EckyH
It wasn't me!
- Location
- Nottuln, North Rhine-Westphalia
Wide availability of chain waxing options for me.
E.
E.
Greatest cycling invention of the last 25 years?
- Thread starter Jameshow
- Start date
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dicko
Legendary Member
- Location
- Derbyshire
E bikes of course the industry is thriving and customers a plenty.
teeonethousand
Über Member
For anyone who is cycling for performance then surely the improvement in understanding and manipulating human performance has given the greatest gains. In the same way that the invention of LED is applied to cycling then the invention of scanners, testers etc applied to people is enabling that understanding and transformation.
If cycling for leisure...not much makes any difference.....and I intend that in a positive way....perhaps coffee machines😂
If cycling for leisure...not much makes any difference.....and I intend that in a positive way....perhaps coffee machines😂
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Its quite surprising how little change there has been. Most of the real innovations this century have been electrical/electronic. GPS, working lights, e-bikes, electronic gears, power meters and the ability to store and process all that data, for fun or for training.
Plus there has been the gradual bringing to mass market of innovations from the 80s and 90s. Bike disc brakes, carbon frames, brifters etc.
Not sure where tubeless fits in there. I first heard of it in 2016 or so but I know MTBers had been playing with it for a while.
As @Drago says above, a good quality bike from the 1960s would probably suit most of us just fine. The game hasn't really been changed.
Plus there has been the gradual bringing to mass market of innovations from the 80s and 90s. Bike disc brakes, carbon frames, brifters etc.
Not sure where tubeless fits in there. I first heard of it in 2016 or so but I know MTBers had been playing with it for a while.
As @Drago says above, a good quality bike from the 1960s would probably suit most of us just fine. The game hasn't really been changed.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
I'm not convinced of that.
Even most "good quality" bikes then only had 5 gears, 10 if you were a serious racer or had more money than sense. They were all down tube friction shifters, and rather crappy rim brakes - not a patch on modern rim brakes, never mind hydraulic discs.
I wouldn't be getting up the hills round here on the bike I had in the 70's, never mind 60's. And I wouldn't have any confidence about stopping on the downhills, even in the dry.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Well, I wouldn't expect you to choose an inappropriate bike from the 60s. Triples existed. Tourers existed. Low gears aren't a modern innovation.
Down tube friction shifters are a piece of cake to use. People are frightened of them due to unfamiliarity.
A decent bike (not one with steel rims) would have entirely adequate brakes.
I have a bike from the 80s (now on turbo duty) so not massively different from a 60s bike and it was perfectly fine to ride. Granted it came with rather high gearing that I had to bodge to give me lower gearing but that's not a modern invention.
The difference between my old bike and my modern bike is pretty small. It's noticeable but not a big deal. Not a game-changing difference.
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Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
On the subject of gearing, the advent of gravel bikes and large sprockets and so on has meant that the industry has been able to bestow on us a great "innovation" ... Lower gears! Hurrah!
Thank you so much, benevolent bike industry. This was only necessary because you stopped providing triple chainsets as a common option.
Thank you so much, benevolent bike industry. This was only necessary because you stopped providing triple chainsets as a common option.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Winter cycling boots. Total game changer. I win. Thank me later when you get a set.
So good, I have three sets. Also used year round, especially good for off road.
brommieinkorea
Senior Member
- Location
- 'Merica darnit
Disc brakes 1901
brommieinkorea
Senior Member
- Location
- 'Merica darnit
Electric motorcycles were around circa 1905, didn't catch on, they had pedals too.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
The wheel 3000 BCE
Vapin' Joe
Formerly known as Smokin Joe
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
Having done most of my racing on friction shifters they are a piece of cake to use, but nowhere near as quick or fuss free as indexed systems. The biggest game changer for me were brifters, gear shifting became so much easier.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Here's where we differ in our definition of "game changer". To me brifters are a relatively minor change. If I ride a bike with friction shifters it takes me 10 minutes to adjust, after which it's second nature, I don't even think about it. Sure it's easier with brifters, I don't deny that, but it was never actually difficult in the first place.
Things might be different when racing, when quick gear changes are important, I wouldn't know.
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Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
It isn't so much about speed, as about the fact you don't need to move your hands away from the bars.
When changing to higher (harder) gears, that isn't much of an isue, but when you need to change down because the hill has got a bit harder than you anticipated, that is much trickier. You can even change gear while standing on the pedals with brifters. You might be able to do that with a down tube shifter, but I don't think I could.
