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Pictures of old and obscure suspension bikes

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,503
1,719
Warsaw :/
40mm gravel dual crown fork.
Inb4 someone at the industry invents a GTB (gravel trail bike) which is kind of what Leadville racers were running. A low travel mountain bike with drop bars. They will just add 700c wheels and bam, new class of bikes.

This wouldn't be as bad as it might drop the prices on gravel bikes and some of them despite the dumb hype are decent bikes.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,503
1,719
Warsaw :/
Gravel "race bikes" are dumb since that's just CX 2.0 but bikes suitable for bikepacking with a more comfortable position than most road bikes, with better tires and ones that generally work well for long trips are a decent thing. The gravel thing means you are not limited by only super nice roads. Sure it's a niche but it does exist.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,948
21,989
Sleazattle
Gravel "race bikes" are dumb since that's just CX 2.0 but bikes suitable for bikepacking with a more comfortable position than most road bikes, with better tires and ones that generally work well for long trips are a decent thing. The gravel thing means you are not limited by only super nice roads. Sure it's a niche but it does exist.
I think that was always just called a touring bike, but that branding wasn't working anymore.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,501
6,399
UK
So you like the idea of a commuter roadbike but without mudguards so you get a free enema on every wet ride?
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,501
6,399
UK
I honestly think "gravel" was thought up by bike accessory and bike luggage manufacturers rather than bike designers.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,501
6,399
UK
How else are they ever going to get you to UPGRADE to their latest MOAR durable MOAR waterproof *insert new textile name* luggage?
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,503
1,719
Warsaw :/
The Industry™
Germans would disagree as thier companies like mudguards a bit more. Though I think the no mudguards thing is mostly because people don't like the look of them when they buy it so most dum dums need to buy a cool looking bike, realize no mudguards was a bad idea and buy aftermarket ones. The issue is also how dumb the average customer is.

Also some gravel bike have a bit better geo than commuters. Sure it's marginal but a slightly better bike is still slightly better. It's just it's not true for most gravel bikes. Imho it's a typical case of something that would probably develop into something useful if not for marketing/hype.

@Westy weirdly in Poland they were called "trekking" bikes. A drop bar is a nice addition to it and weirdly most trekking bikes in the past were really horrible 20 years ago when I've seen more of them here and only became good once you paid stupid money for them. So there is a benefit to this "everyone needs a gravel" nonsense.
 
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trib

not worthy of a Rux.
Jun 22, 2009
1,637
641
Inb4 someone at the industry invents a GTB (gravel trail bike) which is kind of what Leadville racers were running. A low travel mountain bike with drop bars. They will just add 700c wheels and bam, new class of bikes.

This wouldn't be as bad as it might drop the prices on gravel bikes and some of them despite the dumb hype are decent bikes.
Youre closer to the reality than you may realise.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,501
6,399
UK
Germans won't cross a completely empty street if there's a red pedestrian crossing light somewhere even vaguely close to where would be a perfectly safe place to cross. So yeah. It's no surprise that bicycles without mudguards are an uncommon sight there.
.
 

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,135
1,364
Styria
Germans won't cross a completely empty street if there's a red pedestrian crossing light somewhere even vaguely close to where would be a perfectly safe place to cross. So yeah. It's no surprise that bicycles without mudguards are an uncommon sight there.
.
So true. Whenever I was working there, i was deemed a revoluzzer for straying off paths and taking way shorter cut offs or like you said crossing an empty street on a red sign.
 

DaveW

Space Monkey
Jul 2, 2001
11,598
3,118
The bunker at parliament
Grandad flew over it but never stopped
Good on him, one of my uncles flew over and unfortunately did stop.
Manchester bombers were apparently a bit more shit than the designers originally though they would be.

It was on their 1st mission in the manchesters to Germany over Kiel.

Beginning operations with Hampdens, the squadron converted in July 1941 to the more modern Manchesters and later (spring 1942), Lancasters. Four of its Lancasters; ED860 "N-Nan", EE176, JB138, and LL483, each became veterans of more than 100 operational sorties. Records show that in the case of the first three aircraft, the long road to their centuries included participation in the raid on 3/4 November 1943, when Flight Lieutenant William Reid of No. 61 Squadron won the Victoria Cross.
 
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norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,503
1,719
Warsaw :/
Germans won't cross a completely empty street if there's a red pedestrian crossing light somewhere even vaguely close to where would be a perfectly safe place to cross. So yeah. It's no surprise that bicycles without mudguards are an uncommon sight there.
.
My German stepfather hates rules so much he stopped being vegan after 20 years because "lefties are vegan" and they are bad only because they like rules. Then again his bike doesn't have mudguards. Though Sethi is right. Most Germans I worked with are less prone to follow any form or organized thinking than a libertarian meth convention.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
I like how you're arguing with the guy who actually had the helmet.

Not a sticker. Those dumb helmets had those as permanent graphics because they claimed he had something to do with designing it.

So no, I most certainly did not go out of my way to deliberately put a CG logo on it.

That was the only way they came with that first gen and I was handed one to test.

 

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,480
4,210
sw ontario canada
I like how you're arguing with the guy who actually had the helmet.

Not a sticker. Those dumb helmets had those as permanent graphics because they claimed he had something to do with designing it.

So no, I most certainly did not go out of my way to deliberately put a CG logo on it.

That was the only way they came with that first gen and I was handed one to test.


So you proudly displayed it instead of covering it up.

Gotcha :thumb:















































:D