That's the point - bikes of the future = new materials.
I read a William Gibson book a few years ago where some couriers have bikes made out of paper, with some sort of laminate on them or something.
And if he said it's coming....
New materials will allow inflatable frames, which you can adjust the stiffness of with a track pump, if you want them to be more vertically stiff but still laterally compliant.
Remotely adjustable wheel size "on the fly"
26" for when you want "chuckable"
27.5" for when the trail needs bringing alive
29" for when you just want betterer
So, I think my bike will be from a future where hub gears are lightweight, cheap, and modular (ie, they can be removed from a wheel in a few minutes with hand tools), and we've consigned MTB derailleurs to the same category as rim brakes.
For suspension bikes, you don't want the hub gear on the rear wheel, too heavy - so that's why I said gearbox bikes.
Dude, we're in the future.
where hub gears are lightweight
A hub gear's always going to be heavier than a hub without gears in it!
central gearbox, electric shifting
genuinely unflattable tyres - maybe foam-supported and just topped up with air to suit
self-cleaning or else filth-immune, I don't really care which
capable of tracking and defending itself against vehicles that comes too close (not so much RPGs as forced braking or maybe engine immobiliser)
actually, no, RPG or lasers
Can fake a structural failure if you ride something like a big bag'o'shite in front of witnesses
hover facility - obvs
There'll be no actual bikes, no need as all outside space is too toxic. You can select various classics and ride them virtual style on a playstation 17.
A hub gear's always going to be heavier than a hub without gears in it!
Is it always going to be debilitatingly heavier than a derailleur combo IN THE FUTURE? My Cougaroff Megahub will be made of ceramic and graphene, have wirelessly operated electronic shifting, and be lubricated by the tears of Shimano executives.
I dreamt the other night that my bike was so stable that it was almost impossible to fall off. You could slide sideways down muddy hills, do endless manuals and effortless two wheel drifts - it would even stand up by itself for about 10 seconds before falling over. I want one like that!
In reality, I'd like bikes to still be simple things - I really don't want yet another thing to beep at me to tell me it needs charging! Modern bikes are great, I'm sure the manufacturers will keep tinkering and making them better.
I dreamt the other night that my bike was so stable that it was almost impossible to fall off.
[url= https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/529668138/jyrobike-auto-balance-bicycle ]Jyrobike[/url]
A bike that can defend me from the gangs of mutants who roam the wastelands of 2025. Optical camouflage, like the Predator, a device for finding non-toxic water supplies. Bowie knife in one grip, compass in the other. Quick release bombers as an emergency bludgeon for defence against wildlife and previously mentioned mutants.
It will also have to bring the trails alive and shelter me from radiation, dust storms and sand people. Would be nice to have a dropper post, but I want to keep it realistic.
[i]There has to be a better way of doing it, perhaps somehow redesigning it to be alongside / above the hub?[/i]
Hub gears are not going to be the future, they're not even the present.
Is it always going to be debilitatingly heavier than a derailleur combo IN THE FUTURE?
Maybe not but you'll always want as little weight as possible on the rear hub, on a FS bike. Even if that's 0.1 microgrammes.
I'm 50 now so in 25 years or so a 28lb all-mountain rig with pedal assist...and a neighbor that doesn't fart or smoke weed in the garden.
Malvern Rider - Wow!
Gearbox. And a lefty at the back.
On a positive note I hope that there will be just one remote lever to adjust my forks, rear shock and dropper post. I know that's around now, but by 2025 it won't resemble a botched wiring job and require lots of cable adjustment.
However, knowing the industry I expect a plethora of new standards that no-one needs... There will be a new standard for bottom brackets, brake mounts, rear dropouts and we must be long overdue another ISCG revision by now. And a Fox fork will require a mortgage to own and a dedicated pit crew to service.
If your bike has a battery then all the various knobs and levers can be powered by it and they can all be linked in via a common standard to the control unit. So one button and the seat goes down, the forks go up, shock pivot moves etc.
ok then - how do you want your beer in 20 years time? I would bet still the same
and bikes will fundamentally be the same because they evolve slowly, I will bet there will be a lot of manual shifting for many many years to come (derailleur was invented in the 30s and I bet the numbers of electronic gears are small) for example
belt drive, BB gearboxes, trispoke onepiece wheels, battery powered biks... aren't new tech by any stretch but if they haven't cracked it by now they probably won't
It took long enough for somebody to point out the obvious - well done, ed. Given we've debated often enough on here that ultimately how fast your bike goes is a lot less important than how much fun it is, are any of the suggested innovations actually going to make riding more fun? I note there is still plenty of desire from people to make things simpler (no suspension, no gears - personally I've gone the whole hog and find it more fun having no drivetrain, no handlebars, no "front" wheel).
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...
Because they're mostly "designed" by design students with no real knowledge of the engineering behind a bicycle, how a bicycle wheel works or why it is the way it is. All such designs are doubtless heavier and less efficient than normal wheels - I've seen designs based on lots of bearings at the rim. I'm kind of surprised at Boardman coming up with such a design, but wonder if he just employed a design graduate - then again it was Mike Burrows who came up with the interesting innovations, not CB. Then again, checking out that article, there's very little of real innovation or value there - maybe the "unbreakable" lock, but I'm guessing that just hasn't been tested properly - though he admits as much himself.
Oh, and LOL @ Northwind in case nobody else got it.
edit.
more affordable and developed city electric bikes maybe, appealing to new commuters.
with ( joking ) drive/ride through showers and dryers.
belt drive, BB gearboxes, trispoke onepiece wheels, battery powered biks... aren't new tech by any stretch but if they haven't cracked it by now they probably won't
Yeah but sometimes things are around for a while until someone either finds a way to make them cheap; a niche opens up; or a big company gets involved. Rear suspension was around for ages until it became mainstream, likewise disc brakes - but for different reasons.
appealing to new commuters.
Interesing, this. The disadvantage of cycle commuting is always going to be the weather. So even with e-bikes that's going to be the downside for perhaps most people. I would hazard a guess that in London cycling is already the most popular weather-exposed commuting method.
Hmm.. I wonder if they'd ever create sheltered cycle superhighways?
however there may be people who do not feel confident with the perceived fitness required for a reasonable commute.
or have a limited public transport system in maybe more remote areas, do not own a car and would like to cover larger distances. Clothing is so good nowadays too.
