Shoes. When I started in the 60s, shoes were awful. Rubbish soles, shoeplates nailed on, laces, leather that got soggy, clips and straps. Today they are brilliant.
I’ve raced all the tech you have shown thanks so much for this film even Mavic mektonic 😬👍. The biggest by far we’re look clipless pedals I got mine in Dec 1985 starting and sprinting in crits was so much better. Then STI or campag ergo, actually campag we’re crap at downtube indexed but the ergos were better for racing than STI as they survived crashes better and didn’t get tangled up in your musette at feeds. Keep it up chaps great stuff
@@TroggyPK di3 automatically changes the gears for you using an algorithm based on data from a powermeter, cadence, speed and a built-in tiltmeter so you don't even have to think about it. It also has a super pursuit mode and talks telling you useful information like _"You're going too fast, Michael!"_
What a great Video, It was brilliant having you down for the day & I look forward to seeing some of the follow up videos. Thanks for visiting & you are always welcome back to come and ride some of the other bikes.
Yeah, I started racing in 1980, before any of these innovations came along. Hard to imagine now, shifting with ordinary, friction downtube shift levers.
Alex says, "[...prior to this, changing gears required careful control and judgement from the rider to ensure they had the exact gear that they wanted... and changing gears was a slow process and something you certainly did not want to do when you were tired or under pressure in a race situaton." While SIS, STI and Di2 are massive improvement in shifting, those of us old enough to remember using friction shifters, we'd say it was an art and became intuitive. A skill rendering a competitive advantage. Also notable, you could see when a competitor reached down to shift gears. (Or a competitor reach over to shift your gears as seen in "Breaking Away".) Hyperglide (ramped gear teeth) have made shifting so much smoother. A change that you do not mention is the switchover from freewheels to cassettes in the late 80's and 90's. Freewheels maxed out at 7 cogs? Now we have 10, 11 and even 12 speed cassettes. Climbing with a five speed 13-23 freewheel paired with a 52-42 crankset "back in the day" is a world of difference compared to today's 11-34 cassettes paired with a 50-34 crankset Loved seeing Shimano's tech developments over the years.
Thank you for bringing back the fond memories of Shimano’s great inventions. There was a Shimano factory near my old office 20 years ago and I never had the chance of trying all the good technology they brought to us,. Yes, needless to say, Shimano is still number one to me in shifters and gears technology since I was a kid. The world would not be the same without them in the bicycle world.
2:45: I had one of those Gitane bikes, sold under the name of a particular bike shop in southern France, with the SIS system. That was indeed a game-changer. Click-clunk. No more squirreling around for the right gear adjustment. The hyperglide and STI have been on my last couple bikes, and are definitely wonderful
Love it....what is going on, GCN feeding us all this ultra retro road bike pleasure! I had a Kirk Precision on the channel, heavy stiff fast frames, plus I’ve just finished a retro road bike build inspired by the Shimano Tri colours. Enjoying the celebrations, so congratulations and thank you Shimano. Oh and GCN for the content, spot on.
If you had a single bike without SIS in the olden days, you were used to it and shifting was intuitive and automatical, as a professional where mechanics fiddled with your bike and you had to change bikes a lot it was a nightmare because everyday shifting was a bit different. There was a period where you had to get used to the shifting of the bike, SIS changed that.
I agree and I would compare it to typing a letter with a manual typewriter, not even electric. You just knew you had to crisply and sharply strike the keys and you did. And same with automobiles, I rented a van a couple of years ago and the thing didn't even a knob for turning on the lights, some sensor did that for you. And yikes, not interested in that. And these days I am happily driving a sporty '97 Ford with five-speed manual and roll-up windows and lots of basic automotive tech, at least compared to now.
@@weevilinabox That is also what I miss about it, but truth be told, your shifting usually has to be realligned once (a short time after you driven the first few days with it when things settled).
Yeah, I had a non sis downtube bike for a long time doing courier work. It was second nature finding the right gear, plus best of all, when you got good, you simply shifted up or down 3 or 4 gears in one go based on the upcoming circumstances.
