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So,what do we all reckon will be the next big thing in off road cycling . We've done ever increasing cassette ranges , eliminating of front derailleurs, on going where size debates, bike packing (upsold touring), gravel bikes (upsold cx bikes), ebikes look like they're here for the foreseeable future, so what next?
I'm going with "flat barred gravel bikes" . Rigid, steep and light, taking 50mm (2") tyres They'll ride like MTB's of the late 90's, but will be marketed under some new niche name...
What do you reckon? What do you lot think will be next?
Wireless everything.
Yep, I think you're right.
Hybrids a go-go.
We'll have to call them something stupid and totally unsuited to UK riding.
How about Desert Sleds, Chicken Chasers or Swamp Donkeys?
Riderless e-bikes
I actually want a flat bar gravel bike....
Wireless brakes.
and gearboxes (not new obviously)
Wireless gearboxes.
Dual crown forks on enduro bikes.
I know there's a few on the fringes but I mean someone is going to turn up to an EWS with one then they'll blow up.
Gearboxless wires
I actually want a flat bar gravel bike….
Roadrat?
New long travel 29 from SC will be dual crown compatible I’ve heard. Think the YT Capra is already
Dual crown forks on enduro bikes? Bindun. 😀
Very light, and very, very good steering!
I'm going to say lighter / nippier / faster rolling / less travel 'Moar fun' bike for most of us. Halfway between Enduro and Gravel.
I agree about rigid 29ers / flat-bar gravel bikes. Probably called something new and unheard of like ‘all terrain bikes’...
Also, enduro-style events for e-bikes will take off.
I think you’re right with Moar Fun, more bikes that aren’t designed with a race category in mind.
Oh and 26ers 😉
Triple Crown enduro forks seem like they could really take off. On a 170mm 29r?
I actually want a flat bar gravel bike….
Roadrat?
Having owned one.....not even close.
E-bikes with combined motor and gearbox. I think that would be another step to making them a really attractive option for commuting with people who have no interest in bikes for there own sake and doing maintenance
Built of course into a flat bared gravel bike.
The next big thing will be the next topic next week about the next big thing which will be big
Wireless is already here.
Gearbox ebike will be a winner but way off.
Next trend will be triple crown forks for your local trail centre
I can see rigid forked, wide-ish tyred, hub geared modern hardtails becoming popular with some of the luddites, me included.
XC bikes.
The flat bar monster cross bike exists, I have one. Salsa El Mariachi, Surly KM,Shand Bahookie, Big Brother, Genesis Longitude...
I bet 2x gearing is reinvented as " closer gaps between gears with wider range"
"The flat bar monster cross bike exists, I have one."
No you don't you have a 29er. Stop giving it a ****y name.
Enduro bikes with a 29r rear wheel, 27.5 front to give you an aggressive attitude.
They will be known as nooprangs.
Modular-e bikes. The motor and battery can be optionally removed and replaced with standard BB and cranks.
shifterless automatic transmissions
I'd love it if my bike could produce a decent americano halfway round the trail, that'd be mint.
upsold
Not using the word “upsold”
How about Desert Sleds, Chicken Chasers or Swamp Donkeys?
Think On one have already copy-righted those names
I can see rigid forked, wide-ish tyred, hub geared modern hardtails becoming popular with some of the luddites, me included.
I bought a Pinnacle Ramin 3+ last year, has 135mm spacing and an EBB so I could fit my Rohloff. All the bike I'll ever need*
*need not want
The flat bar monster cross bike exists, I have one. Salsa El Mariachi, Surly KM,Shand Bahookie, Big Brother, Genesis Longitude
Like what I use my KM Ops for. Who thought we would be potential trend setters 🤣😉
Whatever bandwagon it is, I won't be jumping on it, declaring myself the best and a full on expert in whatever it is and mocking or shouting down the opinion of every one else and making myself look a right **** in the process. Oh no.
Off road penny farthings to give that high front end and short wheelbase. The trail will truly come alive! Unlike your face which will be properly dead the first time you go OTB
#ridinghigh
Fat bikes will return with not quite so fat all road type tyres. Then there will be a load of new boutique names like Jumping Jim's Fat Boy Slim
whatever the next big thing is, i'm sure it'll be greeted with an open mind and people will think about how they can put it to use and try and see what benefits there are... and in no way at all will people on internet forums declare it to be a waste of time and totally unnecessary and a waste of money and what they have now is fine, why change it ffs?!?!?
A really good GPS device. Or a flying pig. One of the two. My money's on the pig.
