is a 2013 Trek 7.2 FX. The 7.2 and the 7.1 FX in the video have an aluminium frame and steel fork. See the steel welds at the top of the fork at 3:31.
I'd love to have a bike with a carbon fibre frame, but not one of today's brittle thermosets. A few years from now, perhaps low-end bike frames will be mass-produced using 3D-printed, flexible, carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastics? Some manufacturers - Superstrata and Kellys - are already producing frames this way.
Thanks for the comment and the correction Desmond. :)
Yes, the fork is steel (for the better as far as I'm concerned).
Very good advice with lots of practical sense. Thank you.
Thanks, good video!
I have a Raleigh bike with 531 frame, and then decided to buy an aluminium bike for winter, and it's so hard to ride on it. You are getting beaten everywhere.
I much prefer steel frame, which softens bumps.
I rode "harsh" steel frames, and nice aluminium frames. A lot of it is down to design - both in terms of geometry, and in terms of tube profile, wall thickness etc.
Having said that, my steel vintage road bike is among the comfiest frames I tried, while my current aluminium "haul-everything" commuter is surprisingly strong, but among the harshest frames I rode (doesn't cut it without at least 28 mm wide comfy tyres).
Great video interesting thank you, What a great advice on your derailleur hanger and they should supply two spares with every bike sold. It would make my job a lot easier when a guy comes in my workshop for a replacement hanger on his bike. But do you know what most of the guys would say! ( I had two hanger’s but can’t find them) I see you like your stand for working on your bike. You would like my bike stand! press a button and the bike goes upwards to work on at any level or height and you press a button to lower the bike. I can be working on quite heavy electric bikes. Do let me know when you do video on ebikes. Again thank you
Yes - I saw some electric stands by Unior, they are great.
I did build the stand with electric bike weight in mind, but I need help to get most of them on and off.
My DIY stand:
bike.bikegremlin.com/9838/bicycle-repair-stand-diy/
Absolutely! Love this video!
Seems like you've found the perfect bike for you. With so much out there, it's definitely challenging but something that's got favorable geometry and replaceable components is a winner right away.
I agree with all things said! And I think every generation cyclists probably have said that the older stuff was more durable! One thing you did not mention is that fenders sold these days are at least 15-20cm too short to be of any real benefit.
SKS does make some mudguards that are almost excellent (quite good).
On the generations - there does seem to be a trend of making stuff less useful, less repairable (if that's a right word for it) and less durable.
Here, I wrote my thoughts on the (cycling) industry trends (and a "section" about AI, as it seemed to touch on the point):
bike.bikegremlin.com/17645/cycling-industry-nonsense/
Relja
Great video. Full of common sense (as usual). I like your sense of humour (a fool and his money......... that's me!) so keep them coming, and thanks.
Thanks - glad you enjoyed it. :)
Very interesting and informative. Thanks and all the best.
Thanks for that. Yes manufactures love to make everything more complex so you can't fix anything yourself.
Is that a steel fork in the aluminium frame? @1:45
I was told an alu fork in alu frame could break the frame over time due to lack of compliance.
It's a steel fork (my mistake).
And while a fork should be strong enough so that the frame bends first during a frontal impact (to prevent the fork itself from fatique cracking), it shouldn't be too stiff.
Don't get me wrong, but your English gives you away as if you are coming somewhere from the Balkan, from Zagreb to Belgrade and all the surrounding areas.
Btw, I agree with most of what you usually saying, good logic leads to interesting educational videos, thumbs up!
Thanks. :)
BTW, good guess - I'm from Novi Sad, Serbia. :)
Edit:
I also run the BikeGremlin RS - channel version in my native.
www.youtube.com/@BikeGremlinUS/community
I built my own electric bike stand but still quite expensive, very strong and solid, it goes up and down an 8 feet pole
I love my steel bike,after trying aluminium steel feels more comfortable even on a rigid fork
I rode stiff steel frames - though it's fair to say that aluminium ones are stiffer more often.
