02-19-2014, 11:02 AM
So what do we mean by quality ... the life span of a component on the bike in isolation or the entire package/product? Taking the view of the entire product I think the quality of today's products is well above those products of yesteryear. I can only speak from my experiences and looking at my vehicles from the 60s through 80s which had more metal in them, were heavier and gave an impression of being solid but by today's standards they perform poorly in terms speed, handling, fuel efficiency and safety, and had more things go wrong with them plus wear out quicker in some areas. Sure there are exceptions but on average it just seems like today's products and the lubricants used in them give us excellent longevity of the total package for the work output we demand of it.