Gear

The 14 tech innovations that changed road cycling

Fourteen bits of kit that make the bike of today

14. Is the future disc shaped?

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

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.