Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Oval chain rings at least 30 years old and an evolutionary dead end
Greatest cycling invention of the last 25 years?
- Thread starter Jameshow
- Start date
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Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Lights that emit enough light to see by.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Carbon bikes at least 30 years
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
I would say LED lights and hub dynamos have been some of the most transformative for my riding. Tyres have improved a lot, with good rolling resistance and punctures rare. GPS transformed the navigation experience in unfamiliar areas. I would probably add the smart phone for cycle touring.
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ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Widnes
Ebikes??
and lithium batteries for ebikes
first ebike I got was in 2011 - very simplistic in those days
but the lithium battery in it made it revolutionary compared to the previous generation with "normal" batteries
and lithium batteries for ebikes
first ebike I got was in 2011 - very simplistic in those days
but the lithium battery in it made it revolutionary compared to the previous generation with "normal" batteries
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Cyclechat
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Sti I am meh about. Shifting is not great, levers huge compared to levers of old. Tendency to break cables. Field maintenance fiddly to impossible. I prefer friction shifting for it being superior in all these elements and more.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Hollowtech 2 of course is the greatest invention. Everybody should get it fitted if they have not already.
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
At a personal level I think these are game-changing for the individual. Over 30 years ago I was riding a very good but pretty standard Marin San Rafael, a "city" bike the manufacturer called it. It was, for me, a great bike. I had two, both stolen. Another story. After I made the move to a "road" bike, all of the things, while not strictly inventions, have significantly contributed to and improved my overall cycling experience. I think that is game-changing but only at the personal level.
The Garmin Varia is a genuine game -changer from a safety perspective.
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Yes, the modern light is vastly superior and has improved hugely. I use lights, but only during the day, which I couldn't have dreamed of decades ago. I don't include these for me as I don't ride at night.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Until very recently I was riding an early 80s 531 Claud Butler that e joyed not a single thing from the list, other than the SPDs I fitted myself, and it it didn't do a single thing less well than my modern road bikes that featured half of more of the items on the list as standard. The bike stopped, cornered and rode superbly, easily competitive with the modern machinery, and maintenance was no more or less diffucly - just slightly different.
As such the "benefits" are questionable.
Road bicycles reached a consumer suitability peak in the second halfmof the sixties, and little, if anything, since then has made them better to ride, own, or maintain since then.
Performance and competition machines have benefitted, but the reality for commuters, utility and leisure riders is little different (beyond perhaps LED lights, which clip onto old bikes as easily as they do new ones) other than we now speak in a different set of product names and acronyms.
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Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Steel rims and rim brakes were great in the wet
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
I share your meh-ness. I also find them a bit fragile and expensive. I do like the user experience but I don't think it's worth the mechanical complexity/fragility. Mind you, I do use them so I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I'm tempted by electronic shifting as that doesn't have all the mechanical finickyness. Mind you field maintenance of that would be just impossible.
I'm a confirmed adopter of clipless (SPD) and tubeless tyres. Not an advocate mind, as they both have their downsides.
GPS and good lights I'm an ardent fan.
The rest. Meh.
Oh, bikepacking luggage. I don't actually use it, I just like the effect it has on certain cyclechat members.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Widnes
My Peugeot in the 1970s had little indentations in the rim to increase friction
which may well have worked
but in the wet they held extra water to make sure the brakes lost grip for longer!!!!
