Speaker: Bikes have evolved constantly over
the years and are almost unrecognizable from
the velocipedes of the Victorian era.
What are the bike paths that have had the
biggest impact on cycling?
What are the parts that have changed cycling
for the better?
In this video is our top list of the most
important bike innovations so far.
[music]
The derailleur.
These days we might take the ability to change
gear for granted, but it's hard to imagine
that gearing only really came into racing
in the 1930s, with the invention of the derailleur.
Prior to that, riders basically only really
had one gear.
Although there was the option to take your
wheel out, spin it around with another cog
on the back, and use that, effectively giving
you two gears.
Although to do this you had to stop, take
your wheel out and- well, slow and far from
ideal.
Something I found out firsthand when trying
to emulate Tulio Campagnolo on the Croce D'Aune.
In the rain.
[music]
Rear derailleur allowed riders to change gear
on the go.
This meant they could tackle steeper gradients,
a wider variety of gradients.
It also made racing faster.
Sound, the speed of light and the cosmic microwave
background have always existed.
In that respect, it's hard to imagine that
pedals haven't also, but they only came into
existence in 1863.
Prior to this, bikes were known as velocipedes.
You had to use your feet, kind of like a balanced
bike, but for adults.
The invention of the pedal is attributed to
Pierre Lallement, who claims to have come
up with the pedal and rotary cranks that would
be attached to the front wheel to drive the
machine.
At the time, this would have been a huge technological
leap forward and paved the way for the modern
bikes we started to see later on.
A cool nerdy tech detail, and that is that
on modern pedals the left-hand pedal has a
reverse thread.
This is to stop it coming undone.
This wasn't always the case.
This actually came about as a design solution.
People continuously undoing their left-hand
pedal while they were cycling along.
Power meters, bike power meters first became
available in the late 1980s.
The first commercially available portable
unit was the SRM, or Schoberer Rad Meßtechnik
or Schoberer's bike measuring technology,
invented by the German Ulrich Schoberer.
Power meters have had a huge impact on the
sport of cycling.
Not only do they allow riders to perfectly
pace their efforts in time trials or long
climbs, they've also allowed coaches to analyse
and quantify athlete performances, which has
led to better structured and more efficient
training.
Carbon fiber frames.
Carbon fiber is the most widely used material
in performance bike frame manufacturing today.
This is for good reason.
It allows frames to be lighter, stiffer, more
corrosion resistant than steel.
Also you can mold it into pretty much any
shape you want.
The first notable example is the Look KG86,
which Greg LeMond used to win the 1986 Tour
de France.
Carbon fiber was a huge leap forward in materials
technology.
The fact that you could mold it into almost
any shape meant that bike designers could
make bikes far more aerodynamic than ever
before, and this led to designs such as the
Lotus 110 Superbike that Chris Boardman used
in the Hour Record.
However, it might be hard to believe this
now, but riders weren't initially convinced
of the durability of the new composite material.
It wasn't until the Mapei team in the 90s
dominated the cobbled classics riding the
carbon fiber Colnago C40 that the material
really took off.
STI shifters.
Now we might take changing gear on a bike
for granted, but we also take changing gear
on our handlebars for granted as well.
Prior to 1990, you would have had to have
used down tube shifters in order to change
gear- or so I'm told by the older GCN presenters.
STI shifters, or Shimano Total Integration
shifters to give them their full name, allowed
you to change gear on your brake levers rather
than having to reach down onto your down tube,
something which made responding to attacks
in races or having to change gear when you
were on a climb much easier.
Just simply click with your hands and you're
away.
On the topic of shifting we also have to talk
about electronic gears.
Shimano's Di2 system debuted in 2009.
With Di2, a light press of a simple button
resulted in quick, precise and consistent
shifting.
Technically, the first electronic group set
was the ill-fated Mavic Zap in 1992.
This proved too unreliable and it never really
caught on.
With Di2 the system stuck and other brands
subsequently took note.
With Campagnolo bringing out EPS and SRAM
with its eTap system.
Electronic shifting has become the default
option for performance road bikes.
Although there are still some specialist applications
where mechanical gears are favored, electronic
shifting has brought smoothness, reliability,
speed and consistency to changing gear.
Now we're going to go back in time again to
1887.
If you were one of the people who was riding
a bike around then, then you probably would
have been shaken around a lot, because pneumatic
tires hadn't been invented until then.
The man behind the invention, John Boyd Dunlop.
Yes, the founder of Dunlop Tires.
The pneumatic tires came about because Dunlop
wanted to create an invention which would
stop his son getting headaches from bouncing
around on rough roads.
No wonder.
Big thanks, John, for coming up with the invention
that would allow us to all ride around far
more smoothly.
We are forever grateful for that and the green
flash trainers.
Our next big technological innovation is a
controversial one.
Disc brakes, they certainly haven't been without
their detractors.
It's taken a while to convince most of the
pro peloton that they are indeed the future.
The same could be said about other innovations
in this list, such as carbon fiber frames
when they were first introduced.
It wasn't until 2017 that Marcel Kittel took
the first pro victory on disc brakes.
Since then, there have been countless of these.
We've even seen summit finishes from the likes
of Alaphilippe and Nairo Quintana won on disc
brakes.
Disc breaks offer far more consistent braking
in all weather conditions, more power and
more modulation.
It's a vastly improved system over rim-brake
technology.
In this respect, they are without doubt the
future of braking.
Our final entry on this list is the safety
bicycle.
What on earth is the safety bicycle?
I hear you ask.
Prior to its invention, in 1885 people rode
around on these.
Yes, penny-farthings.
John Kemp Starley set about designing a bike
that was safer and more efficient than the
penny-farthing.
The result was the safety bicycle.
The bike which defined the shape of the modern
bikes we see today, with its diamond-shaped
frame.
In this regard, we owe a lot to Starley.
He is the father of the modern bicycle design,
and probably the most important inventor you've
never heard of.
That is of course unless you've heard of him.
Next time you're on a bike ride [unintelligible
00:09:15] cap or helmet to Starley.
We owe him a lot.
That was our top list of the most important
bike parts that have changed the world.
What did we miss?
Let us know on social media or in the comments.
Also, what about the next 10 innovations?
What are going to be the biggest innovations
in the future?
You've got any ideas?
We'd like to hear those too.
I'm going to go now for a bike ride.
Bye.
[00:09:45] [END OF AUDIO]