Significantly heavier, even more significantly expensive and completely proprietary components that are useless unless kept charged masquerading as progression that everyone can defend as awesumz.
TJ - you can also sell 2x as "lighter than a dropper".
Used to have a spesh enduro with that fork...it was horrendous by today's standards, but I loved it!
Riderless bikes...
actually im going with ebike servicing....
People upselling their whinging about new different stuff being old stuff rebadged - oh hang on that is now.
2x nah no point to it.
Widespread wireless sounds like next up, some nice ergo shifter options coming out of that.
After everyone has gone coil it has to be a swap back to air 😉
A couple of Strava cats for could have/should have manual corrections and an exclusive one for each mm variation in geometry so people know they are comparing like for like.
I expect they’ll milk eMTBs for a bit more before they return to their natural niche. But yes, they’ve realised that taking something that has existed for ages, making a small improvement and marketing the crap out of it works, so I’m not expecting that to change.
Steambikes. backcountrybikepacking machines equipped with CCS equipped woodburner driven micro turbine assist with espresso attachment.
I'll go with less bike but more money to buy one.
Id normally say gearboxes but they haven't properly happened yet and to be honest I cant say how they ever become as light or as efficient as the derailleur. They will improve and be seen on more bikes of a certain type (DH / Adventure / winter bike etc) but I don't see them ever having market share over the derailleur. There is a tendency to assume that because something was invented decades ago there has to be a better option. Not sure that's true in this case. If they were invented today they would still be awesome...and people would be wondering why they have been carrying this heavy, inefficient box of gears around for so long.
A really good GPS device. Or a flying pig. One of the two. My money’s on the pig.
This ^^
Although @Bez , have a look at the new Sigma Rox 12. Shit name (reminiscent of the 90's T-shirts...) but apparently one of the best out there.
Survival bikes.
Some sort of new standard, they haven’t messed about with for a bit
Id normally say gearboxes but they haven’t properly happened yet and to be honest I cant say how they ever become as light or as efficient as the derailleur.
But that won't matter once they are combined with a motor. Nicolai already make an ebike with a Rohloff. I predict Nicolai Bosch and Rohloff to combine the whole thing into a Tiger Tank Bike that just smashes through the trees.
Forks that you can adjust the travel by turning a dial.
peaslaker
Member
Modular-e bikes. The motor and battery can be optionally removed and replaced with standard BB and cranks.Posted 3 hours ago
Focus Raven does this, IIRC.
Forks that you can adjust the travel by turning a dial.
Hmmm, now where have I seen that before?
A brief summary of the [i]improvements[/i] I've seen in my bike life -
frames: rigid -> suspension on the front -> suspension front and rear (of varying lengths)
headsets: screwy/quills -> ahead loose bearing 5 min life -> sealed last ages
tyres: skinny -> fat -> fatter -> slightly less fat
brakes: calipers -> Vs -> discs
wheels: bigger -> slightly smaller -> wider -> carbon
bbs: taper -> splined and various inbetween/thread/pushin/blah
gears: more rear -> less front -> 1 front (+ occassionally 1 rear)
gears: cables -> electronics
stems: shorter -> shorter
bars: flat -> riser -> wider -> wider (+grips wiv bolts)
seatposts: skinny -> fatter -> dropper
pedaling: normal effort -> engine to reduce effort
Just a bike -> a bike for every purpose + all that geometry stuff
(Hmm, I might do a animation of that sometime 🙂 )
So, what hasn't changed? Saddles? Rear mechs? new frame material? Not much on the actual bike is there...
eBoost plus+ MAX
I need to trademark that.
Blimey yeah, I forgot Boost. Still dunno what it's for.
Nicolia do an ebike with a gearbox
Following on from the trend towards rigid bikes... stuff to make them a little bit less rigid.
We've already seen that Redshift Flexstem reboot. Maybe someone will have another crack at damped seatposts. Suspension bars? Boing-y headsets? Mmmmm linear bearings...
Continuously Variable Transmission Ebikes
Survival bikes.
Hmm, stream water in one end of downtube and purified water out the other. Filter will be an arse to change but that can be dealt with.
Anymount holster to fit a Crosman pumper.
Runflat tyres.
Hub gears for reliability
Belt drive for silence
Fully rigid
Survival kit stashed in seat tube.
Poncho and bungies strapped to top tube.
Dynamo running to integrated USB port in the stem cap..
I think you could be on to something. Or I've over thought it. Either or.
Picking (or setting) the next big trend has got to include a large dollop of luck. I've no idea why Gravel took of like it did when hybrids had been doing the same sort of thing for years (but were never really seen as serious bikes) and one major manufacturer's attempt to launch Gnarmac (essentially what a gravel bike is now) some years ago, just didn't do it.
