After re-reading Boardman’s Jetson-esque dreams of solar-powered computers on two wheels I’m putting it to the board. Have you a future-bike in mind, or even a few features? Or are we moving too fast and need to pedal backwards and pay more attention to nice shiny chainrings and cotters once more before re-re-inventing bikes as a Raleigh Vektra (now with real computer stuff!)

What would make your trail come alive in 2025?

(Why do so many concept bike wheels have no spokes or hubs? How would they work, on bearings or magnets. Magnets? WTF is that all about &C…)

In fact couldn’t a wheel just be a rim outside of a rim, spinning around it like a circular maglev? Have I just reinvented a wheel?

28.25″ wheels

26″ wheels 😉

black

It’s in the garage.

next to the de lorean?

StreetWolf but with pedals

Cheeky.
It’s not old, it’s retro.

26″ wheels

‘if it’s too different, it’s risky’. – C. Boardman.

Given that I’m constantly about 5years behind, the future for me is the sort of stuff that most folk are on now. So 10speed, clutch mechs, n/w….etc

This one. Raleigh Vektar!

StreetWolf

I think you’re mixing up your 80s American vehicular TV shows. I’ll give you a clue: Jan Michael Vincent wasn’t flying AirHawk.

One with a beer dispenser.

D’oh

Still a bike that doubles as a helicopter……..mmmmmm.

hmmmmm. Seemed good back then, doing 300mph everywhere with a fancy sat-nav thingy.

Bah, late as ever with my centre-less maglev wheel

More coffee, a few weeks longer, and I’ll have it cracked. Along with the nonocycle.

Hard to know, really. The current crop seem pretty well sorted, so I’d imagine they’d stay like that and get lighter.

I’d guess some sort of adaptive platform control for the suspension; maybe a lightweight low-loss gearbox.

Same as now, but half the price.

Electronics in the suspension that works well – eg can adjust travel and spring/damping settings near enough automatically (probably with manual override) and probably integration with the latest iteration of google glass or its future iterations (implants I expect…)

It could measure speed and attitude to figure out if you’re climbing and adjust appropriately – or also measure cadence and see how much suspension movement is pedal bob and adjust to minimise that. It could then open the platform right up when it detects you’re coasting.

Exactly and really that’s not rocket science – a lot of it was well in place back in the early 90s in F1 with active suspension – the issue is making it reliable, light and effective enough for a bike.

Should be easy – if Di2 can change gear for you, then you could easily make an actuator for the lever on top of your shock. Then all you need is some sophisticated software.

It could measure speed and attitude to figure out if you’re climbing and adjust appropriately – or also measure cadence and see how much suspension movement is pedal bob and adjust to minimise that. It could then open the platform right up when it detects you’re coasting.

You mean like E:i shocks on Lapierres and Haibikes?

Yes, like that – but it could evolve over time and do stuff like adapt to your riding style or trail conditions, or you could have downloadable programmes to adjust to your preference. Nice idea.

Di2 that detects the level of lactate in your legs and adjusts the gear ratio accordingly.

Obviously you would need some sensors surgically implanted into your legs, which would be wirelessly connected to the rest of the system (e.g. Bluetooth).

Yes, that’s the start of it but they’re quite limited in what they actually do at this stage – they only adjust damping, not travel, positioning, etc. You really want to go the active suspension route of hydraulic suspension but at present that means a heavy compressor and power source…

i expect fewer people to have the kind of disposable cash that would make things like electronic damping/shifting commonplace.

so i expect more and more people to be riding 29+ type bikes (29er, 3″ tyres, no shocks, bombproof frame that’ll last years.

not exactly a mad-max type scenario, but our future is not likely to be brighter/richer/more opulent.

put it this way, we’re more likely to see things like meat rationing within 10 years, than another man* on the moon.

(*unless that man/woman is chinese)

The OP didn’t mention that it had to be cheap, just that it’s what you want…

Those “hubless” wheels look like a good place to put cargo.

not exactly a mad-max type scenario, but our future is not likely to be brighter/richer/more opulent.

I think it will be.

nemesis – Member

The OP didn’t mention that it had to be cheap, just that it’s what you want…

i interpreted the title ‘describe your bike of the future’ to mean:

‘what bike do you think you’ll be buying in 10 years?’

molgrips – Member

I think it will be.

energy prices are going up, material costs are going up, labour costs are going up, food prices are going up, housing costs are going up, pay is not going up.

our (my) expenditure on luxury goods is going to be squeezed. that will include fancy-pants mtb stuff. Any bike i’ll be buying in 10 years will likely be ‘simple and durable’ than ‘fully integrated with the web3.0’

(mainly, i just have a hankering for a Surly Krampus)

pay is not going up.

Not in the next few years, but after that, it will do. ‘Of the future’ to me means 20 years’ time.

Killjoy 🙂

so, when can i expect the annual 5%+ pay-rises to kick in?

(enough to cover inflation, and leave me with a few extra ££/month)

forgive me, i was just working around the suggestions of the OP:

…are we moving too fast and need to pedal backwards…

+

…in 2025…

nemesis – Member

Killjoy

i disagree, i reckon i’d have a ****-load of fun on a Surly Krampus, they seem ideal for the kind of badger-tech trails that appeal to me.

don’t think about what the bike companies want you to want on your bike like more tech, think about what would make your riding experience more enjoyable.
my bike of the future:
– self-cleaning and maintenance free
– be able to shield me from the worst weather (dark/ rain/ cold)
– would protect me from crashes with other road users
– be able to tell me how I’m performing and what I should be doing to perform better

I don’t think bikes can get much lighter given the materials they have to work with, there is only so much you can do with a frame to make it lighter, what ever its made out of, I do think adjustable geometry will become the norm and also electronic shifting, wheel size will settle down but on what size im not sure

ahwiles, this morning.

I don’t think bikes can get much lighter given the materials they have to work with

That’s the point – bikes of the future = new materials.