I have never understood why headset cups have never been threaded. I had press fit stuff, and threaded BB’s have always been better. Why did nobody do this with a headset?

And thumb brakes have always seemed the next logical step to a really lightweight setup. I’ve seen a few specialist setups, but nothing mainstream.

Self inflating/adjustable pressure tyres. Someone should have brought this to the masses long ago.

What would you like to see make an appearance?

You would probably unscrew a threaded headset cup as you turn the bars both ways. Bottom brackets carry a bearing that generally only turns one way and the threads oppose that so your pedalling action tightens the BB. I’d agree that press fit BB’s are cack though!!

Probably not as much power or control in your thumbs as fingers??

Self inflating tyres would need some sort of air source and electrics to control them.

I’d like to see some things step back in time to when things actually worked and were less fragile and crap.

Self cleaning paint.

Self inflating tyres have been worked on. Lots of complexity and gear for a pretty minor benefit.

Thumb brakes – what planet are you on?

Honestly can’t think of much else. Except efficient hub gears maybe. When they invent room temperature superconductors, maybe we’ll have electric two-wheel drive powered by a crank driven generator with feedback, that’ll be awesome.

Some solution to chains that get griddy and muddy, anyway.

Hoverbikes

Standards, actual standards

Something better than bar tape for drops. Even the best tape (Lizard Skins DSP, since you ask) wears out far quicker than a pair of lock ons, and is far more faff to fit/replace.

Marketing for safety equipment (especially helmets) that actually states the results of testing for deceleration and “Head Injury Criterion”. Why should safety equipment be selected without any information about how safe it is ?

Electric braes

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Brae

You would probably unscrew a threaded headset cup as you turn the bars both ways.

I think it would work, if the bearing is working as it should there would be hardly any load trying to turn the cup.

If headset cups were threaded, there is the possibility* of one end unthreading itself and stopping the bike from steering.
‘Standard’ bsa bottom bracket, which uses lh thread on the right side and rh thread on the left side, is designed so that if a bearing fails it just unscrews itself rather than cause catastrophic damage.
Likewise, pedals, if the bearings seize they will unscrew from the crank.

*EDIT: Admittedly, a remote possibility.

Thumb brakes – what planet are you on?

A planet where I can easily lock a wheel using one finger. Any reason why you think it would be a bad idea?

On the headset front, do we know if thats the actual reason why they’ve never done it? I can’t imagine it would need to be that tight to not be an issue – not exactly high loads.

shermer75 – Member
Electric braes

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Braesee tbh when out in the hills, I find that you get loads of wee bits like that, you feel like you’re going up when down and down when up, just an illusion of the landscape. As well as an indicator of how fit you’re also feeling, I guess! 😆

Thumb brakes. This has me thinking…..

More grip and control with fingers around the bars. Brakes are used when that control would be more needed. Equally, gears are often changed when that grip isn’t as necessary.

Makes you think….

thumb brakes mean you have to loosen your grip a bit, plus the action is a bit counter intuitive. I’m surprised belt drive / internal gearing hasn’t taken off. Spray-on crash protection (like liquid kevlar) would be good.

The effects of the electric brae, especially when traveling northwards, are really quite noticeable on a bicycle.
It honestly ‘looks’ like you are going up a hill yet the bike accelerates.
Worth a look if you’re in the area.

On the headset front, do we know if thats the actual reason why they’ve never done it? I can’t imagine it would need to be that tight to not be an issue – not exactly high loads

I’d like to know that too.

I don’t think a bottom bracket would actually undo itself either just through pedalling if it was tightened correctly, maybe if the bearings seized solid but how often does that happen!

More standards. Definitely more standards…

There is something about a turning motion causing precessive motion and self tightening a thread even if the bearings are free.

A planet where I can easily lock a wheel using one finger. Any reason why you think it would be a bad idea?

Couldn’t shift gears at the same time
Already a lever in the thumb position, would be awkward to fit in there
Harder to push with sufficient force – I think a thumb would get tired and become sore a lot faster than a hand grip.

Not sure you can lock a wheel with only one finger on a good surface when going downhill.. I can’t usually, and I’m not known for having particularly week hands or poorly set up brakes. OTB is more likely than locking up.

But it would also be easy to knock something together out of Hope parts if you knew someone with access to CAD and CNC.

Already a lever in the thumb position, would be awkward to fit in there

Blip/Sprinter buttons.

Shifters with very short throw when actuating a gear change, not the long push we have now. Real snick snick snick of mm…

im interested in molgrips idea of bb generator powering a motor or motors, surely thats been tried?

Shifters with very short throw when actuating a gear change, not the long push we have now. Real snick snick snick of mm…

See above.

There is something about a turning motion causing precessive motion and self tightening a thread even if the bearings are free.

Indeed. It’s the reason why some people naively think pedal threads are the wrong way. It’s true that any drag in the bearings is in the direction that would slacken the pedal, but there’s a much less obvious effect that produces a more significant torque in the opposite direction, due to the way the pedalling load “rolls” around the inside of the hole in the crank.

1 x 13
1 x 14
1 x 15
And so on….

Automatic gear options so you set the cadence and the bike changes gear for you.

Limited max speed option on kids bikes / training bikes.

Automatic gear options so you set the cadence and the bike changes gear for you.

Bindun

Regenerative braking. Not e-bike as such, but a brake that somehow stores energy (instead of dissipating it as heat), and allows you to release it after the corner. Perhaps electrical, or stored pressure, in a device thats part of the hub.

Difficult I know, but a clever clogs out there is probably working on it.

Iirc Mick Doohan or another 500cc gp rider used to use a thumb brake on the rear when his ankle was fused after a crash, seemed to work fine

My kingdom for an ever so slightly wider axle spacing standard.

Like the thumb brake idea, not to dissimilar to the throttle on a quad, apart from the opposite effect.

Trigger buttons internal to the bar/grip would compliment this well?

Nationwide reclamation of our derelict/thieved railways to be re-purposed as surfaced cycle/pedelec/HPV routes. Would call it National Cycleways, or integrate/absorb with the existing NCN/Sustrans

Britain would either become the World’s best cycle-commuting and touring destination or else a litter-strewn, weed-ridden wasteland of scrotes on BSOs using the routes for Cycleway robbery and ‘dogging’.

I used to be an optimist <—- true story.

An Industry standard on all components would be nice, maybe all use the same gear hanger…:)

Thumb brakes are fairly common in motorcycle racing, lots do the Rossi-style leg out thing so into a right-hander you need a thumb not your foot. No clearance issues when leaned over either.

No idea why you’d want one on a MTB though.

Doesn’t DI2 do a pseudo-automatic thing? Can watch your cadence and change for you if it drops too low.

A world where people stop equating locking wheels to good braking.

Locking rear wheels helps smooth out those braking bumps caused by people braking properly, so is a good thing.

It may be useful but it’s a shit method of measuring brake performance, all you have to do is unweight slightly and you can lock anything

I think the point was that a good disc brakes provides more than enough power to allow controlled braking with your thumb.

But seeing as you so eloquently brought it up…ABS on bikes. Didn’t someone try this a while back?

I’ve a few, some of which may well have been written already but top of the list has to be the saddle mounted fart-baffle.