Greatest cycling invention of the last 25 years?

[Dogtrousers]

Like ABS? Seat belts? CB Radio??

I think CB radio on a Friday Night Ride to the Coast would be a hoot.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

The real breakthrough in saddle development came in the 60's, with the non leather, plastic Unicanitor saddle. This was the ancestor of all modern saddles.

View attachment 801882

Much better than my 1970's Brookes Professional which sunk in the centre following a long and wet mudguardless ride.

A real waste of my schoolboy earnings!

Even after adjusting the tension bolt the ruddy thing was never the same again.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Not the past 25 years, but no older than a whole load of other things suggested above ... Quick Links.

In the 70s when I started playing with bikes the only way I knew how to break and re-join a chain was using a nail punch to drive a rivet out and then to use a hammer to peen the rivet over when re-joining. I think I may have bought a chain tool around then too. Anyway it took skill and mechanical sympathy, neither of which I have. There may have been a better way but my mentor Richard Ballantyne didn't tell me about it in his book.

Anyway, around 1980 or thereabouts I saw an advert in the CTC magazine for something called a Super-Link or some such. So I sent off for one. It was like a modern quick link - almost. There were two "rivets" permanently attached to one plate, that had threaded holes along their length. You screwed the other plate on with little screws. No more bashing and peening, or subtle fiddling with a chain tool. What bliss.

Now that those weird Shimano snap-off rivets seem to have gone away it seems that the victory of the quick link is complete.

I went into our storeroom last week and was shocked to find Shimano seems to still use the snap-off rivet thing. So I used a KMC chain instead.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Much better than my 1970's Brookes Professional which sunk in the centre following a long and wet mudguardless ride.

A real waste of my schoolboy earnings!

Even after adjusting the tension bolt the ruddy thing was never the same again.

Brooks do seem to be a bit iffy in quality control sometimes.

 

[roley poley]

grinder resistant and better locks help you keep your treasures

 

[Sharky]

Much better than my 1970's Brookes Professional which sunk in the centre following a long and wet mudguardless ride.

A real waste of my schoolboy earnings!

Even after adjusting the tension bolt the ruddy thing was never the same again.

In the days of leather saddles, I believe that the pro's used to be fitted up with brand new bikes, but they would use their old leather saddle from the previous season. The advent of these new plastic saddles meant that a new saddle was the same fit as Thier old saddles.

 

[Alex321]

I like the security of being able to whip out a spare tube fix puncture and away you go.

Why does that make tubeless bad?

Everybody on here who has tubeless and said anything about the matter has said they carry a tube in case of a puncture that is too much for the sealant, even with plugs.

Don't really think the comparison with cars is valid. Car tyres are great big thick things and less likely to puncture - worse case scenario you call green flag or whoever.

THe comparison with cars is completely valid. The fact car tyres are less likely to puncture is irrelevant.

 

[Binky]

Why does that make tubeless bad?

Everybody on here who has tubeless and said anything about the matter has said they carry a tube in case of a puncture that is too much for the sealant, even with plugs.



THe comparison with cars is completely valid. The fact car tyres are less likely to puncture is irrelevant.

This though is the thing to me. You still need to carry a tube or it's certainly wise to.
Personally I don't see need for tubeless for the road for me. If I rode gravel then I would but road not worth the faff.
I've seen the horrendous mess/debacle of having to put in tube when sealant and everything else failed.
No thanks.

Quite a few cyclists I know went tubeless then went back to tubes.

Like a lot of things in life though, personal choice.

 

[YellowV2]

I have been road tubeless for 8 years no problems, wouldn’t go back to tubes! I also don’t carry a tube, learnt how to repair punctures too big for sealant and never been unable to fix one yet.
The big problem I see is that you need to invest a little time and effort to understand it, also there are a number of sealants which I don’t believe are fit for purpose sadly they may be from popular suppliers.

 

[YellowV2]

I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest invention but it’s individual choice.

 

[VinSumRox]

LED lights for night riding - here out in the sticks it means you can actually see where you are going for more than an hour.
Electric mini pumps which mean you can get a tyre up to a reasonable pressure after a repair without expiring with the effort of using a mini pump.

 

[Drago]

Engines.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Most of the people who make the most noise about tubeless haven't used it. It has a strange effect of offending some people at a conceptual level. I'm happy with my tubeless setup. I've had to insert a tube on the road and found it no more fuss than changing a regular tube. But it's hardly an earth shaking innovation. I'd happily "go back" to tubes, I'd prefer not to but I wouldn't mind too much. I put "go back" in quotes because I already ride bikes with tubes. I'm not all-tubeless.

 

[Binky]

It has a strange effect of offending some people at a conceptual level

Got evidence of this?

People do get offended at some odd things but bike inner tubes(or not) would be a stretch.

 

[Moon bunny]

I used to think this but Tristan Ridley put me off. As he's an adventure cyclist, he's always had to carry a spare but the spare (which was the same age as his original) snapped shortly after he put it on. He was lucky that he could replace it within a few days but he went back to chains shortly afterwards. Think I'd prefer to take a handful of spare links.

If you're just into commuting and day trips, they're fine, I'd imagine.

Someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse for my Woodrup with belt drive, more than the bike cost new! If it hadn’t been for that I would still have it.