Gravel bike with flat bar now "invented"

[CassidyAce]

Re:

I think it's the 5mm lower bottom bracket that will really take us to the next level of performance. I used to yearn for a fractionally lower BB and had to run part worn tyres at a couple of psi below the recommendation try to achieve it. No more!

Absolutely - game changer...... :mrgreen:

Oooh. I don't know. 5mm might be going a bit far. :shock: Surely 3 or 4mm would have transformed cycling as we know it without this 5mm recklessness!

 

[xxnick1975]

Nice bikes, bit pricey but I imagine good to ride.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

All joking aside I genuinely think the move to lower bottom brackets has been one of the key factors in modern bikes feeling as they do. You feel 'in' the bike rather than 'on' the bike if that makes sense and when you are talking geometry 5mm really can make a difference.

I bought a mint 21" 2007 Clockwork having ridden a more modern bike for a while and just couldn't get on with it as I felt pearched on top of the thing. This is after having a couple of 2007's in the past that felt fine. Up to you which style geometry you prefer.

 

[boxxer]

Re:

Ive been jumping between the Zaskar and Cube recently.

One is zingy with crap brakes and a funny shifting set up, the other is heavy, sluggish but with lighter shifting and better brakes

The geometry of the Zaskar is Perched upon and the Cube is sit in but I think I prefer the retro - now if it only had better brakes and lighter gear action

 

[lensmansteve]

Spot on, Brocklander, the bb's height is so important to the feel and general handling. Some of my bikes have low bb's, some high, notably my old faithful Raleigh 501s. I have 3. It's a perching feeling, I quite like it on the smooth stuff, esp the road.
Think I generally prefer low. My '89 IBOC is low, so's my GT. Strangely,or not, I have a '94 21" Clockie too. I run it on Gato 1.9" tyres, and the bb seems the perfick height, but I might be biased!
The drop from a line between wheel centres to the bb centre is important too. Think that's one reason why I prefer 26" to 700c.

 

[madjh]

So they have invented againg the 90´s hybrid bicycles (28" wheels in the 90s if I´m right)... clever, very clever.

 

[Spanky22b]

Next they'll find gravel riders need short travel suspension forks, maybe with 65 mm of travel, and fluorescent lycra for the riders because it makes you go faster.

And bars cut down to around 540mm or even shorter if you want to go stupidly fast downhill.

 

[dyna-ti]

Nice bikes, bit pricey but I imagine good to ride.

Thats the latest idea.
Produce something bog standard.
Hang on it a bunch of mid range to low end unbranded parts, think of a number then add £1000 to it.
Or make the same thing in carbon and add £2000

 

[legrandefromage]

Looking at how the posts have evolved in this thread, the marketing department has won:

Ridicule, denial, casual acceptance, purchase, the new normal.

 

[lensmansteve]

Well yes, but it's harder and harder for marketing folk to big up a new bicycle, it's all been done. Personally I think tech talk, even hype, is more alluring than some action- packed image, relating to a perceived sense of self-worth, machismo or whatever. The mtb ads of the 90's were cringeworthy in that respect, but tv car ads were probably worse.