The March of Progress
Mon, October 11, 2021 I first got into bike racing at the age of 16, in 1952. To the present day as I write, that is 69 years of racing bikes, studying and writing about bikes, and designing and building bikes. Looking back over this period, there were very few technological changes in the thirty years from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Frames were brass brazed, lugged steel, built by craftsmen. With standard size steel tubes as they had been for fifty years prior to that. All had level top tubes, it was the framebuilder’s point of reference. An individual could establish his frame size, and after that could buy any make of frame in that size, and it would fit.
There were subtle changes in racing frame geometry, but not so much that all but the most avid bike enthusiast would even know about, and apart from that we went from 5 speed to 6 speed and that was it.
However, in the next thirty or more years that followed, from the 1980s to the present day, the bicycle has changed at an alarming rate, as has technology in general. The mountain bike, indexed gear shifting, which lead to 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 speed, clipless pedals and Carbon fiber frames.
For more than thirty years all professional cyclists and almost all amateur cyclists used Christophe steel toe clips and Binda toe straps. It was a common standard of excellence. Then in the late 1980s clipless or clip in pedals appeared and in a few short years toe clips and straps were obsolete.
That is progress, and yes, I will agree it is an improvement, but imagine how the owners of Christophe and Binda must have felt seeing their lucrative business as the major suppliers of toe clips and straps for the entire world, disappear in a very short period of time.
What has changed is not only the bicycle itself, but the whole structure of the bicycle industry. Individual craftsmen are now obsolete. Racing bicycles are produced by a few large corporations worldwide. Individual craftsmen were content to make a good living wage, which probably accounts for the lack of progress in the first thirty years I speak of.
This can be viewed as a good or bad thing, but bicycle racing is a simple sport and requires a simple machine to participate. Individual builders like myself in the UK and the rest of Europe catered almost exclusively to amateur racing cyclists. Everyone wanted to emulate the professional cyclists and use whatever they were riding.
Everything changed in the 1970s with the “Bike Boom” in America. A few die hard enthusiasts wanted what the pros rode. But to the general American public, the race bike was over geared and very uncomfortable to ride. This is why the Mountain Bike became a huge hit in the 1990s, more comfortable, and easier to ride.
It used to be, “What the Pros rode” that drove the market. Today it is the American leisure market that drives the industry and the pros ride what the corporations who sponsor them, tell them to ride. A wider range of gears is probably the single most technological improvement that has benefited all aspects of cycling.
Now we have E-Bikes, electric assist that takes away the one thing that discourages many people from riding a bike, namely the effort required to do so. I cannot make up my mind whether this is a good or a bad thing.
On the one hand, more bikes on the road is a good thing, but more bikes going faster than they would solely under their own power, without the necessary skillset to safely do so, makes them a danger to themselves and all others on the road. Including people like me who believe the whole joy, and the point of cycling, is going somewhere under one's own effort.
What do you think?
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Reader Comments (9)
I deeply agree that getting somewhere or climbing a big hill or just achieving relatively high speeds under your own power is deeply satisfying. That feeling of independence is one of the things that keeps me coming back season after season.
However, when it comes to commuting to a work place, where sweat management becomes a big issue, I can see where E-bikes are attractive for a variety of environmental reasons. Yes, many work places do have showers which makes things easier. But, you're still left trying to figure out what to do with sweaty clothes and towels.
For that reason I like E-bikes, but do agree that bike handling skills developed over years of experience may be lacking in dangerous ways.
E-Bikes are a good thing in general, if it encourages people who would otherwise not ride, get out and do some exercise. I do think however that they need to be limited in power and speed so that folks without the prerequisite skills are not a risk to themselves and others
We live on a designated bike route street even if there are no separately marked bicycle lanes and I do notice a lot of older riders on electric assist bicycles. Good deal for them. Also college kids hauling packs around. I would imagine the steep hill into the city center area is also an encouragement. Would not want to carry one three flights up the stairs to an apartment though.
My preference is for human power on a bike with the source being the fat in my body or the food I eat. This is different from coal or gas energy sources that the ebike uses when in electric mode, not to mention the issues related to spent batteries. Human waste is easier to deal with comparted to batteries.
The choice is an individual one and the framers of the constitution had the idea that a country should be structured for individual freedom as long as the individual doesn't harm others.
As soon as an ebike operator threatens my safety, I have an issue with the person exercising irresponsible freedom. That goes for parents and dog walkers on MUPs.
I've seen enough e-bike riders coasting up hill, passing strong cyclists while soft pedaling and keeping up with traffic wearing blue jeans and work boots to realize that too many e-bike riders aren't cyclists that need a bit of help to keep cycling. I've also seen some of those e-bike riders blasting down the sidewalks with no thought of the pedestrians.
My wife can't ride at my pace so we got a tandem for those times we want to ride together. No e-bike needed.
Are more people going to ride bicycles when they become easier to ride, or safer to ride? Have they waited for cars to become safer, or for driving to become easier before they will drive? Then why would they drive the most dangerous thing on the road but not ride a bike? This also becomes relative: bikes were, and are ridden on roads, not only bike lanes. Vehicles have always been with, not separate from bicycles. Trying to change that today through so many agendas is answering the wrong questions. Just look back from the 70’s to today and you will see the same rate of vehicle fatalities, the same amount of bicycle riders no matter the progress in bikes or vehicles. So it must not be because bikes are “hard” to ride, or the roads, or bicycles, “unsafe” to ride.
I have never considered my bike unsafe or the roads dangerous (but some sections were unpleasant to ride so I found alternatives, which always existed) and have never wished for a motor on my bike. That was a moped, or a motorcycle with pedals.
Point of reference: there was as huge surge in USCF (today USA Cycling) from the “Boomer” generation. As they stopped racing, there wasn’t a continuation of new racers, resulting in a precipitous drop in membership, and along with that, racing events. Thus the popularity of E-bikes (which look nothing like a real pedal bicycle) with kids hauling their friends on them.
It may well have been that the new generation didn’t want to be seen wearing lycra on a road bike. But today they wear anything, and lycra shorts are quite popular. And mountain bikes have morphed into all-mountain bikes, road bikes mated with mountain bikes spawning gravel bikes, and track bikes sprouted brakes to become cool fixies.
The bicycle will always be with us. What it looks like, how its ridden changes. But we have never needed a reason to ride.
I am less discouraged to see ebikers than many. Yes they pass by and I do get the feeling many could use a skills clinic or three. BUT, it is one less car, and the vast majority of associated injuries will be to themselves , unlike the former. About the many other evolving technologies, I do get a little ill seeing the cost of a new 8100 Ultegra groupset, only available in Di2 now, I can't help but think of how smooth my 15 year old Sora 9 speed shifters work, and how that technology simple trickled down from the dura ace of Y2K era.
I doubt I'll spend any length of time riding with friction shifters on my remaining time in the saddle.
The more people on bikes, the better, whatever type they may be. I want as many "cyclists" of whatever type behind the wheels of the cars driving on the same roads...
The industry has promoted stiffer, aero, lighter, faster for all things road for far too long. Sure, racers can benefit somewhat in this approach, but 99% of road riders never enter a race.
Gravel has opened up the playing field. Jan Heine's solid research and dismantling of narrow > high pressure is better, has changed the playing field forever, and for the better. The industry is finally paying attention. Wide and fast is the future.