Perhaps make it a top ten by including the roller chain designed in 1898 by the German Diamant Bicycle Company. Tech virtually unchanged in 120 years in the bike world? That's pretty impressive
I recently saw a poster for a bike related patent in my friend's room: It was a bicycle with chains on both sides on the wheel and the pedals were attached to the chain. It would have been an alternative although a terrible one. I'm glad we've got the drivetrain system we have.
GCN generally makes excellent videos, but this particular one is simply unacceptable, missing chains and freehubs, while including such thing as power meters or electronic gears...
Definitely more important than the power meter. Descents would not be a lot of fun if you had to keep pedaling, or work against you pedals to slow down.
I can think of loads that most people would be thankful for above power meters! Bearings so we don't have to ride fixed gears. Clipless pedals (although definitely the most confusingly named item on a bike!). Drop handle bars so we can be much more aero. Modern helmets. Pannier racks for packing more stuff onto the bike. Mudguards, particularly if you ride in the UK! Floor pumps and hand pumps for different occasions. Aero clothing (not necessarily even skin suits, just the regular stuff most road cyclists wear). Quick release levers. Bike computers.
I agree with almost all of these for the normal cyclist. A sub $50 power meter could change that tho. I just can't afford a $200-300 entry level power meter
Derailleurs weren't invented in the 1930s, that's only when they were adopted in road racing. The earliest derailleurs date from the 1890s, with systems like the Gradient and Whippet. By the 1910s, there were rear derailleurs with a mostly-modern pulley tension cage topology with an upper jockey wheel and lower tension pulley, like the Chemineau. The main reason that racing derailleurs of the 30s and 40s look comparatively primitive is that racers were concerned that the s-bend taken by the chain through dual-pulley "touring" and "randonneuring" derailleurs would add excessive drivetrain friction. Campagnolo was perhaps one of the strongest adherents to this notion, as his Cambio Corsa derailleur is designed to let the drivetrain behave like a single-speed when it's not being shifted. But this ironically might be what caused him to develop the Gran Sport and market dual-pulley derailleurs to racers: the clumsy operation of his zero-pulley design was seemingly causing people to flock to Simplex in the late 1940s, and he fought back by going in completely the opposite direction with the Gran Sport. Note that the Campagnolo Gran Sport is *not* the first parallelogram derailleur, or even the first to incorporate two pulley wheels. JIC and Nivex were both selling parallelogram derailleurs in the 1930s, and at least the Nivex model had dual pulley wheels. It also appears that Simplex probably made a fork rear derailleur in the 1930s with parallelogram actuation. The Gran Sport didn't take off because it was the first to any particular technical feature, but because it looked beautiful, and it was more robust and offered a wider gearing range than its competitors in the "racing" market. It was also more convenient for framebuilding and bicycle manufacturing than some touring derailleurs, which often used mounting braze-ons on the chainstay, and sometimes used desmodromic push-pull operation with two shift cables instead of a return spring (which guaranteed nicely firm and non-bouncy derailleur actuation, but made for less-convenient cable routing). The common belief that derailleurs date from the 1930s seems to be part of the bizarre myth that Tullio Campagnolo had something to do with their early development. STI shifters weren't where handlebar-mounted shifters started. The earliest handlebar-mounted shifters to really take off were bar-end shifters, which started to rise to prominence in the 1940s. Compared with STI, bar-ends are much clumsier to use while out of the saddle, and a bit clunkier for downshifting at a stop, but otherwise I don't find that they give up much of anything. Stem-shifters are also *sort of* handlebar-mounted, although on a properly-fit racing bike, they're if anything much clumsier to use than downtube shifters: you have to contract your elbow over rather than just allow your arm to naturally flick downward. And that's one of the weird things with downtube shifters: how well they work for a rider depends a lot on the overall geometry of the bicycle and the fit, like where the downtube sits relative to the handlebars and the rider's shoulders. If you had to really "reach" down for the shifter, that wasn't ideal. If the top tube obstructed the shifter so that you couldn't easily access both shifters with one hand, that was a bummer: downtube shifters are great on double-shifts if you can operate both shifters with a single hand motion, but kind of clunky for double-shifts if you need to drop one hand, bring it back up, drop the other hand, bring it back up.
I bought Shimano 6spd index shifting in 86' - I was laughed at in the peloton... but it was very clear in the first race... it was a huge advantage... never looked back.
I think that since you included the safety bicycle, you should consider adding one of what must be the all-time safety considerations ever - the UCI sock height rule. Imagine the number of cyclists that must owe their continued well-being (from not crashing) to having their socks come up to the exact right height.
The bike helmet needs to be top of the list. In the 80s pre helmets I got terrible head Injuries in a crash and then came the trusty lid and it’s been a life saver. Even if you don’t want to ware one to be safe get an aero lid and go faster and be safe.
The humble bearing, a vital component for all 2 wheelers. The first modern recorded patent on ball bearings was awarded to Philip Vaughan, a British inventor and ironmaster who created the first design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794.
Nice post, however, I've still got bikes with fixed wheels, Sturmey Archer gears ( started about 1900), steel frames (easy to repair), changers on stem or top tube, and hub brakes. They all work and are reliable. The change from cotter pins to cotterless was an advancement that also favoured the change to alloy cranks. The change to derailleur gears enabled much lower and higher gears to be chosen.
