If I could only have one bike, it would be a vintage racing frame with modern components. But to answer the question, I'd say modern with retro sensibilities.
Depends on what your goals are. If you want to get people oogling your bike on the club ride, retro style, kept immaculately clean, is the way to go. If you want to win races, modern tech will do that for you.
If you were a wind surfer in the late 80s, Razor blades were THE glasses to wear on the beach. I still have my pair, though I hardly ever wear sunglasses. Regarding retro vs modern, I'm completely in love with modern bikes and their incredible stiffness. There's just nothing that flexes noticeably when upping the power. That said, until I had DI2 I actually sometimes found myself missing my downtube shifters, shifting to the big ring with mechanical STI:s just feels weird, and without indexed shifting it was always possible to trim each gear to perfection.
Well, GCN, you knocked that one out of the stratosphere. Si's comments, his riding, and the spot on editing job made this video one of your best so far. Damn that was good.
I read this comment before i watched the video.. which lead me to spend the whole video scrutinising whether or not it is in fact "one of the best so far." Well done you guys, that description was accurate! Well said @Hugues Québécois.
Agree. I was worried that the new boys (ie , John Travolta, huge pipes man) would steal the show, but Simon, you and Dan are proven material, and make me laugh every time. Keep up the great work. The only exception would be Ollie, he is a great addition to the team.
i think you guys should include more landscape filming + drone shots etc + a short description of where it was filmed. would be cool. the locations often get hinted in the intro (i.e. LA here) but its never 100% clear
Retro is so much cooler. The colours, the frame styles, it all looks fun. I'd be more likely to don the Z jersey and a steel frame than the generic black everything.
I was closely watching for the Cookie Monster to come flying into view and snatch any KOM which Si expected to take home. And thank you, Si, for catching a few rays and taking us down memory lane. Greg and his innovative cohorts changed the road racing game in so many ways and all of it was exciting and amazing back then, car and motorcycle and bicycle racing in California. And even triathlon was a California creation, San Diego if I am not mistaken. Thanks again, Si, but next time, please warn us to buckle up--and give us a moment to get our Blades for the full retro effect.
Absolutely fantastic video, GCN. Epic shots, great editing, great content, and while I love ALL the GCN presenters... Si is the lifeblood of the channel. Well done all around. 👏👏👏
Loved this one. The content, the editing, the music, those sick shots and of course Simon , just pure class. Shout out to those behind the scenes at gcn!!
Without doubt Si..you have become the most consumate of presenters, not on just GCN, but any cycling channel. Always a pleasure to watch your easy going and humorous style. Chapeau mate👍
Pretty new to cycling but mad keen, GCN has become my 'go to' source of information plus just plain old enjoyment & I have to say this is my favourite video thus far...as a 40+ yr old fella I remember seeing the flamboyant colours of bikes & kit on the telly when watching the racing...so glad it's gone full circle & now making a comeback in obviously better technology form 👍🏼
this is one of the best video GCN has ever made......especially compared with latest videos with new presenters, this one is really what makes GCN (used to be) different....well done Si...
Production value turned up to 11 here GCN! Loved the music, topic was 110% ace (please more like this) and presenter enthusiasm for all things cycling so contagious 🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍
Is it rideable? Dude I have 1 bike...a 1986 LOOK Bernard Hinault(La Vie Claire replica) equipe Reynolds 753r that I got for graduation in 1987...still riding it with C-Record 100+ miles a week 30 years later. Quality holds up
I have a 1986 Look kg86 carbon fiber frame equiped with Dura Ace 7400. Rides like a wet noodle at low speeds but super smooth at 30km/h+. Quality holds up ;)
I am not sure if I would call my Look comfortable, its just far from stiff in all terms, including the carbon fork made by TVT as well. Its just alot of fun to ride it - and beyond that, a sense of tradtion, a feel how cycling has changed over the time and also formed itself over the last decades. Heritage - as some would call it. The feel of the 42 chainring for example. Thats something a modern bike usually lacks. Its a topic on its own this 42t chainring however :P
Gotta love the 753r. Stiff enough for exceptional sprinting, flexible enough to be really comfy. I owned a Raleigh Team Professional, Gerald O’Donovan designed road bike from the SBDU factory. Serial number puts it in the 87-88 vintage. Was told it was manufactured for British Olympic cycling team. The matching track frame was owned by a chap in Michigan. Lp
Just seen this video for the first time... Fantastic! Absolutely love the retro film effects amd music! Found myself smiling from ear to ear and it took me right back to the days when I first started watching pro cycling.
