From the Cluttered Bench: Why Does Cycling Keep It Retro While Other Sports Move On?
Have you ever noticed that cycling seems to have a special place for retro aesthetics? We started thinking about it the other day, and it led us to question: is cycling the only outdoor sport that still makes room for vintage gear and style? When we mentally surveyed other sports, few seemed to embrace older technology.
Take tennis, for example—does anyone still use a wooden racket? Or golf—who’s still swinging a wooden-shafted club? The closest comparisons we found were in the surf world with longboards—those traditional, 8-foot-plus boards that contrast with modern shortboards designed for sharp, radical turns—and the skateboarding scene, where retro 80s-style decks are making a comeback, at least according to our resident expert.
So why cycling and board sports? My best guess is that these "soul sports"—surfing, skateboarding, and non-competitive cycling—allow people to do their own thing. There are no strict rules, no judges, and no specific uniforms to adhere to. You can ride a bike with silver fenders and a rack, surf a classic longboard, or skate a retro deck, all while staying true to your personal style.
Once competition enters the mix, though, it’s a different story. The need to win drives technological advancements, which explains why racing-focused cycling is so tech-heavy—what I like to call the "1%." It’s the same reason no one gets extra points for playing tennis with a wooden racket. But in the non-competitive cycling world, riding a steel frame decked out with classic parts is almost like a statement. You see someone cruising with vintage flair, and it just makes you smile.
This vintage appeal seems to pop up in all sorts of ways today, even beyond cycling. Fashion and style are always cycling back—though I'm still waiting for the Roaring 20s to make a return! Right now, the 80s and 90s are making waves in clothing, décor, and even bike culture, as people look for ways to stand out from the sleek, performance-driven products that dominate the big brands.
Functionality is another reason retro gear holds appeal in cycling. Modern tech has made huge leaps—electronic shifting and hydraulic braking are prime examples—but they can feel over-engineered. Mechanical disc brakes give me reliable stopping power without the hassle of bleeding lines, and traditional cable shifting lasts forever with minimal upkeep. Plus, I never have to worry about charging my derailleur!
While big companies focus on racing performance at any cost—like a $4,300 wireless Campagnolo 13-speed drivetrain—I think the non-racing side of cycling will keep chugging along at a more relaxed pace, free from the need to adopt every new high-cost innovation.
So why do you think retro aesthetics thrive in cycling but not in other sports? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so drop a comment below!
The Cluttered Bench is a series of opinion pieces from VO staffers and guests on various topics that may be tangentially cycling related.
Is the term Retro misused because of changes in materials and user interface? It is the need to sell new products, a plastic bike with pish button shifting and disk brakes is not an advance but a marketing strategy not necessary better than what has been used previously. There is a place and time for such creations but some of us prefer the tried and true that allow an one to choose according to his or her own aesthetics. We still get pleasure from building and riding machines we have built our selves. Collecting components and changing our bikes as we age is part of the experience. it is sad that our share of the market is shrinking, if it does not conform it is are being phased out. Yes, I have repeated what has already been posted but could not stay silent.
One of the puzzles the cycling industry has to figure out is how to sell people more products despite the original product – the bicycle – working just fine. A vintage aesthetic, in addition to tapping into a larger trend toward nostalgic thinking that shows up in American politics these days, too, provides a rationale for buying something new and additional. As much as I enjoy the turn toward the vintage, I recognize that it is part of a cycle in capitalism: in order to sustain growth by profiting in a market by satisfying demand, one must first create that demand.
Why does cycling keep it retro while other sports move on? Perhaps the answer is in the question. The “sport” of cycling has moved on. Riding a bike for practical transportation or pleasure and freedom doesn’t change. In fact, it becomes more appreciated with time.
being 69 and starting racing in ‘68 where we all pretty much had the exact same bike weighing the same, (only difference being name on the frame somewhere, d.t. mainly); e.g., lugged steel italian, french, british, american, other euro, etc, everything always worked because everything was simple, only time on the side of the road being a flat sewup and u always had a spare (some people 2 for long rides); to me, quality was always there; u could work on your bike at home with basic tools and instruction from shop mech; e.g, bottom bracket, headset adjust, cone wrench tools, etc…as long as the derailleurs/shifters and brake cables and anchor bolts, bb, hs cups and hub cones were tight and properly adjusted, u were good to go…very few moveable, pivoting mechanisms to go wrong…being 36 hole rims, handbuilt, u could get home still if a spoke broke….i ride my Marinoni not because it’s vintage or gets cyclist’s attention or for L’oirca; no…i ride it because it just simply feels great and i’ve tried c.f. and while it accelerates and climbs magnificently, i don’t appreciate the ride, different harmonic, very stiff, no give, feel every surface imperfection but again, this coming from someone from my era so that might be typical reaction/response to someone having ridden lugged steel for 55 years…notice today’s pro racers on tv how they have many more mechanicals vs my days and are left stranded on the side of the road until a team/neutral support car comes by because so many complicated intricate elements to the bike are at play…didn’t have that back then…one can’t even work on their own bike today, requiring a shop pro with all this integrated mechanical or electronic shifting, disk brakes needing bleeding out hydraulic lines, tubeless tyres never really sealing perfectly, rotors bending, low spoke count at such high tension from machine built wheels that if a spoke breaks, it’ll fly off center line so much, the wheel will hit the frame and u won’t get home…i saw that with a riding partner; had to call AAA
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