the poster thread and near perfect parts thread got me thinking (uh oh) about how much stuff we used that totally sucked when we were young (mid-70s for me) - but we didn't know any better 'cause we were all in the same boat.

here's a start:

helmets: it rocked back in the day because they didn't exist so no one wore one; it sucked racing in hairnets because you knew if you crashed and hit your head it wouldn't help a bit. fortunately it never happened.

shorts: wool with real chamois? sucked big time. so did the alternatives.

jerseys: see shorts

shoes: they were cool because you had to have a cobbler's last to mount cleats - or it helped, but c'mon - leather shoes with leather soles? or wood soles?

frames: cool because they were steel, sucked because heavy and poorly made. anything that wasn't steel (graftek, teledyne titan, alan) sucked even worse

parts: campy was the best and it sucked still. shimano and simplex were surprisingly good - that's how bad it was

tires: sewups for racing didn't suck, flatting them, trying to fix and failing, sucked. clinchers, both elan and schwinn le tour, sucked

saddles: oh boy. brooks, unicanitor, or ideale 90 or 2001 were the choices. brooks was better back then than now

pedals and clips: cool in a pre-industrial sort of way

gearing: please... 42/52 5-or-6 speed with 13-19 on the rear

riding: awesome, couldn't be beat. did not suck

food: bananas or pb sammiches

races: big fun

your list?