In this article, I explained bicycle frame materials in great detail, as well as why I think it still boils down to the frame design (and manufacturing quality), not to the materials used:
bike.bikegremlin.com/11144/bicycle-frame-materials-explained/
You could also have titled this " The Antidote to Modern Bike Frame Marketing " 😁. Most mechanics would agree with the majority of your tick list as they're all good points for a large number of recreational cyclists. Ask a mechanic which shop jobs they don't like and why, they will usually say proprietary headsets, fully internalised headset cabling now often hydraulic, other internal cabling and badly manufactured carbon frames at the BB apertures and proprietary wheel builds. Excessive cost for customers and frustration, fiddly time consumptive complication of systems that were previously open to transparent inspection and maintenance. IE : Removal of customer choice to sell less suitable bikes for the vast majority of cyclists, for grossly excessive profits. Particularly noticeable at certain market levels.
Perhaps somewhat unfair on BTwiin frame as the geometry clearly shows it was designed as an outright road race frame , as opposed to the Trek which appears designed as a CX bike with very different geometry. For years BTwin have produced good value road bikes in the entry/ mid level. Just saying as an observer, I have no links to BTwin.
Would it be possible to follow up your valid theme and do a part 2 ? ...... to address the replacement of tried and trusted inexpensive bike design & componentry contrasted to "less than ideal" modern carbon racing frame trends. The former simply works, the latter creates solutions to non-existent problems for Most Bike Riders, Simply to satisfy the greed of a distinct proportion of the cycling industry. Glad you made the video, great job once again 👏👏👏
Good points. I have touched up on much of the nonsense in this article (road bike buying guide, technically):
bike.bikegremlin.com/12108/the-best-road-bicycle-buying/
I'll also mention at least some of those in the following videos about my road bicycle build. Can't promise any deadlines (sourcing parts is just one of the problems), but with some luck and good health, it will be done. :)
P.S. The BTwin is a road bike frame, though my objection is that, for recreational cycling (even for racing), such geometry still doesn't make much sense (at least in my opinion and based on my experience). The build quality of the frame was quite good, a friend of mine was selling it and it is now sold for a road bike build (with all its pros and cons).
@@BikeGremlinUS I really appreciate the reply and link. Brother as a fellow mechanic were on the same page. The content of your link is ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING and if I had my way sellers should be obliged to give it to all potential purchasers before any sale ! I've followed you on YT (subscribed for the last few years) and wasn't aware of the weblink until now. Is there anyway you can give it more prominence by a 30 sec mention on YT ? Chapeau to you for advancing this crucial knowledge and helping significant numbers of cyclists to have more fun, as that's how the cycling world should operate.
Finally when you mentioned the BTwin seat geometry and showed the position, Colnago immediately came to my mind with 1cm frame increment sizes and each frame geometry adjusted to the individual frame size, although on additional thought for it's price that may be beyond the BTwin budget and so your point about mismatch, with changing frame sizes but no according adjustment to standard geometry would reflect exactly the point you make in the video. Keep the love coming whenever you can, incalculable cyclists are and will benefit from all your generosity and hard work 👏👏👏 🌟🌟🌟
Hahah. Yes. :)
I'm regarded as a retro-grouch by the local enthusiasts - but not by the local mechanics, they understand what it's about. :)
I'd make sure to link to the article explaining it in more details when I make a video about the road bike build.
@@BikeGremlinUS Awesome 👍
Some people dismiss aluminum forks. I like them. Mine have steel steerers.
I used to work in the LBS as a mechanic for over a decade, i service people's bikes from time to time as a hobby but i refuse to service anything made recent, i utterly hate modern bikes in general with their shitty cartridge bearings and the ever lacking standards making a simple servicejob a nightmare, anything made up until the early 2000 and down is generally a pleasure to work on.
Hey, thanks for another great video! Fully agree. Those brake arms seem way too long for minis though. What model are they?
Minis are coming up - these were on the (used) bike when I bought it.
@@BikeGremlinUS Ah, got it, cool, thanks for replying 😊 Keep up the great work!