Nice Video! Speaking of Derailleurs, I'd love to see a Video pointing out the differences of early derailleur Designs (i.e. Simplex Juy / Oscar Egg Super Champion / Campa Cambio Corsa etc.)
In all honestly, it is simply mindblowing to think that in the 1800s, people in the UK could ride on trains powered by steam locomotives decades before they could take a spin around the park on bicycles. That's something deep to ponder.
LED lamps. Maybe not a top sport innovation (and apparently taken for granted now), but I just remember how troublesome were incandescent bulbs, their dynamos, and short-lived, bulk batteries.
Should be “the most important marketing advances”... Power Meters? Plastic Bikes? STI? Disc Brakes.? Electronic Gears? Most of these will get you to the finish line faster. , . in the back of the sag wagon. . . Pneumatic tires, roller chains, derailleurs., the Safety Bicycle. . . Sure.
I don’t know who chose the pictures but you managed to take two picture where people on rim brakes won the race. Groenewegen‘s Bianchi is the rim brake version. And as Quintana rode for Movistar, until last year, they where on rim brake Campagnolo equipped Canyons.
Yeah - a mention for John-Kemp Starley! :-) Anyone who wants to honour the father of the modern bicycle can ride in the Starley Sportive too - originally scheduled for the 16 February it was postponed due to storm Dennis and is now being run on 26 April along the picturesque roads of Warwickshire starting and finishing in Coventry home of the Rover Safety bicycle...
I think they should bring back the phrase "Dandy Horse" to use as a catch-all phrase for all bicycles.. "Just off out on the Dandy Horse, dear.. back soon..."
4 роки тому
The left pedal has reverse thread because in case of jamming, it is safer for the pedal to fall out than to continue rotating with the cranks, injuring the rider. In case of clipless pedals, this could be far more dangerous. I love this channel :)
Gevenalle actually DO make friction shifters that mount to brake levers. They are actually very appealing to me as I prefer the simplicity of this type of shifting.
Kieran Willis: I had a Jubilee on a Raleigh Competition. It weighed nothing and was reliable. I miss that bicycle! Although I still have the Brooks Pro saddle that came on it.
@@granthaller9544 Yes I've heard they were pretty reliable especially for a Frenchie of it's era, and yes who couldn't be dazzled by it's weight being competitive with even the top equipment today. Nearly was swayed to get one for my Old French bike but it woulda been out of place on a touring bicycle (plus a bit too dear in today's market) Good shout keeping the saddle though, really that's the only part that could never be replaced
In the mid 70's Sidi came out with shoes with a plate w/allen key adjustment. Prior to that we used 20 small nails to place leather cleats. Adjustment a huge hassle. Foot pain greatly reduced too.
In high school I had a “10 speed” Schwinn Varsity Sport which had friction shifters mounted on the stem rather than the down tube. Although I loved that bike, I coveted my cousin’s Paramount!
Wow... That list was R-A-N-D-O-M AF.... power meters? on the same wavelength, may as well add.... 1. Handlebar tape 2. Cafe stop 3. Team support car 4. Cycling shoes
I agree. LOL 90% or more bicycle riders around the world will never use a power meter, or even know that they exist for that matter. Silly and biased towards competitive riders. Maybe this list is actually "Best innovations for pro riders." Disc brakes, carbon fiber, electronic gears, and power meters are all irrelevant to the masses.
coaster brakes, the spoked rim design and how it can be straightened by tuning/ tightening each spoke, the steering assembly, tubular steel , bearings , cable shifting gears and brakes, chains. The bicycle is one of the most amazing feats of engineering it is unbelievably frustrating being 12 and thinking hey ill try and fix my bike and than come to realize the engineering and design is so complex and ingenious that instead you just sit fascinated with the amount of innovation that surrounds us everyday that we take for granted. ill never forget how may hours i spend trying to understand how to reassemble my coaster brake and bearings in my bicycle just to take it for a nice ride and the whole thing come apart in 30 min. LOL
James Starley's safety bicycle was called the Rover and we know where that name lead. Starley also had a hand in the design/development of the differential to make his trike easier to get round corners than with a full width live axle. It's many years (55?) since I lived and worked in Coventry but I'm almost sure there was a statue to Starley in a prominent place. So yes, I had certainly heard of him.
In the early Universe, temperature was so hot no photons could escape. 380 000 years after the Big Bang the now expanding Universe reached the temperature at which photons were free to escape creating what we call the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), temperature fluctuation at that exact time. It’s the farthest (thus the oldest) we can observe can. It technically didn’t exist for 380 000 ;) but it’s only a detail in a awesome video, great work!
When were disc brakes first introduced on bicycles? In the mid 1980's there was a programme on BBC2 called Local Heroes. The presenter, Adam Hart-Davis, rode a cycle with a disc brake fitted on the front mono-blade forks.
HI GCN, I would like to add that the creation of the pneumatic tyre is much much more controversial then disk breaks for the reason that King Leopald the third of Belgium was behind the decimation of the Congolese people and it is worth mentioning! No disrespect to my fellow Belgium folks out there much love and respect.
