Bicycle innovations :?:

Moonbiker

What do you reckon road bikes will be like in 10 years time?

Recent stuff

Disc breaks
thru-axle
di2 shifting
aero frames



Whats next i can't think of what it might be?

Maybe bikes have reached there tech limit or plateau whats left to "improve"?

BrandonA

more aero
lighter/stiffer frames/wheels
lighter groupsets
wireless gear shifting (maybe breaking)
more efficient breaking whether it be disc or not
better gripping tyres that are lighter, faster and less prone to puncturing
more power meter options with a larger take up

navrig2

Auto CVS?

In other words rather than stepped changes of gear a continuously variable hub which takes into account effort applied to pedals and speed. So ever increasing effort on pedals and slow speed gives lower gearing whilst increasing effort and speed give higher gearing.

ugo.santalucia

The industry has to come to terms that innovation cannot be solely driven by professional racing... 99% of the bicycles sold in the world will never be raced at any level. In my opinion the only innovation worth pursuing are safety first and hybrid electric bikes second... this is the way to make the business grow and involve more and more people into cycling... at any level... recreational or just to go from A to B.
All the light/stiff/aero nonsense is a dead end that the industry has pursued for too long. Bicycles will never be fast enough to be allowed on a motorway, so it's pointless to try to make them half a mile per hour faster every decade... it's a complete waste of talent, time and money

chris_bass

I think they will be lighter, a bit stronger, maybe electric braking (scary!) a lot more expensive but all in all they will do pretty much exactly what they do now.

arran77

Maybe some safety innovation?

Perhaps we'll see some sort of lights incorporated into the frame maybe in chain-stays, forks or seat-posts, that sort of thing.

navrig2

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The industry has to come to terms that innovation cannot be solely driven by professional racing... 99% of the bicycles sold in the world will never be raced at any level. In my opinion the only innovation worth pursuing are safety first and hybrid electric bikes second... this is the way to make the business grow and involve more and more people into cycling... at any level... recreational or just to go from A to B.
All the light/stiff/aero nonsense is a dead end that the industry has pursued for too long. Bicycles will never be fast enough to be allowed on a motorway, so it's pointless to try to make them half a mile per hour faster every decade... it's a complete waste of talent, time and money

Good points so with that in mind I think the innovation will be towards kit that needs less and less maintenance. People will forego weight saving if they think gear changes will remain smoother for longer periods between adjustment and servicing.

t4tomo

Thats arrived - there is some hybrid commuter bike with lights in either end of the crossbar/ top tube.

Maybe something to help people to distinguish between Brakes and Breaks?

EBikes with better ranges etc is probably where the money is at

Manc33

A camera on the seat post with an LCD screen on the stem to act as a rear view mirror.

In fact this could be done now, but I guess you'd have to DIY it.

I was looking at screens the other night, they are like £17 or whatever, but I don't know how to solder it together etc, I wish I did.

Oh they already do make them lol.

Moonbiker

Good points so with that in mind I think the innovation will be towards kit that needs less and less maintenance. People will forego weight saving if they think gear changes will remain smoother for longer periods between adjustment and servicing.

Sounds just like a bike from over 10 years ago. 8)

Would be nice to have an option of having say a 6 speed cassetes on a new mainstream model road bike, then chains last alot longer & gear changes will remain smoother like you say.

Manc33

They need to stop adding sprockets to cassettes.

I read somewhere an 8 speed drivetrain outlasts a 10 speed drivetrain.

They change things for no reason, it is the single most annoying thing about anything that ever gets sold.

Those octalink bottom brackets for example.

Something has worked flawlessly for 50+ years, let's change it immediately. Notice how octalink needs that little pin on the crank and a square taper BB never did. Hmmmmmm. What reasoning do they use to claim this newer way is better? Whatever their reasoning is, it just ain't gonna match up with mine. If you look at octalink v1 and v2 they had to make the splines a lot deeper on v2 hehe, what's the point if square taper never hasn't worked.

ugo.santalucia

Navrig2 wrote:

Good points so with that in mind I think the innovation will be towards kit that needs less and less maintenance. People will forego weight saving if they think gear changes will remain smoother for longer periods between adjustment and servicing.

That won't happen: planned obsolescence is the only way the industry has to stay in business... if Shimano made a group set that lasted forever with no maintenance it would be a disaster for them and for those business which rely on workshop time and spare parts to survive. Not to speak about the fact that people would not replace their bike every 2-5 years or buy upgrades.

Although there is the technology to make things last longer, it's in nobody's interest to go ahead with that, sadly...

Consumerism rules!

I think there is room for innovation in road safety and that would go down well with the industry and the consumer alike

Manc33

This is why you just buy XT/XTR or Ultegra/Dura-Ace and just accept it. :roll:

If you buy 105 you'll always want Ultegra.

I hate trim control on front shifters, please stop this stuff.

My 1998 shifters without it are so much better. The new Claris flat bar shifters have something like 5 clicks on them on a triple. Did I shift up normally or did I trim it? Every gear change involves lightly pressing the shifter to "make sure". Then of course if you hit a bump while trying to feather the shifter it could just make you change down again.

I'm not using stuff like that. I would rather have the FD rubbing, seriously.