No B.S as usual very informative video man keep it up
There's nothing the big cycling frame manufacturers make that interests me, if you want useful and fun bikes you have to look at smaller manufacturers or custom frame builders now.
A great video which also reveals the hyper capitalism around the bicycle industry today. I have an aluminium Trek Domane 4. It’s an affordable entry level bicycle. However, people around me who are amateur cyclists went for “carbon bikes” and they try to push me to uggrade for a carbon bike. What do you think about carbon bikes? Are they worth it? Why people go for carbon bikes which are more expensive and less durable than aluminium ones?
I wrote an article explaining the specifics (pros and cons) of each popular bicycle frame material (it's super-long, but there's a table of contents that lets you skip to the parts of interest):
bike.bikegremlin.com/11144/bicycle-frame-materials-explained/
TL/DR carbon too has its pros and cons. I wouldn't say it's less durable in and of itself, but for me at least, its cons along with its price make it a poor choice. There is a lot of marketing and "hype" in the cycling industry. Disc brakes, 1x drivetrains, tubeless tyres even for road bikes... It's what drives the sales and the industry, as I've seen bikes that are literally almost hundred years old still in good, rideable condition. So most companies would go bust if it weren't for their marketing departments.
That black frame looks like a cyclocross bike. It's supposed to have a short chain stay to increase traction for loose terrain like gravel or mud and its makes for more stable climbing. Cyclocross frames are not designed for comfort
I don't think it helps very much with steep climbs in the saddle when, because of the short chainstays, rider's center of mass gets behind the rear wheel's axle, unloading the front wheel.
Of course, one can lean more forward and compensate for such poor design, but it still doesn't make it good in my opinion.
Also, it's worth noting that this frame doesn't provide enough clearance for 28 mm wide road tyres, so I doubt it would fare well in cyclocross - I'd say it's a pure road cycling frame.
@@BikeGremlinUS I also think it's a road bike frame. The brakes don't allow wide tires.
I like this video. But in my experience rim brakes are way more squeaky and need more maintenance than even a basic mechanical disk brake. I won't ever buy a bike with rim brakes again. And I had the trek 2011 7.3 fx, horrible brakes and they look very similar to the 7.1 fx in this video
Opinions and preferences differ - I'm yet to have problems with decent quality rim brakes.
Informative video. We need Greta Thornberg on this issue immediately. Crappy modern bikes means less bikes on the road means more global warming. In your opinion, do you think UBI will reduce the chances of corporations building crappier products in order to increase profits?
I wish to be wrong on this, but the trend is towards more power (money is just a means to get power and resources) being put in the "hands" of fewer people, while increasing the control over all the others (cameras, smartphones, paying by cards...). In theory, once we start leasing everything (without really buying and owning it) there might be some incentive to increase durability and quality - but not necessarily (there could just be an extra charge to change to a newer model).
@@BikeGremlinUS there is a way to escape capitalist omnipotence... create your own build then make a popular video mocking the generic capitalist's build. Then society will demand (supply and demand) a better build. There are 2 problems with this approach. 1. You will probably not receive a fair reward for your efforts, instead you will just help a rival capitalist succeed. 2. Your video becoming popular is determined by some corporation's algorithm. Instead you suggest a "Leasing Model" (Own nothing, be happy.) This has been previewed already, with game culture, and people don't like it, they prefer owning physical games, and its cheaper to own physical games. Lease culture gives capitalists more omnipotence, and it prevents people from modding and improving technology. For example, capitalists overcharge rent and 50% of americans cannot afford housing rent prices. Also, after watching your video, I measured all my bikes... Every one of my newer bikes has a 17 inch chainstay, all of my vintage bikes have 18 inches... what was the chainstay length of the rubbish one in the video? I didn't see you measure it. And I looked online, there might be a new explanation other than greedy capitalism... there is a bike blog that had a survey...most of the tall riders voted for a 43 centimeter chainstay as most popular, its strange... short people voted for it as well... I think they prioritize the ability to do wheelies over handling and efficiency...
