I was “planning” my ideal road bike last night; the bike I’ll build which will mean I’ll never need another. But it seems there is so much about bikes that is changing at the moment that I think it’ll take a year or two to settle down. For example:

1. Will single-ring, 1×11 setups become standard with road bikes as they have with mountain bikes?

2. Will wireless electronic shifting become the norm, and the current DI2 and Campag EPS designs be considered quaint relics because of the need to trail wires all over your bike?

3. Will hydraulic disc brakes become standard on road bikes, and prices fall as a result?

Presently, to get a road bike with hydro discs and electronic shifting feels to me a little too much like becoming an early adopter, paying very high prices for technology which will improve and mature.

Conversely, getting a bike with rim brakes and cabled gears seems a little like buying into obsolescent standards, with the future knock-ons for spares and resale values.

Discuss.

I think the industry is currently concentrating all its efforts on trying to build a bike for renton. Then they’re moving on to Hora.

As wheels sizes increase in width and diameter there will be a need for ever more powerful e-bikes to overcome the rotational inertia.

Di2 is 7 years old, not sure that’s ‘early adoption’…!

Di2 is 7 years old, not sure that’s ‘early adoption’…!

Point taken, but I think the future is wireless!

Fat bikes are already powered by hot air.

chav-tastic, max-power-styled, ‘road’ bikes will continue to become ever more ugly and impractical, far past the point where it could be said that they’re even still ‘bicycles’.

people will still buy them, even though they’ll have no idea what they are.

the rest of us, will just carry on riding bikes, that may or may not be a bit shagged, but we won’t really mind.

The bike industry make what they think will sell, not the most appropriate bikes. And if they come up with something too durable (like the Shimano UN BB) they’ll create a weaker product and write stiffer & lighter in the marketing material.

chav-tastic, max-power-styled, ‘road’ bikes will continue to become ever more ugly and impractical, far past the point where it could be said that they’re even still ‘bicycles’.

😆

3/10

I’ll build which will mean I’ll never need another.

It’ll never happen, the only constant is change – whatever you buy will be sub-optimum within 12 months, old-fashioned in 3 and obsolete in 5 when you’re riding about just waiting for a major compountant to fail that cannot be replaced.

Happy thoughts 😉

Steel, great geometry and size for you, nice groupset, best wheels you can afford – happy days

plazzie bags over the seat will become the norm and the all the main manufacturers will release their own bag claiming it’s better than the others. Then they’ll release a new bag claiming it’s better than their last plazzie bag & does the job betterer.

blueteef shifting and dropper post would be on my wishlist – clutter-free bike

Gears on the back wheel will become obsolete. This will be an evolution driven by eBikes but benefitting all bikes.

Tyres will become fatter as cyclists realise they are not Prance Drugstrong and that fatter tyres are no disadvantage at speeds where aerodynamics aren’t a problem (ie normal cyclists pace), so frames will need more clearance than present.

Fork and frame will become singlesided and made of Unobtanium.

The drivetrain to the rear wheel will become enclosed in an oilbath so it is more efficient. Ooops, wrong on that one, that was in 1890s.

Full mudguards – oh that’s 1890s again.

Rod brakes will make a comeback, but will be operating on disks instead of rims.

And sensible cyclists will still be riding steel singlespeeds…. 🙂

Steel, great geometry and size for you, nice groupset, best wheels you can afford – happy days

You read my mind 🙂

Very excited about wireless electronic shifting though. Clean lines, no cables or wires to fanny about with…

clutter-free bike

This

And sensible cyclists will still be riding steel singlespeeds….

Not in West Yorkshire they won’t be

the bike I’ll build which will mean I’ll never need another

with the future knock-ons for spares and resale values.

so which is it you’re looking for, the last bike you’ll ever need, or the bike to get you through the next year or 3 and then still resell for sensible money? 😉

don’t worry about spares, you can still get spares for anything built in the last 50 odd years, I’m assuming you’re not going to be racing this bike* so go with what works, is reliable, trouble free and cheap(ish) to run and with brakes of your choice and tyre clearance to suit.

While people are still building steel road bikes with cantilever breaks and downtube friction shifters it’s silly to worry about whether this or that is obsolete. Even if you buy into a groupset dead end accidentally thats OK, a new group in a few years when it’s all worn out will be easy.

*because if you were then you’d be after marginal gains and best performance regardless.

Rim brakes are unlikely to change dramatically now, while disc brakes are unlikely to stay in the current format.

So if you buying a “bike for life” (I don’t believe in them) now, go for rim brakes I reckon.

I’m assuming you’re not going to be racing this bike

Correct and this is the point of the build. I’m getting older, I’m never going to race, and when I think of my cycling future, I see century rides, exploration and mini adventures: Alpine climbs and the like.

My lightweight carbon road bike is great and I don’t need a new bike right now, but when I do, it will probably be steel with 28s, discs and wireless shifting.

You’re right – the parts might come and go but I want a frame that will see me out 🙂

I think the industry is currently concentrating all its efforts on trying to build a bike for renton. Then they’re moving on to Hora.