This was a great video Ollie but you missed something on the handlebar shifing evolution: GripShifts. This nasty invention allowed you to twist a barrel on the end of your handlebars to manage your shifting.
id say having a chain,having gears (be it hub or derailleur based) and being able to have a freewheel,like being able to stop pedaling while still rolling forward
Missed? Clipless pedals was a huge leap forward in pedal tech. When I got my first pair of Looks in '86, almost everyone on my club ride laughed at me and said they'd never catch on. As someone who suffers from Renauld's Disease, Look pedals not only were easier to get in and out of, but eliminated that binding across the top of the foot, that essentially cut off circulation for us RD sufferers.
No mention of tubular steel frames or chain drive? Alloy and carbon were incremental improvements, but tubular steel was a revolution. At least you included one of my top 3: pneumatic tyres :-)
Pretty solid list guys. But, possibly also adding the bike chain, given that the original bikes were driven directly through the front wheel, which, enabled derailleurs.... Cheers.
I have 4 bikes, one 30-40 yrs old, 1 about 5-6 years old and two that are nearly 20 years old, they all have shimano gears and they all work perfectly considering their age, I still ride up steep hills, sometimes slipping into doing a wheelie, I’m amazed with the durability of them nowadays.
Loved this video and gave a thumbs up. Nonetheless I felt the order in which you brought up the points should have been chronological. Still great compilation man.
I think the basic cycle computer changed history more than the power meter (which is pointless w/o a computer). Not every cyclist has or needs a power meter but nearly EVERY cycling enthusiast has a cycle computer to track their miles, time, speed and, nowadays, GPS to explore new routes and not get lost. I remember the day I got my first Vetta Cyclometer, totally changed the way I looked at my riding forever after.
honestly, I think aluminium frames were much more important a revolution than carbon fibre. Al is both cheaper and lighter than steel, carbon fibre is only relevant for those with deep pockets - carbon made for better bikes, but aluminium made decent bikes more affordable for more people.
For us that we can’t afford a carbon fiber bike, all we need to do is wait for the technology to be mass adopted and became affordable for all and cheaper than the alternative options.
@@DUI59 AL frame + carbon forks > steel Complaint comfortable steel feels like riding a noodle, high end stiff steel is no more comfortable than AL and is far more expensive. Stiff AL forks are indeed HORRIBLE and while i would definitely take a weight penalty for steel forks over them, carbon forks offer the stiffness of AL and most of the comfort of steel. Some day when I've lost my personal n+1 battle, it'll most likely be another AL Frame & carbon forked bike, with the only big tech update being disc brakes. Worn through two BB's, one relatively bad wheelset, 3 chains, 2 front rings, only one cassette (i should really look at this tbh),a handful of brake pads and yet the frame/fork/Claris (!) groupset live on happily.
Was looking at a nice circa 1990 Klein road bike for JRA fun when I test rode it and immediately said, "why would I want down tube shifters? When am I ever gonna ride this thing?"
If a pedal spindle became seized (or when you put the spanner on it), it comes loose while pedalling forward. This applies to left and right. This is why I never understand when the reverse thread is attributed to prevent loosening.
2.31 On my bike the left hand pedal with a left hand thread loosens in the direction of pedaling, same goes for the right hand pedal with a right hand thread, also the right hand bottom bracket cup with a left hand thread and the left hand bottom bracket cup with a right and thread. Is that just a southern hemisphere thing?
My guess would be that the next big thing in cycling would be the shaft drive transmission that Ceramic Pro is working on. That, or any version of shaft drive that proves to be viable. He who can cut friction can produce the highest gains.
The most interesting thing I just learned from this video was that prior to derailleurs they had a rear wheel with 2 different speed cogs, that you could spin your wheel around to change gears, and that GCN is still obsessing over disc brakes...
Oliver Bridgewood No worries mate, your correct, only I don't see the need in all the hassle. Aluminum rims for foul weather and carbon rims for fair weather, all they had to do was reinvent the brake pads swap for a quick release, and then swap out the pads with each wheelset. Shame
interesting that the s-word sponsored GCN doesn't mention that Campagnolo invented lever to change gears from the seat stay (Paris-Roubaix I believe). tsk tsk
@@robinlarner9325 It did change cycling...before the wheel, no cycling, after the wheel is invented, cycling ;-) (well a bit later anyway) Thanks for picking me up on it though.
@@robinlarner9325 The (tensioned) wheel certainly changed cycling. Unlike the spokes shown at 2:04, modern wire spokes are tensioned and pull inwards on the wheel frame, which makes it possible to construct far lighter wheels with the same strength.
I think without a doubt, STI shifters and clipless pedals are the biggest innovations. I disagree that electronic shifting should be on this list. Mechanical shifting is so good now that I don't think electronic makes THAT much difference. It's easier to be sure, but not the game-changer many of the others have been.
you didn't only have shifters on the downtube before 1990. my dad's '86 Raleigh Marathon had shifters at the cockpit. no indexing, you had to shift by feel.
Pedals are threaded so that they do come undone when pedaling (not so that they do up as stated) try it youself, loosen one, pedal, see what happens. This is so that a seezed bearing won't through you off the bike or break your ankle if clipped in.
