4 Bits Of Retro Cycling Tech You Should Know About

Matt and Jon bring you four of their favourite weird and wonderful tech pieces from the past decades... which would you love to try?

Here at GCN, we really do love a bit of retro-tech, and we know you do too. So we thought we'd share with you some of our favourite bits of old school tech. Starting with these Spinergy Rev X wheels. Now the company was set up in the early 1990's by a former Cannondale engineer called Ralph Schlanger. With a distinctive, striking design, they certainly cut a dash in the Pulsar.

- I love what you did there, Matt. That's right, they were distinctive, certainly. I mean eight carbon spokes, essentially bonded together. You could also stiffen them up with some little Rev X inserts in there as well.

- You could indeed, and they really had, as well as distinctive design, a distinctive sound, as well.

- They certainly did.

- A little bit like a helicopter, really, wasn't it?

- Yeah!

- Now aside from ourselves, because both John and I did ride these quite amazing wheels in the 1990's. That is actually a picture of John in his back garden. Despite the pixels, he is there somewhere. This is retro after all. Now lots of other top pros used them, didn't they? Mario Cipollini when he was riding at the Seiko, Paolo Batini rode them as well. As well as Michele Bartoli, But, shat a legendary rider he was. But as the 90's progressed there're increasing stories of these wheels quite literally exploding underneath the riders, as well as other stories of them causing quite nasty and gruesome injuries as well.

- Yeah, let's face it, Matt. Essentially they were eight blades of carbon flapping around in the peloton weren't they?

- Indeed like llamas almost.

- Yeahthat's right. So in the end, in 2001 the UCI took it upon themselves to ban them, ban them in competition. And then the Spinergy Rev Xs were essentially sent to the carbon scrap heap in the sky.

- Tell you what, that despite the risk of them sort of, at any moment, exploding underneath you, they're still one of the coolest wheels ever, aren't they?

- Yeah, absolutely gutted I sold mine.

- Power pedals, the pedals that make you a winner. Oh, well that's what it says on the box anyway.

- What a tag line. Now these retro pedalling tech actually date back to 1995, he used them, and came from Norway. What was most interesting about these was the fact there was a clutch mechanism inside of the spindle, making it impossible to backpedal. Which, in theory anyway, created more leverage by adding the length of the shoe sole to the length of the crankarm during the upstroke phase of the pedal stroke.

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[TheMarcel]

The thing i love most about retro tech is a good old steel frame and downtube shifters. not like its the only thing i can afford

[DeckMower]

Interesting that Matt said he couldn't quantify any performance gains using the Power pedals since he didn't have a powermeter at the time. But, he has a powermeter now. It would be interesting to ride on them now that he has a powermeter and compare them to a modern equivalent. Would make a good video imo.

[djguydan]

My favorite retro tech, the wooden axle. I remember my mate Gret just got a stone "wheel, " and we just figured put a wooden stick right in the middle. Seriously shaved so much time off our daily hunting and gathering run.

[jondowe]

Many memories here! How about these...? The Push computer, one of the originals, Avocet Model III magnesium hubs (had one shatter on me), MTB Flexstem, Aerolight pedals (replaced mine with Mercury's- better design), Bell V-1 helmet (the first hardshell as I recall), Everest titanium freewheels (which melted quickly), Shimano Pitch-10 freewheels/chains/chainrings (they should bring them back-it was a great concept), Weyless parts (what happened to them?), the Exxon Graftek G-1 graphite frame, tied and soldered spokes, the Klein superbikes (considered rediculously expensive at the time), Huret Jubilee derailleurs (my Gitane TDF had them in 1976), Alan riveted aluminum frames, the Campy components that were sold hold plated by one company, Mercian touring frames with the ornate lugwork, Detto Pietro shoes where you nailed on the cleats, Shimano Uniglide chains, with the bulging outer plates, Sun Tour barend ratchet shifters, when all the racers rode sew-ups,
Geez, I forgot how much I forgot...hope this list brings a smile to some of you!

