I love bikes, and I love new bikes, and I love new bike technology. I love that companies continue to push on various aspects of design to improve and innovate. I just don’t happen to need that much of it.
Oh, I’ve adopted lots and lots of new things. I have a 12-speed bike. I have two bikes with electronic shifting. I have three bikes with hydro disc brakes. I have dropper posts and tubeless tires and dual suspensions and Cushcore and lots of other stuff that is nice, but that, strictly speaking I didn’t need. All of it made the bike better, I think, in some small way. All together they might even represent a paradigm shift, CERTAINLY from the 26″ hardtail I rode for a decade or so.
But I’m not sure any of these little upgrades solved a problem that was bothering me.
I want to be careful here not to denigrate new technology nor glorify the state of the art from decades past. I’m happy enough with the progression. I understand the only way is forward. Any yet, to some degree I wonder how much more chocolate we can get in the chocolate.
The chocolate ice cream was good. The chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips in it was cool too. Add some fudge? Ok. Swirl in some dark chocolate? Um. Coat all that in chocolate sprinkles? If you feel strongly about it. Serve it in a chocolate cone. I suppose.
What the bike industry does is offer improvement you didn’t know you wanted. You were riding along just fine, having the time of your life, but they had their eyes on a higher prize. And I guess that’s what experts do. They think about ways to make things better, even when we’re not asking them to make things better.
If you were cynical, you might wonder whether the chocolate cone was necessary, if it was even worth the extra $1 they want for it, but what you probably ought to do is keep your mouth shut, eat the choco-bomb and live with the joy of it, because life is fleeting, and death comes to us all.
Despite all that, I wonder, is there a problem you wish the bike industry would solve that they haven’t? Is there something that bothers you about your bike or how it rides that you wish someone would work on? Or would you be happy enough to freeze technological time in the bike industry right now and ride the stuff we’ve got in perpetuity?
Hmmmmm. Thats a tough one to separate “better” from “different”, but I always thought they should have focused on making the belt drive and internal hub gearing better. Lighter weight, a standard for a breakaway frame to change belts, make the shifting electronic if you must. Kiss lubing/cleaning goodbye. Otherwise I’m good with disc brakes and mechanical groupset.
2-wheel drive baby. Lets go!
I wish that there was a little more standardization for parts. I am a bit overwhelmed lately trying to figure out which components will fit one of my bikes that needs work. That said, I love the new bikes as much as my old ones!
You tweak designs in what is probably infinite ways, but with only marginal gains, imperceptible to the average rider. My opinion is that manufacturers should have focused on producing something that is along the lines of a gravel bike, not focusing on the niche itself, but rather the overall qualities of that type of bike and how that might appeal to a larger audience.
I’m always 2-3 steps behind but when I do upgrade I almost always like it. I just don’t need the latest and greatest. This is true for me with cars, phones, watches and bikes.
The explosion of e-bikes should be sending manufacturers a loud clear message-bikes need to be easier to ride. A 34X32 “low gear” is aspirational for many of us. I want modern materials, brakes, wheels ect, but have real trouble finding stock bikes with gearing that is low enough for me and areas that I ride in. One by mullets are not the answer. Why can’t a road or gravel bikes have gearing that is not aimed at racing?
In my very personal opinion, I like a bike to be simple and easy to fixe (myself). On a road bike, steel frame with a nice 11 speed manual group set is the best of two worlds for many reasons (to many to put in a short text). Also, rim brake on road bike is more than sufficient, the problem in stopping is more related to lack of rubber contact on the road then lack of breaking power.
For the mountain bike, hydro brakes and tubeless is obviously a must.
Apart from that, simplicity, simplicity, simplicity…