Derailleur agree unless you have a fixed gear Pedals agree but I have seen plenty of folks that keep going long after the pedal fell off. Power meter no agree not required just ride activity watch is in the dumpster too Carbon fiber maybe but only if you aren't adding heavier components to the bike that keeps the overall weight the same. STI shifter agree but would argue indexing was more important Electronic shifting no agree not required requires battery and wires that add weight Pneumatic tires/tyres agree requires air Disk brakes no agree. You should know that by now. Safety bicycle agree easier on the undercarriage. You left out spokes or spoked wheels.
Interesting!, but made me feel slightly aged by the downtube shifter bit, my first racing bike (A Peugeot race bike with orange logo and checkered flag design from around 1980) lasted me around 15 years before it got stolen. It features downtube shifters, very "analogue". You index your shifters real-time 😀
Safety bikes would still be slower/worse than penny farthings without transmission maybe faster without brakes but you overlooked both. Kudos for listing pneumatic tires for comfort and not falsely for their speed advantage.
@@HaloTupolev yapp, but only if the ground is poor enough, not in a velodrome where speed records where made. Also less relevant on tarmac on a penny farthing than on a safety. The speed advantage myth is a product of dunlops marketing, they paid the fastest riders to use pneumatic tires so pneumatic became what won the races.
wireless braking is a very stupid idea. not even cars do that. you HAVE to have a mechanical connection between your levers and the pads in order to get accurate feedback and modulation.
Jon Canning’s Shimano 6000 STI shifters were intentioned and non-functional. The first bike shown with Di2 had poorly wrapped bars. In our context - cycling - they are called motorcycle brakes or mountain biker or Extreme Dude brakes.
0:27 Dérailleurs
1:37 Pedals
2:46 Power meters
3:31 Carbon fibers
4:43 STI shifters
5:32 Electronics gears
6:32 Pneumatic tyres
7:20 Disc brakes
8:18 Safety bicycles
Perhaps make it a top ten by including the roller chain designed in 1898 by the German Diamant Bicycle Company. Tech virtually unchanged in 120 years in the bike world? That's pretty impressive
i agree, the chain for sure. as you say, vitually unchanged since its invention
I recently saw a poster for a bike related patent in my friend's room:
It was a bicycle with chains on both sides on the wheel and the pedals were attached to the chain.
It would have been an alternative although a terrible one. I'm glad we've got the drivetrain system we have.
Bicyclists of the world, UNITE - you have nothing to lose but you're chains!
GCN generally makes excellent videos, but this particular one is simply unacceptable, missing chains and freehubs, while including such thing as power meters or electronic gears...
I'd add the Bowden cable as well.
The free wheel hub certainly deserves mention.
Yeah I was surprised that wasn't on there.
Definitely more important than the power meter. Descents would not be a lot of fun if you had to keep pedaling, or work against you pedals to slow down.
You missed one of the most important inventions to revolutionize professional cycling. Invented by Campagnolo the QR skewer.
Dunlop invented pneumatic tires so people pumped them to be rock-hard again...
I can think of loads that most people would be thankful for above power meters!
Bearings so we don't have to ride fixed gears.
Clipless pedals (although definitely the most confusingly named item on a bike!).
Drop handle bars so we can be much more aero.
Modern helmets.
Pannier racks for packing more stuff onto the bike.
Mudguards, particularly if you ride in the UK!
Floor pumps and hand pumps for different occasions.
Aero clothing (not necessarily even skin suits, just the regular stuff most road cyclists wear).
Quick release levers.
Bike computers.
I agree with almost all of these for the normal cyclist. A sub $50 power meter could change that tho. I just can't afford a $200-300 entry level power meter
Derailleurs weren't invented in the 1930s, that's only when they were adopted in road racing. The earliest derailleurs date from the 1890s, with systems like the Gradient and Whippet. By the 1910s, there were rear derailleurs with a mostly-modern pulley tension cage topology with an upper jockey wheel and lower tension pulley, like the Chemineau. The main reason that racing derailleurs of the 30s and 40s look comparatively primitive is that racers were concerned that the s-bend taken by the chain through dual-pulley "touring" and "randonneuring" derailleurs would add excessive drivetrain friction. Campagnolo was perhaps one of the strongest adherents to this notion, as his Cambio Corsa derailleur is designed to let the drivetrain behave like a single-speed when it's not being shifted. But this ironically might be what caused him to develop the Gran Sport and market dual-pulley derailleurs to racers: the clumsy operation of his zero-pulley design was seemingly causing people to flock to Simplex in the late 1940s, and he fought back by going in completely the opposite direction with the Gran Sport.
Note that the Campagnolo Gran Sport is *not* the first parallelogram derailleur, or even the first to incorporate two pulley wheels. JIC and Nivex were both selling parallelogram derailleurs in the 1930s, and at least the Nivex model had dual pulley wheels. It also appears that Simplex probably made a fork rear derailleur in the 1930s with parallelogram actuation.
The Gran Sport didn't take off because it was the first to any particular technical feature, but because it looked beautiful, and it was more robust and offered a wider gearing range than its competitors in the "racing" market. It was also more convenient for framebuilding and bicycle manufacturing than some touring derailleurs, which often used mounting braze-ons on the chainstay, and sometimes used desmodromic push-pull operation with two shift cables instead of a return spring (which guaranteed nicely firm and non-bouncy derailleur actuation, but made for less-convenient cable routing).
The common belief that derailleurs date from the 1930s seems to be part of the bizarre myth that Tullio Campagnolo had something to do with their early development.
