The road to bicycle hell is paved with good inventions, as well as plenty of bad ones. Ever since the Safety Bicycle did for the penny-farthing, people have been inventing tech to try and make the bicycle better. We’re pretty much there with the bicycle design-wise and have been for some time. As such there’s a decent amount of wiggle room for trying new things
It’s at times hard to differentiate between tech that has been simply superseded by newer and better kit as technology has improved and time has moved on, and things that have genuinely flopped. We’ve put our heads together and tried to think of ideas that just haven’t worked out over the years.
Certain bits of tech are often singled out and branded flops in the road world. However, if something is still coveted by collectors, regarded as beautiful decades on or was ridden to victory we think it gets a pass. No, Campagnolo Delta brakes are said to have not stopped particularly well, but If something has the power to make grown men and women go misty-eyed all these years on, and part with healthy lumps of cash to own, it can’t be considered a true flop, can it?
Here’s our pick of the bike tech that has fallen by the wayside in the march towards road bike perfection. This isn’t us mocking ideas – full respect to the engineers over the years who have tried to improve the bikes we ride.
Chainstay mounted rim brakes
There was a period before almost all modern road bikes swapped to disc brakes, where several manufacturers mounted the rear rim brake of bikes on the chainstays just behind the bottom bracket shell. Their positioning kept them out of the airflow better than the more standard seat stay position, for better aerodynamics, and the bikes looked cleaner and more futuristic. Nearly all were direct mount system variants that offered slightly improved tyre clearance in the transitional period where we were heading for far wider tyres and rims.
The problem was that in use, a lot of these brakes didn’t work particularly well. Their location meant that they got sprayed with a lot more water and muck whenever it rained which can affect performance.
Cable routing was also tight and it was difficult on some bikes to achieve an acceptable, smooth brake feel at the lever. The look of lots of direct mount-type models also put riders off adjusting them themselves and the lack of…
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