I noticed recently whilst pursuing bikes I can't afford on the Seven Cycles website that in addition to their [url= https://www.sevencycles.com/discipline/road-racing.php ]road bikes[/url] and [url= https://www.sevencycles.com/discipline/gravel-road.php ]Gravel bikes[/url] they also offer something they call [url= https://www.sevencycles.com/discipline/road-mid-reach.php ]Road Mid-Reach bikes[/url]; it appears that once the road becomes a bit too gritty for a road bike, but the grit's not gravelly enough for a full on gravel bike, you need a new type of bike (in titanium of course) to cope (when the gravel gets a bit pebbly and rock, they offer hardtails of course).
So the next big thing? Maybe it'll be Road Mid-Reach, but then again, maybe just maybe it'll be 'rent your own support vehicle and trailer' services for the serious cyclist allowing you to seamless switch between the 3 or 4 bikes now deemed necessary to complete rides you used to do on one.
Continuously Variable Transmission Ebikes
already available using a nuvinci gearbox
Ah but as illustrated above, just because it's been done doesn't mean it can't be the emperors new clothes!
Much lighter e-bikes - mainly through reduced battery weight.
E-bikes with removable motor/battery so two bikes in one.
XC bikes with better geometry.
JP
Just, spec as per above, add shoulder straps and you have a go anywhere Bug Out Bike.
If nobody else does it I'm making it a thing. I'll show you all!
Had an email from Trek today, apparently cyclings most important change in 30 years happens on the 20th March.
squirrelking
Survival bike!
Just, spec as per above, add shoulder straps and you have a go anywhere Bug Out Bike.
If nobody else does it I’m making it a thing. I’ll show you all!
I know it's probably a total PoS, but there's something oddly appealing about that bike.
Next big thing?
Realistically gonna be some e-bike development in battery size, motor power or both drip-fed in so the marketing juggernaut can keep on rolling.
Suspect there's a usable 'solid' tyre on the way at some point with weight offset by no more need for tough carcasses - logical conclusion of all the foam core systems?
Personally I'd love a back-to-basics movement - thinking about the philosophy behind the new Microshift wide range 9 speed system. No frills stuff that just works and is simple to use and maintain. Clearly that's not gonna happen from a making money PoV but I can dream.
I'm still carrying a torch for 26+, but I think that's passed us by now too.
I guess will never happen but I’d like to see some kind of braze on mounting standard for mudguards so you don’t have to zip tie direct to the frame. Basically more akin to MX/trials
High single pivots.
Either with stupid idler set-ups or gearboxes. Or stupid idler set-ups paving the way for people to finally go, 'hey, a rear derailleur is a stupid thing to have on an off-road bike, isn't it?'
Another attack on a standard. Seatposts have almost settled down now so that seems most likely, or another crack at steerers
Or I barely dare to say it, but handlebar outers.
e-bikes for transport has to be the next big thing if you're talking macroscopic developments - don't really need a crystal ball for that tbh. The bikes are already here, but the attendent infrastructure, behaviour, culture change etc could be huge.
Commuting by bike in your work clothes, fast, in comfort, with sub-moderate levels of exertion would be absolutely game-changing for the majority of people. It's not really possible to do that on a normal bike, which disuades folk from cycling to work.
Why do the high pivots need to be single?
Do the Athertons still have links to Trek?
It could be that they have decided rip off Robot Bike Co. and offer custom frames using 3d printed lugs.
I reckon unequal wheel sizes are due a comeback now the UCI's letting people race on them. They make a lot of sense for a lot of people on techy trail riding.
Sorry if not Luddite enough.
I reckon unequal wheel sizes are due a comeback now the UCI’s letting people race on them.
This.
But how are they supposed to market them if they can't call them 69ers?
7-and-a-half-9ers doesn't have the right ring to it.
Commuting by bike in your work clothes, fast, in comfort, with sub-moderate levels of exertion would be absolutely game-changing for the majority of people. It’s not really possible to do that on a normal bike, which disuades folk from cycling to work.
I flirted with the idea of replacing the car with an e-cargo bike - it would do everything up to about 10 miles each way fine (including ferrying the kids). I still might get one, one day!
How about remote controlled tyre pressure?
or
Remote controlled chainstay length?
or
Remote controlled reach adjust?
Charging stations for ebikes outside trail centre cafes, so you can stop for pies and cake then go and burn it all straight off again!
I actually think it'll happen.