What's the best cycling innovation in 'recent' years?

[mickle]

Alright then: 'recent' means going from just before clipless (whenever that was) to the present.......obviously.
This therefore excludes wheels and derailleurs.
When/whose were the first clipless pedais?
Anyone?

LOOK 1984?

 

[mickle]

Actually, now i think of it *brifters*

That translates as brake shifters. Although a couple of goobers in the so-called technical section didn't know that

In what way do these so called 'brifters' of which you write differ from the traditional 'shiftakes'?

 

[HLaB]

IMO its the improvement in rim brakes my early bikes had cantis/ single pivot my new bike have got v brakes/ dual pivot and are much better. According to wikipedia dual pivot brakes are an old design rediscovered however.

 

[yenrod]

Im agreeing with Ivan - STi's are quite something...

These even surpass ergonomics to do with cars...!

2nd to this clipless pedals: Time in particular ! You have not tried clipless till youve tried these pedals.

3rdly, Saddles with holes in them, for your bits,... A TRUE life saver !!!

STI levers

 

[Smokin Joe]

Clipless pedals were made by Cinelli in the seventies. They had a quick release lever which had to be closed after you positioned your foot and flicked open before you could release. Not surprisingly they never caught on.

 

[twowheelsgood]

Well, speaking as a typical Joe who cycled as a kid until the mid-1980s then took it up again in the late 90s as an adult, definitely indexed gears. Before that, I used about 4 gears on my racer by mashing the chain against the stops. Just behind that, SPDs.

But overall, probably that mass-market general purpose bikes are so much lighter, not just fragile and expensive racing machinery. A pretty ordinary hybrid can be 11-12kg instead of a 16-18kg utility bike of 20 years ago.

I think one of the reasons the general public aren't into cycling so much is they aren't really aware of home much better cycles and equipment are now compared to their youth.

 

[meenaghman]

Thinking of my arse here !! surely its the synthetic chamois rather than the evil bit of goats hide that used to be in cycling shorts. Other technical clothing- eg Goretex, windproof and breathable fabrics help comfort of ride.
Cycling computer.. I remember the ones that clipped a screw on the spoke, and it turned a fork driven milometer... or great big wire driven ones if you wanted to know your speed.