Watching videos like this make me feel really old. My first bike had non index gears and my bikes haven’t moved on from Sti. Nice to see the rh sti lever had seen plenty of action, no garage queens here!👍
I feel the same way when I see trailer queens. A few days ago I saw a gorgeous Riviera on a trailer and I get it, just that, man, that cool car should have all fours on the road.
I had the first set of Look clipless pedals in New Brunswick Canada. Though I got them second hand from a friend of mine who bought them years earlier.
This video brings back memories! I still love my 1987s Centurion Ironman Expert with 105 SIS downtube shifters and Biopace! I totally regret selling my Nishiki Ariel that had Hyperglide and Deore DX thumb shifters... SIS and Hyperglide. Great picks for best innovations!
Really nice video, gents, and thanks for modeling the coolest cycling threads of the era. And speaking of 7-Eleven, yesterday at work two gents parked their bikes as they did a bit of shopping and I got to talking to one when they returned--I had blocked off their bikes in a corner by parking shopping carts around them inside the front door--and when chatting with another rider, I default to the topic of favorite cycling channels and we agreed that we like GCN and Chris Horner--and that it'd be nice if Bob Roll did something again. And then he said he met Bob awhile back and there you go, racing and riding stories about a famous 7-Eleven rider. So thanks for wearing the 7-Eleven colors, Systeme-U, too--and was anyone more stylish than Laurent Fignoun at speed? He was about the coolest.
I really liked this video and I think it's great that you guys are showcasing these old steel bikes which are the foundation of all that is good in road bikes today. I happen to have one or more of each of these technologies (except Di2) and even have a bike with Shimano 600 friction shifters which work beautifully. Keep up the great work and more vintage!
That was such a fun video to watch. A real trip down memory lane. I'm old enough to remember all of these innovations as they happened. Now I'm really stoked to pull out my 1997 (ish) Casati Duo roadbike and go for a ride! Loved the change to STI shifting back in the day.
MAVIC were the first company to introduce electronic shifting with the Mectronic system. It was wireless. Where Shimano's system is wired. It gets overlooked way too much and doesn't get the respect it deserves. Thanks.
Exactly. The sponsorship is very obvious, if you want to talk about cycling innovation objectively you can't do it without Simplex, Suntour and Sachs Huret as well
Yes loved the Kirk I had, amazingly smooth ride. Unfortunately they had to put aluminium inserts in the rear wheel drop outs to provide sufficient durability. Due to the reaction between dissimilar metals, (aluminium and magnesium), these aluminium dropouts detached resulting in bent and broken axles or worse. Actually surprised they found one in ridable condition. Just wish I kept mine as an ornament and hadn't scrapped it.
I went 30 years between changing road bikes. I had a Schwinn World Sport in 1987 that had shifters on the stem. When I got a new road bike in 2017, I was blown away with being able to shift using the brake levers.
Still enjoy taking my vintage Bridgestone RADAC 3100 with 7-speed Dura-ace Hyperglide out for a spin on occasion. Still shifts as precisely as it did when I bought it new in 1990. Enjoyed this segment. As always, thanks much for sharing. Steve
Reynolds 531 tubing 💕. I was lucky enough to have a Raleigh bike with Reynolds 501 tubing and Shimano SIS 2x7 speed sis chain set. Bought second hand of course.
This trip down Shimano memory lane was fandabbydozy - looking forward to the in depth tech vids. As a relative newbie to road cycling it would be fascinating to see a bit more about how people shifted before SiS.
I took my wife's very, very old bike down the street the other day to just see if it was in working order and worth keeping and it had the downtube shifters that were non-index shifters. I found it really , really hard to ride and change gears. I used to ride one of those when I was a kid, but now I couldn't imagine not having indexed shifter/brake levers. Now I also have Di2 so I can't imagine ever shifting gears and having the shifting miss ... ever. I also have the wireless unit so I can't imagine not seeing which gear I'm in on my screen or not being able to just swap screens on my Garmin without my hands leaving the handlebars. We are so lucky. I'm very aware on every ride of what a convenient set up I now have.