Initialised

The stuff that's on top end bikes now will trickle down to become commonplace on more modestly priced steeds.

Things like internal routing, hydraulic disc brakes, tubeless tyres, electronic shifting, carbon fibre frames and wheels will be commonplace on sub £1000 bikes.

Some form of 3D Printing technology will drastically reduce frame and wheel weight, allow customisable geometry and integration of electronics without compromising strength.

Safety wise self driving cars and increased use of collision avoidance and mitigation technology in powered vehicles will have a major impact on road safety once legislation is in place to enforce them.

Monty Dog

You'll never see electronic brakes - no one's going to sign-off on the software code that actuates the brakes as you only need one person total themselves and the lawsuits will start flying.
New materials like graphene and production techniques might help to reduce frame weights to sub-500g - but I don't expect them to survive a crash too well.

kajjal

Road biking has always seemed to me more expensive for no real reason. My wife's mountain bike new cost £1,000 and came with good front suspension forks, SLX disc brakes, mainly XT groupset. Her road bike cost new about the same for an aluminium 10 speed compact which had very poor brakes that I swapped out for better ones. Why are road bikes not a lot cheaper , as they don't have any of the more expensive mountain biking components normally ?

My guess is the target road bike market have bigger wallets

lawrences

Nothing will change.

slowbike

lawrences wrote:

Nothing will change.

Everything will change

lawrences

Nothing has really changed in the last 30 years why will anything change in the next 10?

Bar Shaker

lawrences wrote:

Nothing has really changed in the last 30 years why will anything change in the next 10?

If you compare a high spec bike of 10 years ago with one of today, the basic shape and component layout is the only similarity. The materials, the weights, strengths and durability are all leaps ahead. If someone told you 10 years ago you would be using electronic gear shifting with a battery that lasted 3 months and it never went out of index or needed adjusting, you would either not believe them or think it would only be found on £10k bikes.

The next steps in our sort of cycling activity need major advances in materials technology... materials which haven't really been produced outside of the lab yet.

The next bicycle innovations are in electric power assisted bikes.



Have a brake. Have a Katkit.

lawrences

If you told me 10 years ago that in ten years time I could have electronic gears on a bike then I would have believed you, I'm frankly surprised we don't have wireless already. It's not really any different to cable shifting either so I wouldn't call it an innovation, essentially it's the same old layout just a different way of telling the dérailleur to shift.

pippi_langsamer-2

Electromagnetics. Spokes and "hubs", will become distant memories.... (Think monorail).

I hated Tron...

fudgey

I reckon within the next 10 years the bikes wont change much, but you will be able to buy power and stamina....

bernithebiker

Psychic shifting.

You think; move up 2 gears, and it does.

Vid; http://grist.org/list/2011-07-27-toyota ... ear-shift/

cattytown

I am a little mixed on Ugo's comments. The UCI regs mean racing itself isn't going to be where the technology lead on bikes will be - when I can go buy a bike that is lighter or has better brakes than the pro's are allowed, the development drive will be the enthusiast.

They need us to keep buying. They don't want us to have a bike for life as that means we are no longer a customer :-)

There will always be bragging rights - the first guy in the group to get a 12 speed. Electronic will perhaps take a step up and move to a single shifter, or left up, right down levers that will automatically manage both front and rear mechs. People will always want the frame that is lighter/stiffer/blacker than their mates.

P.

simon_masterson

Technology will do what it always does. More is always better. I'm expecting hub or planetary gearing to have a renaissance in road cycling at some point eventually, as there has to be a limit to the number of rear sprockets you can really use with conventional derailleurs.

The UCI will of course influence technological progress significantly, for better or worse, but already the market for high end bikes is by no means all about pure racing machines. The growth of the 'top end bike for recreational cyclist' category will continue, and consumer spending will carry on going up. I therefore expect more and more 'illegal' models. (with features that the UCI doesn't allow at present, not meeting the weight limit, etc)

Otherwise, I fully expect things to go the way of everything else - less serviceable, more disposable. Perhaps one day we will buy a fully enclosed bicycle transmission, drip some oil in every so often, then replace after a certain time.

paul_onabike

Anti-lock brakes, then traction control for mountain bikes

keezx

To be honest, I don't care.
Il will adopt useful innovation and drop anything else....
At the moment I posess enough bikes to serve me for the time the body doesn't let me down.

morstar

Integration will be key. The brakes will disappear yet further into the frames. Assuming they're disks, they will become more aero than at present. Front shifting will go with some sort of rear hub gearing appearing. All those messy un aero gears and stuff are well and truly in the firing line.
If recreational riders can make that mental leap that they don't have a team car, manufacturers will start building aerodynamic storage into high end road frames. The only reason they don't is because pros don't need it as they have team cars. Weekend warriors would prefer to fill their jersey pockets with pumps and stuff to keep the bike looking pro. I would prefer discreet aerodynamic storage built onto the bike. My saddle bag looks ugly but I'm not vain enough to have pumps and tubes rattling around in my jersey.
Integrated lights, computers etc. May require some standardisation of computer designs. Integrated sensors etc. More adjustment options.
I would love my bike to have uber clean lines but still have all the necessary features that a recreational rider needs.