Yesterday I confessed to inentionally stoking concern of a battery-powered, digital biking future by which metal bikes with rim brakes stop to exist. However how can I not when it’s turning into nearly unimaginable to discover a regular street bike? And in case you’re questioning what a “regular street bike” is, right here you go:
See that? Regular! It’s metal. It takes mechanical parts. It makes use of quick-release axles. It’s fairly racy and you’ll trip as quick as you need on it, however you too can set it as much as be comfy as you’d like, and it has medium-reach brakes in case you wish to use wider tires or fenders. It’s NORMAL.
Sure, there may be the odd firm that will get approach an excessive amount of credit score for nonetheless providing token racy metal street bikes that use rim brakes and are made out of metal (though they principally promote bikes with dick breaks), like Ritchey:
And sure, as a fan of racy rim-brake street bikes I actually acknowledge that it appears like a really good bike:
However it has short-reach brakes, an built-in headset, and a plastic fork–which is okay! Particularly on a racy street bike. In reality a number of the bikes I’ve loved using essentially the most through the years have had a number of of these attributes:
Nonetheless, the explanation I not have that Litespeed however I do nonetheless have the Milwaukee is that the medium-reach brakes particularly make the bike a lot extra helpful, and with completely no drawbacks. I imply I suppose a medium-reach brake is perhaps a tiny bit flexier than a short-reach brake, which you don’t discover. It’s additionally a tiny bit heavier, which you additionally don’t discover. But it’s the distinction between becoming 32mm tires with ease in case you really feel prefer it versus perhaps 25mm or presumably 28mm in case you’re fortunate–plus there’s nothing stopping you from utilizing these outdated 23s or 25s on a motorbike just like the Milwaukee anyway, in case you’re like me, you’ve gotten a bin or two filled with them out of your racing days, and also you form of like using skinny tires generally as a result of they create the phantasm of velocity though they’re probably not any sooner while additionally being extremely impractical. (It’s form of like stuffing your self right into a pair of tight denims in a comical try and reclaim your youthi.)
That’s why after I moved some bikes alongside again in 2024 (which turned out to be an train in futility since I’ve acquired not less than three new bikes since then), the Litespeed went however the Milwaukee stayed. Even within the rim brake days medium-reach street bikes have been considerably scarce, and now that it’s 2025 and more and more the one choices are restricted runs of boutique bikes* I’m taking this one to the grave** with me.
*Sure, in fact there’s the much-vaunted Roadini, however that’s a long-reach brake bike and due to this fact further-normal:
And no, I don’t really feel the necessity to justify proudly owning each the Milwaukee and the Roadini. One’s my common street bike and the opposite is my deluxe street bike. Principally, the Milwaukee has every little thing I want, however the Roadini with its lugs and fancy paint and extra clearance and extra comfy match is every little thing I want and extra:
**This isn’t to be taken actually, for when the Cassette Of My Soul is lastly indifferent from the Freehub Of Existence, I can’t be buried, I will probably be donating my physique to an unnamed firm that makes use of human bones in its tire sealant.
Anyway, this was the Milwaukee simply previous to its most up-to-date replace, earlier than the Roadini assumed its function as my plump-tired, friction-shifted all-around street bike:
And right here it was again in 2015 after I first bought it:
That’s principally the way it got here from Milwaukee aside from the tires and the saddle, and actually the saddle that’s on there now could be the unique one which the Cambium changed
After divesting myself of the Litespeed and a number of other different bikes I figured I’d reconfigure it as a contemporary (by my requirements) street bike, although I nonetheless felt prefer it was lacking a little bit one thing till I added this sticker yesterday:
That’s irony, in fact, as a result of the bike is Shimano by and thru:
Proper right down to the hubs:
Total I proceed to want friction drivetrains at this stage in my biking life. I’m not racing and even making an attempt to maintain up with anyone so I couldn’t care much less if I mess up a shift once in a while, I benefit from the really feel and the method of transferring levers up and down, and I particularly get pleasure from having the ability to use no matter cassette I really feel like no matter speeds. However it’s nonetheless enjoyable to return to built-in shifters, and the 105–which principally represents the top of of the street for mechanical rim-brake street bike shifting from Shimano–works very, very nicely:
In reality it really works so impressively nicely that it’s actually onerous to think about why anybody who’s not an expert racer might need a system that requires a battery. Then once more I even have a tough time imaging why you’d need the kind of street bikes they’re promoting immediately as a substitute of 1 you’ll be able to simply breathe new life into each decade:
Although as this represents the final of the mechanical street teams I suppose from right here on in will probably be built-in shifters from the components bin…or I’ll simply return to friction ultimately.