For the chainstays: can't remember (I returned the frame), but you couldn't fit a 28 mm wide tyre (it would start hitting the seat-tube).
Consumer votes: easily manipulated, which marketing experts know and exploit very well.
Similar goes for the capitalist and corporate exploitation. It has a great way of turning the good, basic human tendencies to work against those same humans (especially in the long run - for those who are yet to be born).
@@BikeGremlinUS yeah it could be fake poll results. and with capitalism its like the jobs thing, every politician always talking about how they will make more and more jobs. And the sheeple are always talking about how they want jobs. Because they have to work 2 or 3 jobs to pay rent. And the ones who can afford rent are just creating more slave livestock for future generations.
I have a question though, i have a mountain bike, it looks cool, but it is too heavy, i didn't measure it, but it feels too heavy. The frame and wheels are factory stock. But i take off the wheel to adjust it, and now the wheel is not true on the frame, but also, the chainstay gap is too large, I have to pinch it so the locknut can fit onto the bolt. Is this a rubbish frame or is this normal? On my other bikes I do not have to pinch the frame.
@@earthenscience As I like to say: "one accurate measurement beats one thousand expert opinions." :)
Measure the dropout width (the inner side, where the wheel's hub leans against), and measure the hub's outer width.
You may have a 130 mm OLD hub placed in a 135 mm dropout width frame. But it's better to measure than to guess.
Standard hub widths:
bike.bikegremlin.com/158/bicycle-rear-hub/#5
I ako imas uzasne puteve pune rupa i neravnina, ne treba ti Cineli haha
I knew this was a clickbait title but screw it lol
Not really - that is my point of view and I've explained why in the video.
Edit:
How would you name the video without the title being over one sentence long? :)
Some of the things you mentioned in video has common sence, and with some of them I must disagree.
First off all you compared the chainstay and the design of two different frames. One is hybrid and the other one road bike frame, and even though they look similar they are different. It is good to have longer chainstay on the bicycle because it allows you to have more clearence for bigger tyres, but for road bike anything up to 28mm wide will do the job and that is why road bike doesn't need bigger tyte clearence. Nevertheless, shorter chain stay will affect how the bicycle handles, and quicker handling is very desirable on road bikes on curvy descent.
Also, it is much more simple to change cables when they are sitting on the frame instead inside of it, but also when the cables are internaly routed it helps to protect cables from weather influence, mud and dirt, which should improve lifespan of the cables. Yes, it is a bit pain in the ass when you have to replace cables, but the smart man will not completely remove the old cables before he installs the new. He would rather use old cables as a guide for new one. The whole process lasts a bit longer but is actually not so complicated.
The new tech in bicycle industry is sometimes a bit exagarating, but not everything is bullshit. There are actualy some really helpfull stuff and improvements. :)
Different people have different education (theoretical knowledge) and different experiences, hence different opinions.
My opinion (based on my experience) is that shorter chainstays result in less comfort and more difficult control at high speeds - both when cornering and when going straight, especially (but not only) when the surface is not perfectly smooth.
Yes, there are ways to route cables through a frame, but for me they are a lot less practical and take a lot longer.
Over the past decades I rode bicycles whole year long and in all kinds of terrains. The biggest problem has always been the cable portion along the rear chainstay, going towards the rear derailleur. That's not solved by internal cable routing. The way it's solved on some trekking and mountain bikes is to rout the cables along the top tube, instead of along the downtube. That makes a greater difference than the internal routing does.
I'd argue that the cycling industry had reached its peak around the year 2000, with most things "invented" since then have been to the detriment of people who want bikes to be durable, and cheap to maintain. When it comes to road bike frame design, the short chainstay problem existed on the "high-end" frames for as far as I can remember.
I agree with your views. In the USA at least, it seems the bicycle community is mentally ill. I think most suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD 😊 I appreciate your common sense. Start a bike mfg company 😊 I found this video because I searched for:
Modern bicycles suck
Haha 😊