STI shifters weren't where handlebar-mounted shifters started.
The earliest handlebar-mounted shifters to really take off were bar-end shifters, which started to rise to prominence in the 1940s. Compared with STI, bar-ends are much clumsier to use while out of the saddle, and a bit clunkier for downshifting at a stop, but otherwise I don't find that they give up much of anything.
Stem-shifters are also *sort of* handlebar-mounted, although on a properly-fit racing bike, they're if anything much clumsier to use than downtube shifters: you have to contract your elbow over rather than just allow your arm to naturally flick downward.
And that's one of the weird things with downtube shifters: how well they work for a rider depends a lot on the overall geometry of the bicycle and the fit, like where the downtube sits relative to the handlebars and the rider's shoulders. If you had to really "reach" down for the shifter, that wasn't ideal. If the top tube obstructed the shifter so that you couldn't easily access both shifters with one hand, that was a bummer: downtube shifters are great on double-shifts if you can operate both shifters with a single hand motion, but kind of clunky for double-shifts if you need to drop one hand, bring it back up, drop the other hand, bring it back up.
I bought Shimano 6spd index shifting in 86' - I was laughed at in the peloton... but it was very clear in the first race... it was a huge advantage... never looked back.
I think that since you included the safety bicycle, you should consider adding one of what must be the all-time safety considerations ever - the UCI sock height rule. Imagine the number of cyclists that must owe their continued well-being (from not crashing) to having their socks come up to the exact right height.
The bike helmet needs to be top of the list. In the 80s pre helmets I got terrible head Injuries in a crash and then came the trusty lid and it’s been a life saver. Even if you don’t want to ware one to be safe get an aero lid and go faster and be safe.
But what if you're a weight weenie?
Braŭljo easy, don’t eat as much, loose weight, keep the lid on and stay safe
Pioneer Music Colchester But then you could lose more weight by not having a helmet.
@@brauljo take a dump, pee and puke before you ride. you'll save up a lot more weight that way.
I have done 70,000 miles with NO STUPID HELMET. I do always wear a ball cap now. Including Hanoi and HCM city. LOL MC circuses.
In my opinion it has to be the GCN show
Flattery will get you - a like by GCN
The humble bearing, a vital component for all 2 wheelers. The first modern recorded patent on ball bearings was awarded to Philip Vaughan, a British inventor and ironmaster who created the first design for a ball bearing in Carmarthen in 1794.
Nice post, however, I've still got bikes with fixed wheels, Sturmey Archer gears ( started about 1900), steel frames (easy to repair), changers on stem or top tube, and hub brakes. They all work and are reliable.
The change from cotter pins to cotterless was an advancement that also favoured the change to alloy cranks. The change to derailleur gears enabled much lower and higher gears to be chosen.
Could you only do 9 because the UCI banned the rest?
They should do a banned video. I wanna see how many they can come up with.
Great idea!
Love this kind of videos! Ollie is a master! Cheers
Thanks for watching, Andrea. We're glad you like the video!
Ollie in the granddad chair recanting tales of yore.
Nice Video! Speaking of Derailleurs, I'd love to see a Video pointing out the differences of early derailleur Designs (i.e. Simplex Juy / Oscar Egg Super Champion / Campa Cambio Corsa etc.)
Great idea!
Website Disraeli gears
In all honestly, it is simply mindblowing to think that in the 1800s, people in the UK could ride on trains powered by steam locomotives decades before they could take a spin around the park on bicycles. That's something deep to ponder.
Also missed: steering by Karl von Drais in 1817. The book "Das Fahrrad - Eine Kulturgeschichte" by Hans-Erhard Lessing is an excellent read.
What cycling innovation do you think changed the sport the most?
Virus Duralinox aluminium frame
Global Cycling Network powermeters
LED lamps. Maybe not a top sport innovation (and apparently taken for granted now), but I just remember how troublesome were incandescent bulbs, their dynamos, and short-lived, bulk batteries.
The innovation of GCN tech Jedi Jon
Freewheels. I love racing track but you'd die on the road without it. Replace discs with it
Should be “the most important marketing advances”...
Power Meters? Plastic Bikes? STI? Disc Brakes.? Electronic Gears? Most of these will get you to the finish line faster. , . in the back of the sag wagon. . .
Pneumatic tires, roller chains, derailleurs., the Safety Bicycle. . . Sure.
5:05 Hide your wife and kids!
i'm not clicking there, i was traumatized once already lol
ADCF Productions 😵
Cannot unsee this
I don’t know who chose the pictures but you managed to take two picture where people on rim brakes won the race. Groenewegen‘s Bianchi is the rim brake version. And as Quintana rode for Movistar, until last year, they where on rim brake Campagnolo equipped Canyons.
Rim brakes, literally for the win!
Yeah - a mention for John-Kemp Starley! :-)
Anyone who wants to honour the father of the modern bicycle can ride in the Starley Sportive too - originally scheduled for the 16 February it was postponed due to storm Dennis and is now being run on 26 April along the picturesque roads of Warwickshire starting and finishing in Coventry home of the Rover Safety bicycle...
Oooh! A drilled out Huret rear derailleur! I had one of those on my first race bike back in 1980! I might still have it in a box in my closet.
