Change come hard in the cycling community

[Dogtrousers]

Don't mess about,make em mend their own bikes without assistance or get time penalties

Well given that there's a bit of a trend to rough-stuff, witness the gravel stage of the TdF this year, this is a natural extension of that very popular trend.

Instead of just gravel, there should be sectors where road is be strewn with tacks and glass and the riders will need to carry patches and glue. Teams will need to make a cost/benefit calculation of using Marathon Pluses. The sport will be enhanced. Racing Roadkill will make a forum comeback advocating for solid tyres.

Of course there will be some die-hard traditionalists and blazer-wearing UCI fossils moaning that it distracts from cycling as an athletic endeavour but these people can't see the future.

 

[mjr]

Instead of just gravel, there should be sectors where road is be strewn with tacks and glass

I think someone tried that. Maybe 2012 as I think I remember Wiggins being annoyed that Movistar attacked at that point, starting the long Sky-Movistar feud.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I think someone tried that. Maybe 2012 as I think I remember Wiggins being annoyed that Movistar attacked at that point, starting the long Sky-Movistar feud.

Was that the time Cadel Evans punctured and couldn't get a wheel.

 

[MichaelW2]

I upgraded from Weinman to Shimano dual pivot and it was a quantum leap ( stop?). Same for disk brakes over dual pivots.
LED lighting was a huge improvement but so too were kevlar lined tyres.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

What's the roadie feeling on suspension stems, rear suspension, dropper posts etc, I wonder? I can guess...

I do think that resistance to change is a factor in adopting new technology, certainly on CC.

Older people tend to resist change much more than younger people, and let's face it, the CC demographic is skewed towards the ancient end of the age spectrum.

 

[mjr]

Was that the time Cadel Evans punctured and couldn't get a wheel.

Thanks, that found it. Stage 14. See A Dorie/Julia/Nick/Mary Love Fest: BREAD – https://www.lightsonbrightnobrakes.com/a-doriejulianickmary-love-fest-bread/

 

[Dogtrousers]

What's the roadie feeling on suspension stems, rear suspension, dropper posts etc, I wonder? I can guess...

I do think that resistance to change is a factor in adopting new technology, certainly on CC.

Older people tend to resist change much more than younger people, and let's face it, the CC demographic is skewed towards the ancient end of the age spectrum.

Dropper posts are a thing in pro racing - see Matej Mohoric's win in Milan San Remo. So you can bet that a lot of amateur racers and wannabe racers are trying them out.
Also the neutral service cars provide bikes with dropper posts to make it easy for riders to adjust saddle height.

Suspension on the road is pretty much unnecessary - roads being more or less flat. There is some suspension in handlebars (Specialized Roubaix) and so on but it's not really mainstream. I think it's not taken off because it's an expensive add-on that just doesn't add much value not due to resistance to change.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Dropper posts are a thing in pro racing - see Matej Mohoric's win in Milan San Remo. So you can bet that a lot of amateur racers and wannabe racers are trying them out.
Also the neutral service cars provide bikes with dropper posts to make it easy for riders to adjust saddle height.

Suspension on the road is pretty much unnecessary - roads being more or less flat. There is some suspension in handlebars (Specialized Roubaix) and so on but it's not really mainstream. I think it's not taken off because it's an expensive add-on that just doesn't add much value not due to resistance to change.

I have rear 'suspension on my Trek Domane - tbh it makes no discernable difference to the ride imo. Just another thing to creak & squeak!

 

[Andy in Germany]

And ten minutes time penalty for getting a small boy to work the bellows while repairing the bike at a forge, right?

There's unlucky ... and then there's Christophe | Cycling | The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/jan/07/cycling.features

Not if you built the forge.

 

[Fredo76]

In my opinion, the greatest advance in cycling since the seventies is:

1. Seats with great big holes in them.

Seriously.

 

[freiston]

The biggest benefit of disc brakes over (modern alloy) rim brakes is the absence of black muck that gets everywhere when you handle the bike - they're worth it for that reason alone

I'm struggling to think of the "best" changes but one that is obvious to me is modern dynamo lighting - I have it on all of my bikes except for the rarely used 20" folding bike.

Pannier racks (didn't we used to call them "carriers"?) are a lot better than when I were a lad - even the Karrimor one had plenty of sway.

Clipless pedals are a no-brainer imho over clipped pedals, but then again, flat pedals and half-clips are valid alternatives with their own benefits over clipless and full clips.

 

[Alex321]

I'm struggling to think of the "best" changes but one that is obvious to me is modern dynamo lighting - I have it on all of my bikes except for the rarely used 20" folding bike.

Not just dynamo lights, it is LED lights in general. The old "never ready" lights from the 70's, were just about OK for being seen by, but almost useless for seeing with on unlit roads. And ate batteries for lunch.

 

[freiston]

I made the mistake of fitting one of those egg shaped rear dynamo lights to my Karrimor carrier, swapping the 6V bulb for a 3V one and wiring it up in parallel to my front Never Ready light (the more modern plastic one that took two D cells - much better than the older metal ones). I set off from Boston to Wolverhampton, meaning to travel through the night but didn't quite get to Grantham before the power ran out. I ended up sleeping off the roadside until daylight. It was summertime, so not long.

I get the point about LEDs but imho, the benefit of a modern dynamo LED lighting system over old battery or dynamo lighting is superlatively more than that of modern battery/rechargeable LED lighting - but that's another thread, probably. Modern lighting is better by the bucket load

 

[mjr]

Not just dynamo lights, it is LED lights in general. The old "never ready" lights from the 70's, were just about OK for being seen by, but almost useless for seeing with on unlit roads. And ate batteries for lunch.

The battery still doesn't last long on modern lights once it's properly cold, but that's okay because it's not like the longest nights are during winter or anything...oh wait!

 

[roubaixtuesday]

The battery still doesn't last long on modern lights once it's properly cold

Batteries last ages. Mine last a week commuting, which is 100 miles.

Unless you run lights on totally unnecessary and counterproductive retina burning modes.