On the whole technological innovations tend to make bikes better. No-one is ever going to argue that pneumatic tyres or derailleurs haven't improved riding a bike. But there are some things that we're less sure about. On the surface, the six road bike developments listed in this video should be improvements. Why then, do we find them so downright infuriating? Are we right or should we just get on our bikes and try and enjoy them? And what gets your goat about modern bikes?
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00:00Trying to prevent technological advancement in any industry is a bit like swimming against
00:04the tide of schooling salmon. In the case of a cycling industry, occasionally the UCI sticks
00:10its oar in, but good engineering always finds a way around. If we didn't allow technology to
00:15advance we'd probably all still be riding around on the bone shakers of the 1860s,
00:20and we'd probably still think that the rattling experience was as good as it was ever going to get.
00:24En route to refinement some technologies pose more headaches than others to
00:28mechanics, bike testers like myself and also consumers. So which current advancements in
00:35modern bike technology do we wish would hurry up and reach refinement or just get out of the industry
00:41altogether? Number one, proprietary seat posts. In the past bicycle manufacturers would furnish a frame
00:52with a 27.2 millimeter hole and then they'd seek a reliable component brand to finish the picture.
00:58That meant the consumer could swap the seat post easily at any time they wanted to.
01:03As technology has advanced, bike brands have sought better compliance, better aerodynamics,
01:08and reduced weight. And it's no secret that the seat post is a massive part of the compliance story.
01:14Also having CFD and wind tunnel testing in-house means that they can see quite how much difference
01:20smoothing out the lines between the seat post and the rest of the frame makes.
01:24The result? Proprietary seat posts. Rather than seek an external manufacturer to create their seat
01:29posts, they make them themselves or work with a manufacturer to make one that only works with that
01:34frame. So also when we look at proprietary seat post designs, some of them are excellent and work
01:40really well, but there are also some pretty high profile examples where brands clearly haven't got it
01:45right the first time. Now the consumer might get a compliance boost, they might get better aerodynamics,
01:51and they might get a better overall weight. However, they're also tied into using the seat post
01:57for the life of the bike. Not only that, but you are also reliant on the brand to continue making
02:01seat posts in that shape and size. You're a bit screwed if you've got a frame and no seat post to actually go
02:06into it. Now brands do have to continue making the seat post for a number of years after they've stopped
02:12producing the bike. When I asked Giant, they told me that they are still holding stock of a seat post
02:17for a frame that they haven't manufactured for about 10 years. However, people do sometimes hold
02:22onto bikes for a very long time, even for a lifetime, so it is something worth considering.
02:31Next up, internal cable routing. The definition of internal cable routing has changed quite dramatically
02:37in the last couple of years. It used to mean cables that ran into the down tube and top tube to reach
02:43their destination, but they were external at the handlebars. This keeps muck out of the cables and
02:49it does cut down on the maintenance when you compare it to fully external cable routing. However, it was
02:54still fairly easy to actually replace the cables when you needed to. Fully internal cable routing, as we
03:00mean in the year 2021, means that the cables are completely hidden from view. Brands have very many
03:06different methods of achieving this, but as a general rule, they'll run into the handlebars or
03:10underneath the handlebars, through the stem and headset, and then alongside the steerer en route to
03:15their destination. Routing cables in this way mimics the very worst of the London Underground network,
03:21and it can present some pretty substantial issues. Firstly, a headset change requires complete re-cabling.
03:28Speaking to local bike shops, they're saying that a job that used to take five minutes is now taking
03:32half a day. When you add in the cost of the hydraulic cables, you've got a pretty big maintenance bill
03:37on your hands. Secondly, these methods of internal cable routing involve new methods of engineering,
03:44and new methods of engineering sometimes go wrong. Case in point, the Specialized SL7. Specialized
03:50recalled that bike because the compression ring, which was acting as a guide for said internal cable
03:56routing, was potentially causing undue stress on the steerer. The US product safety
04:02consumer commission website says that there were only two instances, and there were no major injuries.