And here I was expecting you to start out with wool riding shorts, jersey (Molteni, of course) and Detto Pietro leather perforated shoes! That Gitane 531 was a beauty to kick things off. Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane.
Thanks for making me feel old. I had bikes with the SIS, hyperglide and the original dura ace sti. Plus I had the original white Look Pedals. I feel ancient now lol.
@@helmutkok7833 Delta brakes were indeed a failure, but Ergopower levers were a success from the very beginning. The ergonomics of their 2009 iteration (since 11-speed) is still unsurpassed and not matched by any competitor.
The guy in a red jacket reminds me of Jeremy Clarkson. Very knowledgeable on their subject and similar talking style. Cut from the same cloth as Kevin McCloud from grand designs... the voice and the knowledge to complement
Best cycling innovations: Cassette hubs, strap-less pedals, integrated shift/brake levers (preferably those with completely separate brake and shift function) and hub dynamos (silent, almost no added resistance).
This was a great video! Thanks Alex and Ollie👏👍Does anybody remember these small, three speed, black, shifters that sat on top of the handlebars? ”Torpedo” was one brand. This was early 80’s and for standard, every day bikes. You pulled the leaver for an easier gear and pushed it up for a harder gear. Those were the days😂
Thank you for this! I owned bicycles like these back in the day. The Gintane reminded me of my Raleigh 753 from 1989 - Reynolds 753 frame, Shimano DuraAce SiS. My grandson now rides that bike as a retro enthusiast.
Just 'upgraded' an old wheel from Uniglide to Hyperglide. Definitely an improvement and there is really no reason (being period correct) not to have Hyperglide. Otherwiese I still prefer the look of the silver 5 arm crankset over the modern design.
You need to check out Shimano Positron, it existed in 2 versions before SIS. I sold bikes with it and I still see them coming in the door for service. Positron was the put on bikes for customers who had trouble learning how to shift friction systems.
I have Suntour on a vinty Allez and it also has the friction optional setting. I firmly believe that if you haven't trained on a bike with downtube shifters you're missing out. It really tests your dexterity and stability being able to move those shifters at high speed when you're fatigued.
Awesome video! It's really hard to think now what was to shift gears taking our hands off the handle bars... and I didn't knew about hyper glide. Great work, guys! Cheers!
Great job guys - nice Retrospective ! Now can you PLEASE do a 'Futurespective' (is that a word?) on Shimanos NEW 13 speed gearbox ? I'm very excited to hear about its details & availability especially for Road / Gravel applications !
I remember well using friction downtube shifters. Even whilst using a brake! Hyperglide coming out was massive news with me and my mates. I remember looking at manuals with exploded diagrams of shimano parts for hours
Great presentation. Hopefully a future one might cover Shimano's equally impressive innovation in hub gears. The freewheel (-- c. 1896?) must rank as one of cyclings greatest leaps, though I don't think Shimano got there first. 😊🚴
Watching this video alone reminds us how uniquely dominant Shimano has been for decades in terms of core intellectual property rights. The competitors have had to pay a lot (unless you are an unknown Chinese non brand) to Shimano to use the basic technologies -- this has made Campagnolo insanely more expensive than Shimano for similar grade groupsets. SRAM E-Tap is probably one of few attempts by the competitors to adopt a radically new idea of tech.
Campagnolo has always been stupid expensive before Shimano were anywhere near a proper competitor, and they don't hold that many patents that competitors use, that's why everyone has different shifters. SIS, hyperglide and cassettes were all they really came up with. The others have different cassette cuttings and freehubs so they still don't have to pay anything
I used a bike with a six-speed non-indexed, non-hyperglide cassette for my daily commute until 2000 and i still release power when shifting almost completely untill the chain stops rattling from one gear to the next. Can't get rid of this old habbit. But I have to say that the twisted teeth of the Uniglide SIS-cassetes made for a bigger improvement than Hyperglide. With those you just moved the shifting lever until you felt the chain jumping over and you wre done, even without indexed levers. With hyperglide you also could do this with power on the pedal but the SIS-cassette to me was a bigger improvement. And btw. you could mix your own cassettes with ease as there were no fixed and bolted combinations of sprockets. I really was a bit disappointed when hyperglide replaced the more flexible Uniglide-system as I felt Hyperglide was a thing more target towards mointainbiking.
