From: gcarter!gcarter (George Carter)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles
Subject: top five innovations
Keywords: innovations
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 20:22:54 PDT
Distribution: world
Organization: SFBAC


There was a comment earlier this weekend from Jobst 
which I think implies he believes SPD pedals are one of 
the best recent innovations in bicycling.  This got me to 
thinking what I would consider the top five innovations of 
the past ten or fifteen years.  I thought listing my own 
choices might spark an interesting and lively discussion.  
Here they are, in order of importance (most important is 
first, etc.):

1. Kevlar-belted tires
2. Cartridge bearings in hubs and bottom brackets
3. Avocet 50 (bike computer with altimeter)
4. The third eye chain watcher
5. Chromoly and Ti stems

Rationale:

1. Kevlar-belted tires -- I only seem to get 10 to 20 percent 
of the flats that I used to due to these tires.  This is a major 
advance in my book.

2. Cartridge bearings -- This innovation basically means 
road riders who do not ride in the rain much can install 
these bearings and largely forget them for many years.  
Traditional bearings require frequent overhauls and 
adjustment.  In addition to minimizing maintenance, the 
vastly improved method of securing the bearing in the 
bottom bracket means that stuck-in-the-frame BB's are a 
thing of the past with this innovation.

3. Avocet 50 -- This and other altimeter bike computers 
makes it possible to record the data of most interest during 
a ride for analytical types.  The ability to capture distance 
traveled, average velocity while moving and total climbing 
is terrific.

4. The third eye chain watcher --  This gizmo is a plastic 
guide one installs on the seat tube that prevents middle-to-
granny chain shifts on a triple from missing the granny.  
Prior to this device, it was basically impossible to insure 
failure-free middle-to-granny shifts due to the large tooth 
difference (like 46 to 26), regardless of how well the 
derailleur was adjusted or how skillful a shifter the rider 
was.  Even if only one out of 25 shifts failed, that failure 
was a hassle.  Another benefit is that this device make 
possible a much more positive and crisp shift because a 
more aggressive derailleur adjustment is possible.

5. Chromoly and Ti stems.  Eliminates the last irksome 
noise on the bike (forged Al stem creak).  The remaining 
irksome noises are on other bikes: trispokes and 
recumbents (which sound like plastic tricycles on climbs).  
These materials also open up far more design freedom for 
this component.

Candidates that did not make the cut:

1. Indexed shifting and STI.   Sort of neat, but unless one 
is racing the benefit seems very marginal  (I have one 
indexed and one friction bike).  An experienced friction 
rider can shift one or two cog shifts almost as accurately as 
an indexed rider.

2. Clipless pedals.  These appear to be most valuable for 
those members of the rubber pedal set who want to do 
more serious cycling but have trouble with getting into 
clips and straps.  So, it is good if it makes serious cycling 
more accessible (as does indexed shifting, some people 
seem to never get the hang of friction shifting).  I worry 
though because these two perceptual-motor skills are much 
less difficult than proper bike handling at speed, in traffic, 
serious descents,  unexpected obstacles, etc.  Do these two 
innovations encourage those without essential bike 
handling skills to put themselves in harm's way?

That said, if it becomes impossible to find good touring 
shoes, I will probably convert to SPD at some point.  Bring 
back the Avocet 20 shoe!   The deep rubber cleat, small toe 
(so that it fits well in normal road clips) and minimal tread 
on this shoe was ideal in my view.  The current model 
(Avocet 40) is not nearly as good.  And any clipless system 
so far introduced has a lot of disadvantages.

3. Carbon and Aluminum bikes.  Are much better as an 
interesting engineering exercise, say a Master's thesis, than 
as commercial products.


I would be very interested in what other people's top five
innovation lists are.

gcarter@infoserv.com