04:08However, a steerer failure is pretty significant if it does happen to you, and the brand was concerned
04:14enough to issue a stop ride notice when it issued the recall. Fork recalls are nothing new. Recalls in
04:20any industry are certainly nothing new. However, systems that allow for internal cable routing do seem to be
04:26cropping up as a factor fairly often, alongside the search for ever lower weights and ever better aerodynamics.
04:37The next irritant of modern day bicycle design might separate opinion, but I'm presenting the video and this is my opinion.
04:44Next up is aero tubing on climbing and endurance bikes.
04:49Ride quality of a bicycle is impacted by very many factors. The components that you put on the bike
04:55– tyres, wheels, seatposts, handlebars – play a vital role, as does the carbon layup, but also tube shapes.
05:03Round tubes, as a general rule, are responsive, quick to react, and generally more compliant.
05:09On the flip side, aerodynamic tubing is often quite boxy, and it's not quite so responsive and can become
05:15a bit too stiff. The prevailing voice in bicycle design says that aerodynamics is more important
05:21than weight in the speed equation, even if you're going at below 15 miles an hour or 25k an hour.
05:28Therefore, the direction of travel has been to improve aerodynamics, sometimes at the sacrifice
05:33of weight and sometimes at the sacrifice of ride quality in terms of tube profiles.
05:38If, however, you're more interested in how a bike feels,
05:41then the rise of more aerodynamic tubing on bikes that aren't really focused solely on speed might
05:47seem like a little bit of a shame. Sure, you can make the argument that people buying endurance
05:52bikes who sometimes just want that bit more comfort still want to go fast, but do they want to go fast
05:58more than they want to enjoy the ride? Well, it probably depends on their Strava settings.
06:03Not only that, a lightweight, fun, fast climbing bike can sometimes just make you
06:08feel faster because you're really enjoying the ride. I've certainly been out on both the
06:13Specialized Athos and Specialized Tarmac and I've compared my watts with my overall speed and frankly,
06:19the difference wasn't huge. Therefore, if your number one goal is just to enjoy the ride,
06:24then round tubes often make a lot more sense.
06:27Next up, wheel and tyre incompatibilities. The direction of travel has certainly been towards
06:38tubeless in the last couple of years. We don't have a problem with tubeless tyres. Lower pressures,
06:43wider contact patches certainly improve cornering at no end and they also reduce fatigue. Now, some data
06:49suggests that actually narrower tyres are still faster on glass smooth roads, but if you can go out and find me a local route,
06:57where over 50% of the terrain is glass smooth magical tarmac of dreams, then I've got a prize for you somewhere.
07:05Once compatibility issues are addressed and sealant is a little bit better at road-type pressures,
07:10then we will be away with tubeless technology. But I kind of think there's still some work to do yet.
07:16Roadie technology has changed a lot in the last couple of years and the risk associated with getting
07:21it wrong ranges from giving your club mate a sealant facial on the next chain gang to spending your
07:27entire evening coating a rim in fairy liquid and using 30 different tyre levers. And just to be clear,
07:33there's some artistic license there. Please don't do that. To finally finding yourself stuck in a ditch
07:38by the side of the road because you used a hookless rim and a non-hookless compatible tyre and pumped it to
07:44200% of the maximum, which also you shouldn't do. And you shouldn't have a problem as long as you do
07:50stick to the guidelines. But there's always potential for people not to read the small print and that's
07:56where the concerns lie. The point here is that we're not against tubeless technology and we're not against
08:01hookless technology. What we are in favour of is better standardisation and both wheel and tyre brands
08:07sitting down and having just better communication. Next up, and I think this is going to be quite a
08:17popular one because we get a lot of comments about this, is price. It's fair to say that the price of
08:22top-end bikes has definitely risen in excess of inflation in the last couple of years. If you want
08:28Dura-Ace, 50mm carbon rims, a power metre and a top-end frame, you're going to be looking at shelling
08:34out £10,000 or £11,000, which is a pretty massive outlay. The cost of production for the brand is
08:41without shadow of a doubt less than the addition to the RRP at the top end of the scale. Now I do
