Maelochs

That is the definition of vanity ---- thinking that how your stuff looks is very important. Doesn't make it wrong, doesn't make you wrong .... but "vanity" as it is being used in this thread could be perfectly described as "a cleaner look."

Good for you for having found what you seek and all .....

livedarklions

I think bicycle ABS would probably go into the looking for a problem category, but may be more useful in the ebike category as the weight of those vehicles increase.

Rdmonster69

Not that it really matters but the dictionary definition is as follows. Key word here is excessive. Vanity is typically viewed as a somewhat negative personality trait.

Vanity: .noun
1.excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements.
"it flattered his vanity to think I was in love with him"
Similar:
conceitedness, narcissism, self-love, self-admiration,, arrogance

2. the quality of being worthless or futile.
"the vanity of human wishes"

I eschew under saddle bags because don't they work for me first and I like the way a bike looks without them second. Personal preference sure.....vanity ...not the way I understand it.

Vanity would be going without an under saddle bag even though one would be very useful to me because I didn't like the way they look. In the meantime my bike looks super slick while I am wearing a floppy rain jacket and riding in mismatched gear, a t-shirt or sleeveless jersey/tank top and maybe in a pair of hiking boots if I am using my platform equipped bike. Not really vanity material !!

Phil_gretz

^ example: personalized auto license plates.

Explanation for those drivers: nobody cares what you think, where you went to school, or most emphatically, the make and model of the car in which you're driving.

msu2001la

By definition- vanity describes an excessive personality trait. If your response to someone saying they desire a cleaner look is to use the word vanity, you are telling them that this desire is excessive.

Around here, those are generally called "vanity plates". They are definitely excessive.

livedarklions

I liked the one I would see in SF all the time: 4NICK8

Maelochs

Hey, folks .... this is BF. If you start taking this stuff too seriously .... take a break, take a bike ride, reconnect with what is real.

This place is a pernicious drug. Don't let it use you ...

Kapusta

Here are more expanded thoughs on why I am not betting on ABS being ubiquitous in 10 years.

ABS is a far, far more involved mechanism than disc brakes or e-shifting.

Also, I question the demand there will be for ABS.

I am pretty sure the MTB world would largely reject it (I would certainly not want it)

And as far as road riding, I think it is ultimately a hard sell. I think ABS is rather different than electronic shifting or disc brakes For the following reason: whether or not someone finds the extra expense and or weight of the latter two to to be worth it, you do notice the difference of either during normal use. With ABS, One could go years at a time without ever noticing them doing anything.

if ABS ever does get off the ground, I see the most likely use for it to be on heavier electric utility bikes.

Maelochs

Dude .... FAIL!!!

You are using logic.



No, once john and Joan Couchpilot get their new e-bikes with hydro discs---or maybe their Walmart Specials with hydro discs and reversed forks---and crash hard because they constantly lock up the front brake ..... ABS will be an easy sell.

Rdmonster69

I found that out quickly !!! I work really hard to not be offended and am not vain enough to be by your post on vanity !! <---- See what I did there

Riveting

Adjust bike tire pressure on the fly

Rdmonster69

I think it's a pretty cool feature on my Domane. The items I carry in it could easily fit in my pack but..... It is a cool concept and the bits bag allows a flat kit/tool to be easily carried so that is a plus It is pretty well executed in its design as well. . What it has allowed me to do is carry stuff for my skinny tire tubed bike in my backpack as I always did and a larger tube in the compartment with an inflator set up and tire levers for an emergency tube install on my tubeless set up should I need it.. That alone makes it a plus in my book but not exactly a selling point if you know what I mean.

livedarklions

Hey, there's an idea--a bike frame with a drug dispenser.

livedarklions

Who puts bike tires on flies?

Riveting

But some may say "Nice invention, but then what do they use in lieu of a hammer claw to remove a nail? I've yet to see a pneumatic nail remover." , Oh wait... ....

livedarklions

Did they ever actually market any?

msu2001la

I definitely agree that e-bikes will be the development platform for this, particularly e-cargo bikes. Motorcycle ABS is still not universal, but is increasingly common. On motorcycles there is a central ABS control unit plus wheel speed sensors, all of which also require electrical power and add weight, though the size and weight of these components has come way down in recent years. It seems reasonable to think that this tech might jump to e-bikes and eventually traditional bikes.

Riveting

What do you call a fly on a bike?.....A roll.

What do you call a fly with no wings?....A walk.

Riveting

Not sure, but here's another.

And I recall another product that used a special cavity of the rim to store pressurized air (like a built-in CO2 cartridge) that you could then release at will into the tubeless tire cavity.

livedarklions

So the big trend I would expect is that ebikes and human-powered bike will resemble each other less and less. Weight savings really don't matter much if the motors are getting stronger, so expect more utilitarian aspects to ebikes, greater emphasis on carrying capacity, frames that look less and less like pedaled bikes and more like small motorcycles. A really big percentage of the ebikes I'm seeing in the wild are fat tires, being ridden up hills no one would ever pedal-power such big tires. This just seems like a first step in an evolutionary divergence to me.

livedarklions

What do you call a fly with no wings?....A zipper

msu2001la

It's interesting to go back and read reviews of emerging tech years later. In 2009 when Shimano released Dura Ace Di2, James Huang wrote about it in Bike Radar. His review starts out with:

“A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” “Unnecessary.” “A marketing gimmick.” Those are lines offered time and again by armchair critics of Shimano’s new Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrain https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/co...ission-review/

Electronic shifting is totally unnecessary and didn't solve anything. It's also really cool and works amazingly well. People have been shifting gears just fine for decades without motors, but now in 2021 electronic shifting occupies a major chunk of the high-end groupset market, and the two highest end groupsets from Shimano have completely ditched mechanical shifting altogether. The revolution only took 12 years.

A similar argument could be made for GPS units. Who needs em? Just ride and if you get lost, stop and ask for directions or bring a map. You don't need power output, cadence or percent grade to ride a bike, right?

The point of this thread, as I understand it, is to discuss/predict what new technology will emerge and become commonplace on bikes in 10 years. It's likely that much of the bike tech that evolves over the next decade is not actually solving problems.

BFisher 

How about electronic shift components that are programmable to index any cog spacing? One derailleur/shifter for 6,7,8,9,10,11,12, etc.

HTupolev

Gearing linkages of greater complexity than a crankset strapped to a wheel existed before the safety bicycle.

livedarklions

OK, now do all of the supposedly emerging tech that really went nowhere over the years. Automatic shifting, shaft drives, and solid tires, to name a few.

I don't know anyone who poo-pooed the idea of GPS, the problem there wasn't the perception of usefulness, just the lack of understanding that implementing it on small, inexpensive portable devices would soon become possible.

There's marketing to solve a problem, but there's also better mousetrap solutions--Di2 is a better mousetrap, a better solution to a problem that's already been solved. What's been happening is the cost of the electronics have been dropping sufficiently to make this refinement appealing to a wider number of consumers.

The "solution in search of a problem" discussion on this thread seems primarily directed at ABS, and I think it's apt in that particular case. ABS is designed to prevent a type of uncontrolled skid that just doesn't likely happen on a human-powered bike. It's not a sexy feature like Di2 where there's instant feedback on how much of a difference it makes.

If I was going to point to a tech that I really have been caught by surprise on, it's disc brakes on road bikes. I still don't get that.