Obscure racing bikes and parts.

[MattiThundrrr]

Didn't notice that! Awesome! It needs three dropper posts

 

[Grant]

Here are a few cool TT bikes.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

remember these Scott bars?

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I wanted these Suntour shifters back in the day. Prelims to the brifters era.

 

[Grant]

remember these Scott bars?

I have seen several of those in real life. More common than most think. Still less common that normal bars, bur far from rare or obscure.

 

[Grant]

I assume that a bike from the 84 Olympics isn't obscure enough
View attachment 110482
so I'll also add this weirdo
View attachment 110483

Does anyone know the freewheel/cassette on that Huffy?

 

[MattiThundrrr]

There is a MTB with mismatched wheels in this picture. Can you spot it?
View attachment 111745

My phone is a mess, screen has a million cracks, so it's hard to tell. Is it the silver one top left corner?

 

[Grant]

My phone is a mess, screen has a million cracks, so it's hard to tell. Is it the silver one top left corner?

The black one.

 

[Grant]

Some of the rarest vintage racers has two rear hubs if the rear drivetrain blows out. When I mean rare, I mean more rare than any other bike on this thread.

 

[Grant]

:0

 

[us56456712]

:0
View attachment 111877

this needs a chain

 

[us56456712]

I really can't find a modern bicycle component that wasn't invented 100 years ago or more. We have new materials but the ideas were there long ago. Solid tires, suspension, double butted spokes, thin walled steel tubing, dropper seat posts, 27.5 wheels and fat bikes, It's all old stuff. My friend has a very old hub with straight pull spokes, now thought of as the latest and greatest. Here is a 120 year old straight pull hub picture I robbed from the net.

 

[Duchess]

I've seen a lot of Kickstarter type things that I suspect were started by people researching old bike patents from the turn of the last century and reintroducing them with a (sort of) slick video featuring the most attractive female friend they can convince to help them out. The early history and the things people tried out with limited communication, tools, and materials, are some of the things I love most about old bikes, guns, and powered vehicles. The amount of stuff that was thought up way before most people would think is staggering, it's just that practical manufacturing, materials, and sometimes computer controls had to catch up to make them viable. There's also a lot of crazy stuff which is always entertaining, or things that seem crazy until realizing that from the perspective of their time, they weren't as outlandish as they appear today (for the latter, I'm thinking of the Le Rhone rotary engines which seem so ridiculous, but made sense for a brief period).

 

[MattiThundrrr]

In the end of the eighte hundreds, the US had two different patent offices, one for bicycles, one for everything else

 

[RustyGold]

Same with automotive engines. Aside from electronic engine controls... nothing really new in a century.

 

[Grant]

I like this one the best though.

 

[Grant]

 

[MattiThundrrr]

To all of you who think gravel bikes are the newest thing, I give you the rarest of racing parts...
Ms Jacquie Phelan

 

[Grant]

Victor Vicente of America. You might not have heard of him.View attachment 111640Artist, philosopher, champion. Before mountain bike 26" alloy rims, he was building this.View attachment 111641And thisView attachment 111643After the big rims became available, he went all mullet. Didn't want to admit he was wrong about 24, but 26 advantages were impossible to ignore.View attachment 111642

I want to ride these bikes. They look so fun.

 

[Rob L]

Couple of obscure ones. Viva VVA!