I saw one at the local time trial. It was light!
I think they should bring back the phrase "Dandy Horse" to use as a catch-all phrase for all bicycles.. "Just off out on the Dandy Horse, dear.. back soon..."
The left pedal has reverse thread because in case of jamming, it is safer for the pedal to fall out than to continue rotating with the cranks, injuring the rider. In case of clipless pedals, this could be far more dangerous.
I love this channel :)
Possibly in parallel to STI would be SIS; I'm trying to imagine how you'd mount friction shifters in the hoods and still make the bike rideable!
Gevenalle actually DO make friction shifters that mount to brake levers. They are actually very appealing to me as I prefer the simplicity of this type of shifting.
Ollie’s reference to cosmic microwave background radiation slayed me.
Bill Jankowski 😉🤓
And me as I’m sure it would be something Dan “Cervelo Testing Team” Lloyd will slate him about.
Great pick for the derailleur image, the Huret Jubilee an absolute masterpiece 0:44
Kieran Willis: I had a Jubilee on a Raleigh Competition. It weighed nothing and was reliable. I miss that bicycle! Although I still have the Brooks Pro saddle that came on it.
@@granthaller9544 Yes I've heard they were pretty reliable especially for a Frenchie of it's era, and yes who couldn't be dazzled by it's weight being competitive with even the top equipment today.
Nearly was swayed to get one for my Old French bike but it woulda been out of place on a touring bicycle (plus a bit too dear in today's market)
Good shout keeping the saddle though, really that's the only part that could never be replaced
In the mid 70's Sidi came out with shoes with a plate w/allen key adjustment. Prior to that we used 20 small nails to place leather cleats. Adjustment a huge hassle. Foot pain greatly reduced too.
In high school I had a “10 speed” Schwinn Varsity Sport which had friction shifters mounted on the stem rather than the down tube. Although I loved that bike, I coveted my cousin’s Paramount!
That random shot of Dan absolutely destroyed me. 😂😂
Funny - the Yoga absolutely destroyed Dan, too.
@@gcn that just can't be unseen. Thanks again, GCN
At the risk of inviting invective, anyone who has ridden the public roads lately will have noticed a revolution in cycling: e-bikes
tue dat. they made a cycling commute more attainable for a lot of people.
Wow... That list was R-A-N-D-O-M AF.... power meters?
on the same wavelength, may as well add....
1. Handlebar tape
2. Cafe stop
3. Team support car
4. Cycling shoes
I agree. LOL 90% or more bicycle riders around the world will never use a power meter, or even know that they exist for that matter. Silly and biased towards competitive riders. Maybe this list is actually "Best innovations for pro riders." Disc brakes, carbon fiber, electronic gears, and power meters are all irrelevant to the masses.
coaster brakes, the spoked rim design and how it can be straightened by tuning/ tightening each spoke, the steering assembly, tubular steel , bearings , cable shifting gears and brakes, chains.
The bicycle is one of the most amazing feats of engineering it is unbelievably frustrating being 12 and thinking hey ill try and fix my bike and than come to realize the engineering and design is so complex and ingenious that instead you just sit fascinated with the amount of innovation that surrounds us everyday that we take for granted.
ill never forget how may hours i spend trying to understand how to reassemble my coaster brake and bearings in my bicycle just to take it for a nice ride and the whole thing come apart in 30 min. LOL
James Starley's safety bicycle was called the Rover and we know where that name lead. Starley also had a hand in the design/development of the differential to make his trike easier to get round corners than with a full width live axle. It's many years (55?) since I lived and worked in Coventry but I'm almost sure there was a statue to Starley in a prominent place. So yes, I had certainly heard of him.
That look carbon bike looked so cooool!! Great video Ol!
In the early Universe, temperature was so hot no photons could escape. 380 000 years after the Big Bang the now expanding Universe reached the temperature at which photons were free to escape creating what we call the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), temperature fluctuation at that exact time. It’s the farthest (thus the oldest) we can observe can. It technically didn’t exist for 380 000 ;) but it’s only a detail in a awesome video, great work!
When were disc brakes first introduced on bicycles? In the mid 1980's there was a programme on BBC2 called Local Heroes. The presenter, Adam Hart-Davis, rode a cycle with a disc brake fitted on the front mono-blade forks.
I can agree with those. Have jumped up to disc brakes yet, but someday! But how about that freewheel? That had to shake some things up when it hit!
Dan must be thrilled .Pay back is a bitch. Well done Oli
sandrochiavaro never miss an opportunity 😂😉
HI GCN, I would like to add that the creation of the pneumatic tyre is much much more controversial then disk breaks for the reason that King Leopald the third of Belgium was behind the decimation of the Congolese people and it is worth mentioning! No disrespect to my fellow Belgium folks out there much love and respect.
This was a great video Ollie but you missed something on the handlebar shifing evolution: GripShifts. This nasty invention allowed you to twist a barrel on the end of your handlebars to manage your shifting.
id say having a chain,having gears (be it hub or derailleur based) and being able to have a freewheel,like being able to stop pedaling while still rolling forward
Missed? Clipless pedals was a huge leap forward in pedal tech. When I got my first pair of Looks in '86, almost everyone on my club ride laughed at me and said they'd never catch on. As someone who suffers from Renauld's Disease, Look pedals not only were easier to get in and out of, but eliminated that binding across the top of the foot, that essentially cut off circulation for us RD sufferers.