Fantastic production, love the attention to details in every department. I love my pair of M2 XLs nice to see the company headquarters which was a controversy in the architectural news when it was unveiled.
Wow! Right from the opening scene, I instantly recognized those were my old training stomping grounds in the Angeles National Forest mountains. I was a Cat-1 back in the early 80s racing for team RODAK & the City of CARSON. When they were planing the 84 LA Olympics, they were looking for a place to build a new Velodrome, and it was my team coach & the Mayor of Carson to build it in Carson. In 84 I was working for Shimano/Japan group and the group put me in charge of the New Zealand team as they had old tattered bikes... For months I was given CartBlanch to build and equip the team with anything they wanted. It had to be one of the best moments of my life, even though they did not do well, especially the team TT. They were wearing all black lycra skin suits and were riding over the newly built freeway, and it was 105 degrees. But over the new cement, the surface was more like 120 plus!!! They ate $hit to say the least. Non the less it was a great experience and presented me with one of their TT aero helmets which still hangs in my shop.
Simon.........5 minutes in the States and you are already calling a “boot” a “trunk” 🤣 however I was glad to hear you still pronounced “aluminium” correctly later in the video 🤣🤣
I appreciated Si's effort to adopt the local idiom! In that context, though, normal American usage would have been to say "in the back". A trunk is specific to a sedan/saloon and GMC doesn't sell those.
And if Ollie had made the trip, Si could have dropped him off at the beach so he could work on the local dialect and start the next GCN Show with "Cowabunga, dude!"
What's the incorrect pronunciation of "aluminium"? Surely, not the pronunciation of "aluminum". ". . . however I was glad to hear you use the word "aluminium"", is what you should have said, smart guy.
Greg Le Mond did a lot of firsts: Oakley glasses (I recall he was the first to wear sunglasses), full zip jerseys, aero bars, focus on the tour, using a heart monitor, so many more. Also, at the end of his career he was one of the first to adapt wattage training. He saw immediately how the the power meter would be the tool for training. My Mt. Rushmore of cycling: Merckx, Coppi, LeMond, Hinault.
Though Si's work was flawless as usual, the production level on this video took all my attention: it's really gorgeous! Big congrats to the team! The aerial takes and style remind me to the Gravel Adventure with Dan on a road bike and Labyrinth Ear music (many years ago and my favourite GCN vid to date; but not for much, gotta say).
Top notch video guys. Production quality was next level. Between this and the bikepacking trip to Morocco, it seems every time Si travels abroad he brings back a banger of a video! Also, it's nice to see Si in some proper shades 🤣 hopefully Oakley let him keep the flightjackets!
I used to love my Oakley Blades and Razor Blades, I had about 6 different lenses and was so sad when they no longer made the replacement arms, frames and nose pieces. After a while in the harsh Aussie sun, the arm attachment to the frame would break down. So I had to chuck all those lenses away.
Yep, and Simon's all black style makes him look like a modern kind of Zorro (on a black stallion named Canyon, or Batman, if you prefer, on a very eco-friendly Batmobile) Maybe in a few years this will be remembered as the launch of the new ultimate commuter fashion. Then the black kit will be added to the GCN wall of fame. Disappointingly though the glasses were not black... Nice video on a technically high standard. Well done. And let's hope Oakley is paying You lots of Dollars for Your performance:)
Amazing piece of work GCN. So timely for me because that gear.....that bike......that was my life early 90's. I had a pair of Razors, had, and still have my hair-net (boxed up somewhere), and I'm still riding my 6sp Cinelli that I used to flog around the roads of lower mainland, British Columbia. Nostalgia and this video are amazing things. Thank you
This is absolutely amazing. I love that bike, as a dude who defaults with a classic Centurion bike, I totally have to say--this was purely awesome. Sent me on a nostalgia trip.
