Cycling dead ends.

[pwa]

What was that frame building system that used epoxy - there were Raleigh bikes in the 80s and 90s

Dynatech? Arguably bonding stuff together has replaced brazing on competition frames. So not really a dead end.

[ratherbeintobago]

Thought of another - that Shimano thing with small chainrings from the early ‘90’s

[tim-b]

Hi

Solid plastic saddles

All of my bikes in the '70s and '80s had Unica Nitor (later Cinelli) type 55 saddles. I never did go for leather saddles and even now use plastic Specialized BG

didn't millar have an oval ring and no FD / chain catcher?

That's how those that could afford them used them in the '70s, but most completed TTs on a single circular chainring/5sp freewheel anyway

Regards
tim-b

[keyboardmonkey]

SRAM have been in touch re cycling dead ends with just two words: “triple chainsets”.

[reohn2]

SRAM have been in touch re cycling dead ends with just two words: “triple chainsets”.

It would seem so,and the whole industry seems to have declared an end to 26in/559 wheels,both will persist in small number by enlightened users until they come round again as something new

[Cugel]

Suspension handlebar stems. Solid plastic saddles.

Aren't solid plastic saddles (with carbon fibre reinforcement) currently fashionable with weight weenies and posers?

And a very good suspension stem has been designed by Red Shift. So good I have two. Expensive but far less so than a new frame with a complex head-tube thingy.

https://redshiftsports.com/stem

Cugel

PS When will cycling helmets be declared a redundant dead end?

[Mike Sales]

2. Shimano Dyna Drive pedals and cranks, with an enlarged pedal thread and corresponding crank to allow the single pedal bearing to be in the same plane as the crank. A set of those cranks and pedals sat in the window display of my local bike shop for years long after Shimano had discontinued them.

The AX pedals also put the pedal foot bearing surface in the same plane as the axis of the pedal, rather than a few mill above as is usual.
The advantage was never clear to me, and presumably not to anyone else.

[iandriver]

Hi
I never did go for leather saddles and even now use plastic Specialized BG

tim-b

Thats got a padded top on it hasn't it? The one I had in the 70s was hard plastic and nothing else. No padding, no foam, no cover. Just solid plastic.

[Brucey]

2. Shimano Dyna Drive pedals and cranks, with an enlarged pedal thread and corresponding crank to allow the single pedal bearing to be in the same plane as the crank. A set of those cranks and pedals sat in the window display of my local bike shop for years long after Shimano had discontinued them.

The AX pedals also put the pedal foot bearing surface in the same plane as the axis of the pedal, rather than a few mill above as is usual.
The advantage was never clear to me, and presumably not to anyone else.

not a new idea; IIRC on the speedplay website there is a picture of a pedal that is about a hundred years old that puts the foot in the same place. The claim is that it is biomechnically more efficent. However in this age of marginal gains, the fact that the whole rider is set about 1/2" lower down and can therefore draft more effectively is one that is ripe to be exploited again.

cheers

[Brucey]

dead end: shaft drive bicycles.

cheers

[speedsixdave]

Browning Automatic transmission: hinged triple chainrings that shifted the chain without a front derailleur. About 1986?

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Early aluminium frames were glued Weren't they.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
All AX Equipped, that's a lie only the deluxe pink model had all AX stuff, this model, gents aero racer.
full pro and pro also IIRC.
I think that 17 mm was the mentioned shortening.
So 60 cm frame is shorter by that amount and marked 60 of course.

Only advantage I can see with the pedals Is a very noticeable reduction in cadence, Promotes good foot stability too.
Ideal for long distance then.

[pjclinch]

Though I love the way it looks, Moulton's space frame. Too complex to manufacture economically for a bike concept that, with small wheels, was supposed to be more practical. Complex and practical rarely coincide.

The space frame concept was always intended to be a niche high end. The collaboration with pashley took the concept down a notch but it's still fairly niche.

Agreed. I find my TSR very practical indeed, it's a lovely general purpose bike. That one pays a lot is beyond doubt, but you can say the same about e.g. Rohloff gear hubs and SON dynohubs: yes, you can do a broadly similar job for a lot less, but if you have the money and are willing to part with it they do make some difference.

It's a shame the F frame design went to Raleigh who then ruined it before killing it off as that was where the mass market for Moultons existed.

I still think that if that design was relaunched as a mass market bike it would sell lots. That's basically what Brompton are doing.

If you ride a Bridgestone Moulton (the updated F-Frame Bridgestone built in Japan in the Noughties) it's pretty clear it's much closer to a space-frame Moulton than to a Brompton (which folds easily rather than dis-assembles with a bit of a faff, but doesn't ride so well), so I think there's a possibility something like that that didn't have to be imported from Japan at rather high cost might be a goer. I find even the Brom, with an unsuspended front, does okay on most roads and I positively like the small wheel handling on Moulton and Brom. Wee wheels also make a one-size-fits-most frame easier and they make manhandling the bike less cumbersome too.

F-Frame Moultons didn't die because they were a dead end but because, as you say, Raleigh put them down as Not Invented Here

(But one Moulton thing that strikes me as a dead end is the Speed space-frame model, at least as advertised: the frame must be an aerodynamic black hole!)

Pete.

[Sweep]

Thanks by the way brucey for your long reply on the dualdrive, though I must admit to being a bit confused as to where mine sits in that detailed list.

It has what I take to be a toggle chain.

It's all working fine so far, despite an Italian bike mechanic changing a cassette (he was also doing other stuff) managing to come close to disassembling it, even though I had told him about the geared hub.

It hasn't had a massive amount of use though so maybe it is just about to eat itself.

Its a 3x7 set up which works very well for the moment - the SRAM 7 speed cassettes used to cost me no more than £15.

It actually came with the Dahon Speed Pro, the host for the dreaded suspension hub, so maybe that's two cycling dead ends on one bike! A record?