No mention of tubular steel frames or chain drive? Alloy and carbon were incremental improvements, but tubular steel was a revolution.
At least you included one of my top 3: pneumatic tyres :-)
Pretty solid list guys. But, possibly also adding the bike chain, given that the original bikes were driven directly through the front wheel, which, enabled derailleurs....
Cheers.
Great suggestion, Richard. Maybe we'll do a part 2 video in the future!
I'll never forget Ollie saying while climbing with one gear: "I might just die"
I have 4 bikes, one 30-40 yrs old, 1 about 5-6 years old and two that are nearly 20 years old, they all have shimano gears and they all work perfectly considering their age, I still ride up steep hills, sometimes slipping into doing a wheelie, I’m amazed with the durability of them nowadays.
Great to hear that you've had those bikes for so long, you must love them and look after them
Any idea what those nuts are called which he loosened when showing the tuleo campanolo derailleur video? At 1.22. would be very handy for myself
Loved this video and gave a thumbs up. Nonetheless I felt the order in which you brought up the points should have been chronological. Still great compilation man.
Thanks for the feedback, Manoj. Pleased you enjoyed the video!
I think the basic cycle computer changed history more than the power meter (which is pointless w/o a computer). Not every cyclist has or needs a power meter but nearly EVERY cycling enthusiast has a cycle computer to track their miles, time, speed and, nowadays, GPS to explore new routes and not get lost. I remember the day I got my first Vetta Cyclometer, totally changed the way I looked at my riding forever after.
I would think the articulated steerer would be way up there, probably right behind the wheel itself. Can't stay up without it. The draisienne!
honestly, I think aluminium frames were much more important a revolution than carbon fibre.
Al is both cheaper and lighter than steel, carbon fibre is only relevant for those with deep pockets - carbon made for better bikes, but aluminium made decent bikes more affordable for more people.
Aluminium is horrid !!! The comfort of steel any day ...
For us that we can’t afford a carbon fiber bike, all we need to do is wait for the technology to be mass adopted and became affordable for all and cheaper than the alternative options.
@@DUI59 AL frame + carbon forks > steel Complaint comfortable steel feels like riding a noodle, high end stiff steel is no more comfortable than AL and is far more expensive. Stiff AL forks are indeed HORRIBLE and while i would definitely take a weight penalty for steel forks over them, carbon forks offer the stiffness of AL and most of the comfort of steel. Some day when I've lost my personal n+1 battle, it'll most likely be another AL Frame & carbon forked bike, with the only big tech update being disc brakes. Worn through two BB's, one relatively bad wheelset, 3 chains, 2 front rings, only one cassette (i should really look at this tbh),a handful of brake pads and yet the frame/fork/Claris (!) groupset live on happily.
Was looking at a nice circa 1990 Klein road bike for JRA fun when I test rode it and immediately said, "why would I want down tube shifters? When am I ever gonna ride this thing?"
GPS-bike-computers!
That K-Edge Wahoo mount (at 2:52 in the video) belongs on Hack or Bodge.
Good spot! Hack or Bodge?
The skewer deserves a mention!
stop skewering GCN over minor quibbles.
If a pedal spindle became seized (or when you put the spanner on it), it comes loose while pedalling forward. This applies to left and right. This is why I never understand when the reverse thread is attributed to prevent loosening.
Definitely missed: wire spoked wheels.
Great show. I think maybe the only thing left out was a saddle.
2.31 On my bike the left hand pedal with a left hand thread loosens in the direction of pedaling, same goes for the right hand pedal with a right hand thread, also the right hand bottom bracket cup with a left hand thread and the left hand bottom bracket cup with a right and thread. Is that just a southern hemisphere thing?
My guess would be that the next big thing in cycling would be the shaft drive transmission that Ceramic Pro is working on. That, or any version of shaft drive that proves to be viable. He who can cut friction can produce the highest gains.
5:06 OOOOOOHHHHH MYYYYYYYYY FREAKEN GOD!!!!! That made me laugh out loud !!!!
Bicycles are a dangerous and passing fad. I predict the return of the ox drawn cart within the next 3 years.
GODCN - Global Ox Drawn Cart Network
@@gcn I like that. That should be the next show, out of date or re-emerging tech. no hipsters though.
Great vid
The most interesting thing I just learned from this video was that prior to derailleurs they had a rear wheel with 2 different speed cogs, that you could spin your wheel around to change gears, and that GCN is still obsessing over disc brakes...
DB 613 I’m pretty balanced when it comes to disc brakes. But they are without question the future.
Oliver Bridgewood No worries mate, your correct, only I don't see the need in all the hassle. Aluminum rims for foul weather and carbon rims for fair weather, all they had to do was reinvent the brake pads swap for a quick release, and then swap out the pads with each wheelset. Shame
Hub gears predated the derailleur by decades.
interesting that the s-word sponsored GCN doesn't mention that Campagnolo invented lever to change gears from the seat stay (Paris-Roubaix I believe). tsk tsk
SA 3 speeds also last 100 years, DeFAILEURS work?? LOL hahahaha
Clipless pedals, surprised they were not mentioned.
