In a previous article the history of the bicycle was presented along with significant milestones from the 1800's until the 1950's. This article will go over the advancements and milestones that have occurred from the 1960's until the present along with what trends we may see in the future.
There were a few innovations in the 1960's that were major to the world of cycling. These innovations are present to this day.
In 1963, the U.S. company, Schwinn introduced the very popular Sting Ray model. Shortly after its introduction its radical design inspired a new breed of riders. Somewhat radical themselves, they began a craze that is now known as BMX.
In 1964, Japanese company Suntour improves upon the rear derailleur. The design is called a parallelogram derailleur. This is the design that is still present today.
In 1969, Suntour also introduced a new concept, Index Shifting. Due to a lack of interest in the market, Suntour abandoned the product. It would not be until several years later until we would see a successful version of Index Shifting considered the standard today.
The United States pretty much dominated the major innovations that happened throughout the 1970's. Technology advances were allowing manufacturers to introduce new materials that were lighter in weight.
In 1970, the movie On Any Sunday is released. It is a movie about motorcycle racing, in particular motorcross. In the beginning is a scene with kids riding the Schwinn Stingways on tracks imitating motorcross racing. Although the scene was very short, it was huge it what developed from it. By 1974 there was organized BMX racing events nationwide.
From 1974 to 1975 companies introduced frames that focused on being lightweight. Teledyne introduced the worlds fist mass produced Titanium bike. Trek amongst others introduces carbon fiber frames, and Gary Klein, Klein Bicycles, introduces a welded, heat treated aluminum frame. Several other companies were shifting to aluminum frames as well, including Canondale.
The1980's most significant bicycle innovation was when Specialized introduced the Stumpjumper in 1981. It was the world's first mass produced mountain bike.
Rock Shox became into prominent existence when they improved the mountain bike with the introduction of products creating a full suspension mountain bike in 1987.
Other significant releases in the 80's were LOOK's clipless pedal design and Shimano launching their SIS model index shifting.
From the 1990's until today there have been furthermore improvements on old designs, hydraulic disc brakes, 33 speed drive trains, electric derailleur's to name just a few.
And what does the future hold? Improving upon the already super efficiency of the drive train is one area of interest. Look for internal gearing coming soon. Called planetary gearing, what is unique is the all of the gears are enclosed within a hub. Also look for chainless bikes, using drive shafts and drive belts. You will see electronic shifting advance way beyond where it is now. Computers will be integrated into bikes doing functions you would expect such as speed, distance, and calories burned, but couple that with features such as finger print recognition for anti-theft.
A BBC Radio survey polled its listeners recently asking them what was their favorite item invented since the 1980's. Today you would think that computers or television or cars would be ranked the highest. None of them even captured 5% of the vote. Leading the list by a huge landslide with over 50% was, yes you guessed it, the bicycle.
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