08:48completely disagree with the you can buy a motorbike for that argument. And the reason for that is quite
08:53simple. These 10 and 11 grand bicycles are UCI Pro level bikes. They are the same bikes that the UCI
09:00pros are riding. So yeah, you could buy a Honda CBR 650R for just over 7 grand and you still have
09:07change left over for leathers and a decent helmet compared to if you'd gone out and bought that 11
09:12grand bicycle. However, if you wanted to ride the same motorbike as your MotoGP idols, well then you'd
09:18be looking at shelling out the 1 to 2.5 million dollars. So an 11 grand bicycle that's ridden by the
09:26UCI pros on the world tour stage at 11 grand is absolutely not the same thing as a Honda CBR at
09:347 grand. So let's just put that argument to bed. And finally, no one is forcing people to ride those
09:40bikes. However, it is completely understandable that people are annoyed about this price hike because
09:45it is substantial and it also affects the rest of the line. One of the reasons given for this increase
09:51in price is that very many brands produce their frames in Asia and they moved over to Asia many
09:56years ago because at the time production there was cheaper. The thing is Asia's actually got really
10:02good at producing frames now and they're now charging a premium for that expertise which kind of feels
10:07fair enough. Secondly, very few brands actually produce their own carbon. Giant is a really good
10:14example of a brand that does produce its own carbon and you will notice that their prices are a bit
10:18cheaper than everyone else's. Many brands use the manufacturer Torre and Torre has recently introduced
10:24M40X carbon. M40X carbon is significantly stiffer which means the brands need to use less carbon in
10:32order to produce an equally stiff frame and that means that the frame is lower in weight. Of course M40X also
10:39costs more. So there you have rising labor costs as well as rising material costs. Then factor in shipping
10:46costs which have ridden following Covid and in the UK following Brexit and you do have a perfect storm
10:52which will create higher RRPs. However I think it's fair to say that those higher RRPs also include a
10:59pretty substantial profit and where does that come from? Well the fact is that some people are happy to
11:04shell out five figures for a bicycle and as long as people keep buying them then the prices will stay the same.
11:10Finally, bottom bracket styles. Who would have thought that the component that houses the cranks and
11:21facilitates the movement of those cranks thus allowing for the forward propulsion of a bicycle
11:26would require so many different styles. And why is it that there are so many different bottom bracket
11:32styles? Well the bottom bracket shell is an area that is very very important in the stiffness equation and
11:37over the years brands have sought stiffer platforms for power transfer and of course as is always the
11:43case in the bicycle industry they've also sought lighter overall solutions. Finally in more recent
11:49years after the press fit craze they've also looked for solutions that eliminate creaks because that's a
11:55pretty common complaint. At our last count there were 21 different styles of bottom bracket and we probably
12:01missed one. BB wrong maybe? T47 seems to be a very popular choice at the moment. Trek has included it
12:08on very many of its road frames and it told us quite recently that it's going to include it on all of its
12:13road frames going forward. It's compatible with a great many different crank diameters, it also shares
12:19the same dimensions as the PF30 but it uses a threaded interface which in theory cuts down on creaks and also
12:27makes home maintenance a lot easier. However the fact that T47 is a really great solution doesn't
12:32really help for you if you've got a Cervelo wearing a BB Wright or a Cannondale with a BB30. Perhaps
12:39what's needed is some overall governing body that could enforce convergence on one specific standard
12:46but they probably end up just swimming against the salmon and may get hit and faced with a wet fish.
12:50And finally disc bra- no disc brakes are really good. I'll give you cable actuator disc brakes they're
13:03really not ideal and not much faster than rim brakes but hydraulic disc brakes I would not go back to the
13:09era of the rim brake. So I hope that you enjoyed this video I'm sure there's going to be lots of opinions
13:15please do air them in the comments. Hit like if you enjoyed this video and do subscribe if you want
13:20to see more. But at this point at our last count there were 21 different styles of bottom bracket.
13:29Really? Yeah.
13:30F***ing hell.
13:32Yeah.