Gear

The 14 tech innovations that changed road cycling

Fourteen bits of kit that make the bike of today

12. GPS

Disc brakes and Di2 - two of the tech innovations that make the modern road bike
The safety bicycle was developed in the late 1800s (Pic: H. Clarke via Wikimedia Commons)
The invention of the pneumatic tyre significantly improved comfort
The invention of the rear derailleur made it much easier to change gear
We may take the QR for granted but it revolutionised things back in 1927
The yellow jersey is worn by the leader of the Tour de France
Helmet design has come on a long way since the ‘leather hairnet’ style of the 1970s
French company LOOK pioneered the design of the clipless pedal
The Shimano Total Integration system was introduced in 1990
Greg LeMond first used TT bars to effectively win the 1989 Tour de France
German company SRM developed the first power meter in the 1980s
View image | gettyimages.com
Garmin GPS computers are now almost ubiquitous
Shimano brought the first successful electronic groupset to market back in 2009
The future is here: disc brakes are to be trialled in professional road cycling in August and September

12. GPS

This is definitely more prevalent at the amateur level than with the pros, but GPS is something that’s sneaked into almost all bike computers over the last few years.

Any top end bike computer, and many low and mid-level ones, now have the ability to track your location and speed without needing any extra sensors.

And it’s not just GPS itself, hugely popular online training sites and apps like Strava probably wouldn’t exist without GPS either. It’s a lot harder to track whether you’re king of the mountain if you can’t register your position!

Plus, it’s a very useful way to find your way home if you’ve been on a long ride and lost track of where you are…