Amen to that! An old steel bike like that, aside from lasting almost indefinitely if you don't let it rust to pieces, is a platform.<p>I could take the bike shown at the top of the article and upgrade it to a modern 2x11 road geartrain, with external bottom bracket bearings, hollow shaft bottom bracket, brifters, the whole works. Longer axles on modern rear wheels? No problem to bend the frame slightly - it's steel! - to make them fit perfectly. I've done it. I have a 40 year old steelie that is currently at 2x8 and could go to 2x10 without changing the rear hub again. It rides at least as nice as a modern carbon fiber marvel. It is of course heavier (12kg all up).<p>Another of my road bikes has the drive train from a similar vintage mountain bike. I wanted a triple, and the simplest way was to just transplant the long cage derailer to go with it.<p>Modern bikes that I see in the bike racks at work? Carbon fiber marvels with integrated e-bike drivetrain. They're only a motor failure, or even a worn out battery pack (assuming not available any more from the manufacturer as spares) away from being e-waste just like all other modern gadgets. Retrofit to different brand stuff? Forget it. The frame is an integrated design with the drivetrain.<p>But how do you roll back time and get people to ride "sensible" bikes again? When the modern marvels can be manufactured just as cheaply and they're just so much cooler? Good luck with that.