Chapeau, sir, chapeau 😆

but I want a frame that will see me out.

Not possible since the bike industry embraced planned obsolescence.

hebdencyclist – Member
I was “planning” my ideal road bike last night; the bike I’ll build which will mean I’ll never need another. But it seems there is so much about bikes that is changing at the moment that I think it’ll take a year or two to settle down. For example:

1. Will single-ring, 1×11 setups become standard with road bikes as they have with mountain bikes?

2. Will wireless electronic shifting become the norm, and the current DI2 and Campag EPS designs be considered quaint relics because of the need to trail wires all over your bike?

3. Will hydraulic disc brakes become standard on road bikes, and prices fall as a result?

1 – I think close ratios and lots of gearsare important to roa sdycclist,s whiel tyre clearance, chain retention, suspension design and having less places to gather mud, amongst other things, make single ring good for MTB. Personal tast always a factor, but I’d say single ring will be mainly off road.

2 – Wireless eliminates cable routing – which will make bicycle production a lot easier, eliminating a lot of assembly and routing and drilling and the like. Manufacturers will embrace it. I’m not that fussed about it on MTB though, as mechs tend to get broken. When the mechs cost fifty qid, count me in

3 – Hydraulic brakes are just better. They’ll undoubtedly get cheape, as the luddites become a minority.

forget hydraulic brakes – it’ll be wireless electric disk brakes eventually.

Gears will be changed automatically based upon your effort – all the elements are there – power meters, electric shifting – just need to put the two together – I think someone is already doing this.

Durraliers and chains will be eliminiated. It will be gearboxes and carbon shaft drives.

More cleverness in frame design to achieve better comfort without compromising efficiency and stiffness.

I don’t think frame or geometries will change alot. Geometries will be dictated by the latest fasion (like Enduro now driving the long, low, slack geo’s).

Given this thread so far, you’re almost certainly on a hiding to nothing. Just go for a walk.*

* Although what clothing and footwear you require for that may be up for debate, so best go in the buff.

Not sure like the idea of a bike for life. It’s like stealing from your future self the joy of new bike for an excuse to overspend now. Why not just be a bit more realistic and say 15yrs or so and leave yourself some fun once it’s all changed again

I hope someone will make a lightweight drum system that you can change the crank rpm.

What’s that you say? It’s been done?!

AS for a bike for life – imagine ten years ago you bought the absolute top if the range mountain bike of your dreams and spared no expense. I’d probably have a ten year old Kona Stinky or something now

Nobody wants a bike for life. Half the fun with kit sports is the kit. I just wish the prices would come down a bit.

No such thing as a bike for life,. things change, you change, your circumstances change, just get what you fancy now..
Worry about the future later..

What way are you planning to change your riding that a means a bike that’s good today will be crap tommorow?

Electronic shifters are retrofittable and choose discs or rim brakes depending on your intended use. I could take the groupset and wheels off my 2011 carbon bike and put them on my 1977 steel frame because all I needed then is all I need now, just lighter and stiffer.

I don’t see the point in wireless electronic shifting. OK, the signal can be wireless, but unless you put a battery on both changers, you’ll always need wires for power.
Something like the Honda gearbox with the mech near the pedals would work better.

Durraliers (sic) and chains will be eliminiated (sic). It will be gearboxes and carbon shaft drives.

Nah, gearboxes and all that will always just be an “interesting”
side project

I don’t see the point in wireless electronic shifting. OK, the signal can be wireless, but unless you put a battery on both changers, you’ll always need wires for power.
Something like the Honda gearbox with the mech near the pedals would work better.

SRAM have clearly infringed on your patent then 😉

plazzie bags over the seat will become the norm and the all the main manufacturers will release their own bag claiming it’s better than the others. Then they’ll release a new bag claiming it’s better than their last plazzie bag & does the job betterer.

That’s the future right there. Roadies will have 25 microns, MTBs 40 microns, both gradually getting thicker and thicker. Or mil or gsm. It will be a standards minefield.

fat men in fluoro radcore clothing and a giant hucksack going on 15km rides around trail centers on 6 inch travel e-bikes.

oh wait, that’s now.

As I said, ‘unless you put a battery on both chargers’ which appears to be what they’ve done.
I guess you could tap into the energy of the rotating parts, but you will need a battery for the mech end of the wireless link.
(And it’s not a patent yet, only an application.)

hebdencyclist – Member

Very excited about wireless electronic shifting though. Clean lines, no cables or wires to fanny about with…

A guy I follow on instagram had his lovely scenic Sunday ride cut short last weekend, as he’d forgotten to charge the battery for his electronic shifting gizmo. Cables don’t need charging.

Core – and what would those cables be attached to at the other end? would it possibly be a battery that the same thoughtless rider might forget to charge?

Anyway the beauty of the SRAM Etap is that the batteries won’t fail at the same time – the rear mech one will fail first, so you can swap the battery with the front mech one and that will get you home.

EDIT – I see what you mean – metal cables! This is supposed to be a thread on the future of cycling!