The production quality on this video is spot on! Absolutely love it. New intro is awesome!!! And then I was cheering to see Si riding that lovely retro beauty. I would've been screaming "Open it up!" if I was there to watch live. Mine is a bit older ('86) and a touch heavier (10 kg... ish), but you could pummel someone with that frame and then ride off on it. :) Very nice comparison video, though, even if you didn't push that retro beast to its limits!
Simon should've rented an '85 IROC with those shades on. I've always thought Oakley style was a bit extreme for my taste, but I like the nose piece for hot climbs. I almost chucked my glasses into the bushes today frustrated with sweat dripping into them.
Just like seeing Chas in a GCN video a few weeks ago, suddenly having Team Dream Team and their Bobcat featured on GCN just made my week. Absolutely amazing to see more of these incredible people featured on GCN. Stick around in the USA, guys. There's a whole underground cycling culture there that, at least from my side of the world, makes me envious.
I remember saving up my newspaper delivery money to buy the Oakley Factory Pilots back in 1986. Great one Simon for re-kindling those memories. I remember the most valuable item on those pairs were the "OAKLEY" decal on the front of the lens, until one day, one of the legs of the "K" fell off. Funny now, not back then.
There were carbon aero bikes around in the early 90's that looked a lot like modern bikes, flip through an old cycling magazine. The rednd to lower gears and wider tires is the only thing that seems different now. Electronic shifting, more gears, but not as low as we have now, and disk brakes either existed or were expected by now.
RETRO but with MODERN components such as: integrated brake/gear changers, 3 rings up front and 11 out back, tire compounds, tubeless, carbon rims~ But keeping to older look and metal~ At least for non-professional training/riding. Thanks for the vid! You've got yourself a new subscriber;-)
Well...I ride daily, all year long, snow or sun, and I'm on a 1986 Schwinn Traveler in Cobalt Blue with Continental Ultra Sport II tires at 120 PSI that I restored, cost me $75 plus the tires and water bottle cage and bottle, 27" wheels, safety brake bars and stem shifters, and a big boy water bottle, with a 15 year old Giro helmet (all the fitting pads fell out) and lycra pants and snowboard goggles...and cause It's cold, I'm wearin' HOT HANDS hand warmer inserts, and shoe warmers, and sometimes I put plastic shopping bags around my socks when it gets really cold, and am wearing a military parka with this huge hood...and I ain't quick, but I ain't dead and in the ground neither, and I can let my gal have it for an hour...and I love this video cause I'm a dreamer, and I'm not the only one. I see you on the road I may kick your ass, cause I train on rollers 5x a day and got some serious scoot left, so watch out for that Schwinn Traveler in Cobalt Blue. Wanna see my badass Schwinn? See VINTAGE BIKES Facebook group? Keep these videos coming kid.
Si got an almost full black kit n equipment. While black is cool and stealthy (which I also personally like), modern cycling is actually quite colourful and vibrant. PS: I've a pair of flight jacket. They work really well and following Jon's method of cleaning with soap to minimise fogging, they are really fog proof
I’m definitely old school in many ways, esp in re: to style. I’m not a fan of carbon because I want a frame that is durable and will survive crashes, because they DO happen. I won’t ever race so the weight isn’t an issue for me. Currently I have a 2014 Specialized Allez Elite and I’m waiting to swap in an Ultegra Di2 R8050 group set; yes, I prefer calliper brakes over hydraulic., like I said: old school.What I’m looking for down the road is a steel frame into which I’ll put the Di2 group set and put the Tiara back into the Allez, but that will all wait for a while. BTW love the videos and, yes, production quality is getting really top notch.
