14. Is the future disc shaped?
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The future is here: disc brakes are to be trialled in professional road cycling in August and September
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Disc brakes and Di2 - two of the tech innovations that make the modern road bike
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The safety bicycle was developed in the late 1800s (Pic: H. Clarke via Wikimedia Commons)
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The invention of the pneumatic tyre significantly improved comfort
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The invention of the rear derailleur made it much easier to change gear
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We may take the QR for granted but it revolutionised things back in 1927
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The yellow jersey is worn by the leader of the Tour de France
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Helmet design has come on a long way since the ‘leather hairnet’ style of the 1970s
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French company LOOK pioneered the design of the clipless pedal
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The Shimano Total Integration system was introduced in 1990
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Greg LeMond first used TT bars to effectively win the 1989 Tour de France
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German company SRM developed the first power meter in the 1980s
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Garmin GPS computers are now almost ubiquitous
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Shimano brought the first successful electronic groupset to market back in 2009
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The future is here: disc brakes are to be trialled in professional road cycling in August and September
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Disc brakes and Di2 - two of the tech innovations that make the modern road bike
14. Is the future disc shaped?
While it’s still too early to tell, signs from the cycling world suggest that disc brakes on road bikes might well take over.
In the last few years they’ve gone from being featured on a few concept models at the Eurobike show, to being available through whole lines of bikes from companies as big as Cannondale, Giant and Specialized.
Whether they’re necessary or safe in the pro peloton is another debate entirely, but there’s no doubting that disc brakes provide superior stopping power for less effort, especially so in the case of the hydraulic systems.
We expect to see more and more bikes with discs over the next few years, and won’t be surprised if, in 10 years time, caliper brakes are a thing of the past.
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