[TheJonsberg]

Good one! I live in Norway and was a testpilot of different prototypes of Power Pedals, One of the pairs I had on my bike was later used by Bjarne Riis in TDF.
The late Ole Aspaas (1941-2003) from Norway was the genius behind this pedals.

[mikesmith-xgsz]

Having gone back to drop handlebars after thirty years with straight ones, I still reach down for the down tube to change the gears.

[xGshikamaru]

You guys nailed it, it’s a pleasure to see Matt and John together in a video, love your laid-back style, more of this please :)

[Sergio_Math]

7:59 "I think I'm going to take them out on a spin, actually."
Spin actually
Spinactually
Spinacilly
Spinaci

Cinelli spinaci

[michaelmccaughey]

Had a Concorde Prelude in PDM colors, with Scott drop in bars, and a Sachs 8 speed with ergo power shifters ( had to buy conti 18 c tires on clearance because it was all I could afford at the time) as my first road bike in 1996. Rode the bike for a year then saved all my money to buy a used spinergy for a front wheel off a friend, made me feel like a pro.... ahhh the memories.... thanks so much for this video. Thumbs up to more retro tech and the memories

[einzylinder]

My favourite piece of retro 1908 Raleigh All Weather roadster, single speed and oil lamps. A totally silent ride.

[ussling]

In 1981 I bought a 1980 Gios Torino Super Record.
In the late 1980s or early 1990s I installed the first Generation Campagnolo Athena group but retained the original Super Record headset, bottom bracket, and seat post. Also installed at that time was a Cinelli stem, Cinelli Giro D'Italia handlebars, Shimano PD-1056 Look-compatible pedals, a Zéfal hpX4 seat tube frame-mounted pump, and a ciclomaster CM37 computer, which still works.
A few years ago I replaced the chain, the 27" wheels to 700c, and new gumwall tires and tubes.
42-53 chain rings. On the Dura-Ace freewheel, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Back in the day, that was called "corncob" freewheel gearing.
Brake levers are for braking, and the shift levers are in the proper position on the down tube.
Steel frames forever!

[Dod]

My favorite retro tech gear are Spokey Dokeys and Corn Flakes reflectors :D

[bandagefreak]

The original Time Titan Magnesium pedal - 5 degrees play, 7mm lateral float and play, 9.5mm sole-axle AND looked like an F1 car SUPER COOL and I still use them today!!

[chakalabutze]

Wow. Best episode from you guys in recent times. John and Matt discussing old tech (or tech in general). Would love to see this as a generell theme!

[robinburt]

My two fave bits of old tech are both crud related. The first was these little thing that went around the brake blocks and had a scraper on them that hit the rim just before the block did that apparently scraped any muck from the rim to clean the braking surface.
The second was a crud catcher device that sat by your rear derailuer and had a sort of comb that cleaned mud and stuff from your casette as you pedaled.

[TheWaxChainFanClub]

Can't believe you've skipped over the Spokey-Dokeys craze that swept the peloton in the late 80s.

[robbchastain]

My favorite old tech is a classic steel race frame with a modern group and wheels.

[alwin]

Matt and Jon make a great presenter team! Your senses of humor pair well together! Can't wait to see more :)

[paulhobbs]

Great episode! I had a front spinnergy and rear tri-spoke AND drop-ins. Memories. Thanks guys.

[thomasgallagher]

Great segment!  As a former LBS owner, the piece of tech I loved the most was the Browning crank and chainring set from the late 80's (?) that I observed at a bike show.  To allow a loaded shift and eliminating the front der., Browning used a hinged chainring that moved in and out with a servo, that  allowed fast and easy chainring changing.  Cindy Whitehead, I believe,  used it in completion, but I heard it proved unreliable in the wet!!!
A couple other items that became outdated and unused were the Campy clipless pedals, (beautiful, but heavy and hard to remove your foot quickly..had to click out and pull back!), Shimano's positron, early click shifting, Front freewheel, Campys off road group, Euclid, Sligshot  (mountain bike frame), and  the Height-rite