Looigi

I got my first road bike in 1970. Biggest functional improvements since then are wider range gearing and much much better clincher tires...and maybe clipless pedals. All the other stuff is mainly niceties, IMO. I'll admit that white LED lights are nice niceties....evidently the 2014 Nobel Prize award committee agrees.

Clyde1820

Disk brakes.

LED lighting, with high output and relatively low power consumption.

Technology for producing relatively inexpensive tubing in Aluminum that is much more compliant (closer to a chromoly steel) than it ever was in the 1990's, as well as having much better build quality.

Changeover to nearly all-Taiwanese manufacturing of frames, allowing many more builders and makers to get into the game with many more options, without needing to go the custom frame route.


Of course, the more some things change, the more others stay the same: Tubus racks and Ortlieb panniers, to name a couple.

Wilfred Laurier

Hub dynamos are closer to a hundred years old. There are nicer ones made today than in the past, but Sturmey Archer has been making them since the first half of the 20th century.

skidder

I'm going to say The Internet. Its allowed someone to shop for bikes and bike parts at all price points, rather than be at the mercey of your local bike shop(s) wanting to sell you whatever they have in stock or brings them the greatest profit. If not for the 'web' I probably wouldn't be riding as much as I do.

no motor?

Yeah, I guess we should include BF with that.

rydabent

recumbent tadpole trikes

Sixty Fiver

So our cutoff is 1989... things are not much different except in how many of those things have been refined and improved.

Leebo

Disc brakes, front and rear suspensions, tubeless tires.

RatMudd

The obvious is carbon fiber. Everything else is child's play.

Wooden bicycle frames (Renovo) carved with CNC machines is also up there.

jimc101

1970's Shimano

1980's, although it's being done for 40 years+, Moulton bikes for a start

give you that, 1999

very little new in the bike world, go back far enough and someone will have done it before,

LesterOfPuppets

I seem to remember a museum bike from the 1930s or so with full suspension.

RatMudd

Computer engineering with materials used in building, and the aerodynamics that come with it. An elite modern carbon fiber racing frame would be impossible to be built in such an efficient weight-savings/strength model, if not for computers and modern technology.

energyandair

tubeless bike tires?

Dave Cutter

+1

Brifters! (I hate the term "Brake/shifter combos"). But partially because they [combo-Brifters] require indexed shifting as well. I enjoy the old friction shifting.... but my God indexed brake lever shifting is NICE.

But LED lights... how can those not be at least 2nd on the list. If I rode at night (to speak of) they might be #1 .

jon c. 

I ride vintage, so I have to go with LED lights (and rechargeable batteries that actually work).

bikeguyinvenice

Kevlar belted tires, how many hours were wasted every year by cyclists before puncture resistant tires!

mcmoose

I'm going to be a sexist and nominate woman-specific-design road bikes (and women's saddles). But, in general, I think the tech is there to make bikes better fitting for most folks (e.g., easy-to-modify stem length).

And, to be an old fart, more relaxed geometries for road bikes to complement the race geometries. Again, more off-the-shelf choices that once were only available if you could afford a custom-built frame.

And, yeah, brifters and LED lights.

Wilfred Laurier

I like calling them "STIs"
Like "Sexually Transmitted Infection".

I love my LED lights. Most of the ones I use while riding aren't even bike specific lights. My favourite for city riding is a $2 LED flashlight from Giant Tiger.
I hold it on with an elastic made from an old inner tube, and a couple layers of inner tube around the body so it grips the handlebar a bit.

Dave Cutter

I found bicycle lights at (one of) the dollar store. The light isn't so great but the bracket that holds the light is excellent and works great at holding any of the small LED lights. But again.... my wife doesn't allow me to play outside after the street lights come on.

StanSeven

GPS cycling computer

LesterOfPuppets

That for me, too. Well, GPS phone app for me, actually.

So now I have 3. Even though there were older removable faceplate stems and freehubs might be a hair over 25 years, also, not sure. Ah, hell I might as well put brifters on there, too, even though I still ride a LOT of DT shifter miles.

1. Freehubs.
2. GPS cyclometers/phone apps.
3. Removable face stems.
4. Brifters.

garyus

You can get financing for a bicycle.

StanSeven

Some bicycles cost as much as cars.

garyus

That was supposed to be a "tongue in cheek" statement. Maybe the emoji do-hickey thing changed the context of the statement.

GamblerGORD53

One thing that has gotten far WORSE is grips. Nothing beats the grips from my 1974 Raleigh, now on my custom also with that handlebar actually. They are some kind of vinyl plastic, smooth, soft, everlasting, have finger humps and good in any weather. I have used 2 editions of Ergons. The first turned back into slime from 3 years use. Their shape is likely needed for straight bars.

Schwalb tires have been the #1 improvement helping all.
Sealed cartridge bearings for BB and wheels are great, not for headsets IME.
New dynos and lights are 1000% better.
Disc brakes are far improved from the first offerings which I have seen at the co-op. It has enough metal for a whole new bike now. I doubt it works very well either.
I couldn't do without the new wired computers.

There is no such thing as better deraillers. Rohloff 14 rules now.