GamblerGORD53

Actually, there is a guy near me who rides a Highwheeler farthing quite a bit. He doesn't poke along either and rides crowded places too. Too fast for me to get a pic so far. LOL. Haven't seen him stop yet.
He looks the part too with a handlebar moustache and tweed outfit.

79pmooney

This list is for innovations that were game changers as of 40 years ago. Those items make a radical difference to this day. (The roller chain, paved roads, spoked wheels, Those changes weren't small. The freewheel that allowed coasting. Caliper brakes. (And yes, discs are caliper brakes.) I'll add foot retention, (Yes I know that is controversial here but it was yet another revolution in racing and is used to this day.) I think foot retention is bigger than the quick release though I know mechanics will disagree. I've been using wrenches for fix gear rear wheels for 40 years. Just not a big deal.

Those were huge changes that we still benefit from (and that haven't changed a whole lot).

Ben

79pmooney

That's because the splines are aluminum to save weight. The cheap Campy 9-speed freehub used steel splines and came with loose cogs. Works just as well. I swap out cogs all the time. (This is a place where the thinking is that weight matters more than optimizing the engine to wheel gear ratios. That weight is what, 2 ounces? 2 ounces in (for me) (155+18+6) = 179 pounds is 0.07%. I can easily see less than optimum gear ratio costing a rider several percent. (We can't give you the best gear for your dragster because it will add 5 pounds.)

Ben

fietsbob

Nope they, loose lower gear cogs, even dug into steel driver splines , but, yes, to make hubs lighter Al & Ti drivers are very incompatible..

madpogue 

Electronic shifting is on the wrong amended list. Requiring a battery to shift your bike puts it squarely on the "worst" list. Doubly so for a hackable wireless version.

Re. cassettes, the riveted cassettes I've removed and installed are all so loosely assembled, I don't see how they're any less likely to dig into the freehub body than totally "loose" ones. Esp. since the lock ring tightens all the cogs down, whether riveted or not. I thought the riveting was just to simplify / cheapify initial assembly.