Best mtb innovation

02gf74

Mountain bikes were invented in minds 80s, give or take a few years but by then the equipment we are familiar with like derailleurs, freewheel, chain driven gears had been in vented.

In your opinion what is one innovation that has made a huge change to riding mtbs.

I put forward disc brakes, predictive and mostly consistent stopping in all conditions, low maintenance and avoids having to replace worn rims.

I guess suspension forks would be the second.

cooldad

Disc brakes and suspension were invented well before the 80's.

The answer is obviously Strava.

JGTR

Considering much tech was actually invented years before MTBs were even a thing, I’d say:

1. eBikes
2. Dropper posts
3. tubeless (?)
4. GPS
5. LED lights - biggest one for me, can now ride all night unlike in the 80s

kajjal

For me it is when it appeared on mountain bikes and was past the experimental bedding in stage.

(1) hydraulic disc brakes, early 1990’s cantilever brakes were really bad
(2) suspension, again early 1990’s rigid bikes used to cripple you on longer rides on rougher trails.
(3) wider riser bars, earlier mtb’s had very narrow bars making them harder to ride
(4) platform pedals, again earlier mtb’s had very small pedals even with straps on some giving a very unstable platform for your feet.

After that the rest tends to be evolution but dropper posts are handy as is gps letting you get on with the riding rather than getting lost, and climbing the nearest high point to work out where you are.

The Rookie

Broadly with Kajjal, my top two match
Hydraulic disc brakes (and they keep just getting better!).
Modern suspension (spring or lightweight coil with proper effective damping).
MTB Clipless pedals (1993, so just after the 1980's).

eric_draven

Kajjal wrote:

For me it is when it appeared on mountain bikes and was past the experimental bedding in stage.

Agree with the above,they might of been invented,but it's when they were available to the average Joe
Disc brakes
Full active adjustable suspension
dropper post
Clipless pedals
modern clothing
Fatter grips for my shovel hands

cooldad

eric draven wrote:

....

modern clothing

....

Gave me a laugh. I imagined you pedalling along Fred Flintsone style in animal skins.

doomanic

For me personally, eBikes are the biggest bestest MTB innovation for years, enabling me to carry on riding how I want to when bits of my body are saying no.
Dropper posts are way up there too; not a necessity; you can ride without one, but why would you want to?

CitizenLee

Dropper posts
Tubeless
1x gearing

tallpaul_s

Modern efficient suspension systems. If you look at the full suspension bikes of the early 2000's with elastomer shocks and horrendous URT designs and 100mm of travel, the fact that a modern 140-160mm bike can be pedaled all day long is frankly amazing.

kajjal

TallPaul_S wrote:

Modern efficient suspension systems. If you look at the full suspension bikes of the early 2000's with elastomer shocks and horrendous URT designs and 100mm of travel, the fact that a modern 140-160mm bike can be pedaled all day long is frankly amazing.

Tell me about it I had a Scott octane fx3 bike in the 1990’s. It was awful, the poor riding position was only the start. The rear suspension was very active and the front elastomer fork barely moved. It also had really poor v brakes and hill climbing was painful.

My camber in comparison is everything that bike wasn’t.

02gf74

Rethinking this, I now go with front suspension. This allows me to take ground that was very difficult with rigid forks.

Re disc brakes,
I can only recall a couple of times when v brakes were inadequate so I had to walk down.


There's also carbon fibre frames, which deserve a mention but in reality there's nothing they can do that can be achieved on a steel or aluminium frame..

FishFish

Trail centres do it for me as the best innovation.

steve_sordy

We are lucky aren't we? To have lived through so much beneficial innovation and development. I wonder where next?

FishFish

Blue Tooth paired bell would be fantastic.

doomanic

02GF74 wrote:

Re disc brakes,
I can only recall a couple of times when v brakes were inadequate so I had to walk down.

IME, by the time you have realised your brakes are inadequate it's too late to dismount and walk down...

david7m

Dropper.
Dave

shindig

Been riding since mid 80's and here's my list :

Oil damped suspension forks (although elastomers were ok but zero rebound damping - a bit like fatbike tyres and probably the same amount of travel))
Front chainrings that don't drop or chain suck (no more chains gouging through your chain stays and having to remove your crack to free the chain)
Cranksets other than Square taper (they always slackened)
Aheadset headsets (non ahead sets were difficult to adjust & they always slackened)
Hydraulic disc brakes (v-brakes had a tendency to speed you up in the wet or snow and thankfully very few people now experience the sheer horror that happens on a steep wet decent when you apply the v-brakes and nothing happens!)
Rear suspension
Dropper post (no more broken seapost qr levers)
Decent pedals (spd that actually releas and flat pedals that really grip)
Tubeless systems
Wide tires
Ebikes that have all of the above

zagora

1. Dropper posts
2. Tubless (no punctures or failures so far)
3. Disc brakes
4. Carbon (frames and bars)
5 E bikes ( I've met a few guys over 70 who are still riding because of them)

steve_sordy

Bikes that are in near mint condition that you want to sell still holding their value!

jds_1981

Bar ends

steve_sordy

I was a big fan of bar ends (I had no idea they were unfashionable, but I wouldn't have cared even if I knew), until I started riding through the forest from about 2008. Several offs as a consequence of my bar ends getting snagged soon led to their removal. They have never reappeared.

dodgy

I remember when V brakes first appeared, that was a tremendous improvement over what was available before. Disc brakes an even greater improvement.

02gf74

And before cantilever brakes there were u-brakes, I ve seen pictures but happily am not old enough to have owned bike with them fitted,.must have been awful .. Or maybe more accurately did not get into mtb early enough.

eric_draven

02GF74 wrote:

And before cantilever brakes there were u-brakes, I ve seen pictures but happily am not old enough to have owned bike with them fitted,.must have been awful .. Or maybe more accurately did not get into mtb early enough.

I had one on a late eighties Marin,mounted under the rather narrow chainstays,great in dusty conditions of California,but a nightmare in this country,my mate had a Saracen Trekker 89' i think it had a U brake at each end

Loved having bar ends way back in the 90's,but bars were super narrow,when i got my first full suss bike I bought some Azonic double wall bars at 710 long,and they looked back then like you wouldn't reach the ends,compared to what i had been using up until then

natrix

dodgy wrote:

I remember when V brakes first appeared, that was a tremendous improvement over what was available

My first set of V brakes had two settings, 'high powered braking' and 'medium powered braking', the idea being that you could gradually get used to the awesome braking power without going straight over the handle bars. They really were a HUGE improvement.

kajjal

natrix wrote:

dodgy wrote:

I remember when V brakes first appeared, that was a tremendous improvement over what was available

My first set of V brakes had two settings, 'high powered braking' and 'medium powered braking', the idea being that you could gradually get used to the awesome braking power without going straight over the handle bars. They really were a HUGE improvement.

When I first got V Brakes and had to try to stop very quickly off road i went straight over the handle bars :shock:

They were the first brakes which really stopped a bike.