I can't believe they missed *the most* important invention for the bicycle.....THE WHEEL!!!
It's "innovations that CHANGED cycling." The wheel had to be invented before cycling could exist.
@@robinlarner9325 It did change cycling...before the wheel, no cycling, after the wheel is invented, cycling ;-) (well a bit later anyway)
Thanks for picking me up on it though.
@@chrishey6891 I wasn't trying to be passive aggressive, but the wheel still didn't CHANGE cycling as cycling didn't yet exist.
It changed mobility.
@@robinlarner9325 The (tensioned) wheel certainly changed cycling. Unlike the spokes shown at 2:04, modern wire spokes are tensioned and pull inwards on the wheel frame, which makes it possible to construct far lighter wheels with the same strength.
@@BlurbFish agreed.
I think without a doubt, STI shifters and clipless pedals are the biggest innovations. I disagree that electronic shifting should be on this list. Mechanical shifting is so good now that I don't think electronic makes THAT much difference. It's easier to be sure, but not the game-changer many of the others have been.
you didn't only have shifters on the downtube before 1990. my dad's '86 Raleigh Marathon had shifters at the cockpit. no indexing, you had to shift by feel.
Pedals are threaded so that they do come undone when pedaling (not so that they do up as stated) try it youself, loosen one, pedal, see what happens. This is so that a seezed bearing won't through you off the bike or break your ankle if clipped in.
Correct. Strange they don't know this at GCN.
Up and coming innovations, hubless wheels and chainless drive trains
Wait. What about the modern, paved road!?
Bah, old hat. Now it's all GRAVEL again.
Any video is better with at minimum a brief moment of Dan doing some body work.
Thanks for the feedback - we'll be sure to include more shots of Dan's yoga in future videos.....
@@gcn **frantically searches for the unsubscribe button**
Even if it is just a brief backwards Cervelo at some point.
1) Axle drive... not chain. Driven by CeramicSpeed. 2) Automatic shifting.
I never thought of the pedal as an innovation before. Ok that can top pneumatic tires as most important.
Hard to believe that you missed the chain drive system for delivering power from the pedals to the wheel.
Tubeless wheels and tires! Big fan right here of road tubeless.
I mean bicycle disc brakes have been around since the 90s on mountain bikes, but this list seems to be competitive road cycling I guess
Derailleur agree unless you have a fixed gear
Pedals agree but I have seen plenty of folks that keep going long after the pedal fell off.
Power meter no agree not required just ride activity watch is in the dumpster too
Carbon fiber maybe but only if you aren't adding heavier components to the bike that keeps the overall weight the same.
STI shifter agree but would argue indexing was more important
Electronic shifting no agree not required requires battery and wires that add weight
Pneumatic tires/tyres agree requires air
Disk brakes no agree. You should know that by now.
Safety bicycle agree easier on the undercarriage.
You left out spokes or spoked wheels.
Interesting!, but made me feel slightly aged by the downtube shifter bit, my first racing bike (A Peugeot race bike with orange logo and checkered flag design from around 1980) lasted me around 15 years before it got stolen. It features downtube shifters, very "analogue". You index your shifters real-time 😀
Chainless drive systems will be a nice innovation in the next few years. Much simpler design and should be an improvement all round.
the mountain bike, and everything borrowed from them. Chains have to be pretty high up there too.
How about areobars and clipless pedals? Areobars definitely changed timetrials.
love a CMBR reference now we can't watch it on digital tellies.
Safety bikes would still be slower/worse than penny farthings without transmission maybe faster without brakes but you overlooked both.
Kudos for listing pneumatic tires for comfort and not falsely for their speed advantage.
The original reasoning was comfort, but the comfort advantage *is* a speed advantage, since transmittion of vertical deflection wastes energy.
@@HaloTupolev yapp, but only if the ground is poor enough, not in a velodrome where speed records where made. Also less relevant on tarmac on a penny farthing than on a safety.
The speed advantage myth is a product of dunlops marketing, they paid the fastest riders to use pneumatic tires so pneumatic became what won the races.
Going forward I think: Graphene, wireless shifting, Wireless braking, single crank 12+ speed set ups, regen..
Anything else.. 🤔
My vote goes to a universal bottom bracket standa... Nah, never mind. That won’t ever happen... 🤨
wireless braking is a very stupid idea. not even cars do that. you HAVE to have a mechanical connection between your levers and the pads in order to get accurate feedback and modulation.
How about a CVT for bicycles?
Front suspension for MTB riders.
Decently powerful bike lights.
I think the one of most important is a freehub... Before every bike was a fixed gear.
Are alu rims on here? My grand dad used to tell me how he'd use steel wool to get the surface rust off his steel rims..Then there was the weight
These days they make aluminum rims look as cool and shapely as carbon rims.
The bottle cage has its place in such a list. Along with the bottles, eh.
Have never owned a bicycle with sti gears.
Sometimes history is shortchanged because nuance is hard, and there's no money in it.
Nice list. would have listed the safety bike first.
Clipless pedals??
as you are also going to the very basics, why not adding the frewheel hub to the list?
Jon Canning’s Shimano 6000 STI shifters were intentioned and non-functional. The first bike shown with Di2 had poorly wrapped bars. In our context - cycling - they are called motorcycle brakes or mountain biker or Extreme Dude brakes.