Gear

The 14 tech innovations that changed road cycling

Fourteen bits of kit that make the bike of today

8. STI levers

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

8. STI levers

STI stands for Shimano Total Integration and, as the name suggests, these were introduced by the Japanese components giants in 1990. They had already released the ‘rapid fire’ shifting system for mountain bikes in 1989, but the STI brought shifting and braking together in the same place on road bikes for the very first time.

The system allowed the rider to shift up the cassette or chainset by pushing the brake lever, and down by pushing another, smaller lever that rested just behind. It was a huge jump forward in shifting and also in convenience, because until that point the majority of systems used levers positioned on the downtube, meaning riders had to take one had off the bars if they wanted to shift.

Shimano’s move also prompted Campagnolo to release their ErgoPower shifters in 1992, and ramped up the drivetrain competition between the two companies. In 2005, SRAM released their DoubleTap system to make it a three-horse race in the world of groupsets.