I'm still using my triple butted cromoly steel road bike with its straight old suntour SL groupset on mavic montlery pro sew-ups tyres on our regular weekly ride. Before we were eight, now five, surely our bike will outlast us all
The shy hidden star behind the curtains of all this technology must surely be the SP41 outer gear cable, with out it all but the Di2 would have been impossible. SP41 isn't a wound outer cable it's straight wires that resist compression allowing accurate indexing of where the inner cable will be at any moment. Fabulous thinking.
I want you to know, I paused the video at 6:30 to take time, to go to may Garage and appreciate my cassette, by lovingly gazing at it, I went back at 9:00 to do the same for my STI shifters.
That Gitane is a right beauty! I had that same saddle in pink on my first roadbike that I built, a light blue Peugeot, but sadly it got stolen two years ago.
The epitomy of late 80's cool: Russell Williams in full Ever Ready Kit, riding a Kirk Precision at Herne Hill Velodrome (all those things occured, though maybe not that kit and that bike at the same time).
Met the Shimano brothers when working in Japan. Interesting to listen to them describing Shimano's industrial strength and how they thought they could stay ahead of Chinese competition.
they out priced themselfs now.. and the chinese are getting a bigger cut..$1200-1500 for 105 dis??? wow,, campy chorus cabled is the same price or a little cheaper
For the most part, my enjoyment of a bike ride hasn't depended on the level of modern technology available. I own road bikes going back to the 70's and 80's, as well as current ones that are completely up-to-date. Once on the road I adapt to the specific bike and just pedal. Sometimes the simplicity of an older bike is more attractive than the latest high-tech offerings available today. Shimano certainly dominate the world's bicycle component market, and they've done some great things. Once Suntour's patent on the slant parallelogram derailleur expired, Shimano didn't waste any time trying to perfect their previous design. The slant parallelogram made SIS and Hyperglide work that much better. SPD pedals are something I'd give them credit for, as they're a lot more practical for most cyclists than the Look system. I think in the future there must be a completely different way of thinking about bicycle components. Adding a gear to the freewheel/cassette every few years isn't exactly a major innovation. Most of what I see happening is just a refinement of existing ways of doing things, whether it's shifting electronically or going to tubeless tires. If CeramicSpeed's drivetrain concept is ever perfected and available to cyclists, that would be a significant game changer. Or, going back a long way, what if Huret's old Duopar rear derailleur had been adopted by Shimano and became the standard? It will be interesting to see how bikes evolve this century, but no matter what you're pedaling, just enjoy the ride!
There is that piece of tech that replaces the rear hub with a two-speed gearbox so you can get rid of the front mech without losing your range. Enabled only by today's shrunken electronics and wireless technologies. I think that's a fantastic piece of innovation right there.
I used to race on none indexed gears we could change gear quickly and efficiently, not very difficult with a 6 sprocket cassette! Campag ruled the roost and Shimano was considered to be good value but won't last the millennia club cyclists expected. Fast forward today, Shimano is King. It works brilliantly throughout the range ,innovative and reliable. Chater Lee chainset anyone?
@@ralphc1405 Yes.Regina chains,not Oro.Chains never seemed to break as much in those days.Remembered servicing the freewheel anually,bearings on kitchen table and cotton thread to depress the pawls when inserting the body.Stuff is so good today!
The biggest advances in shifting were well presented by you guys. Other than that i think disc brakes are worth considering beeing a big advance of course imho. But wait, there is also the aero component which changed dramatically and may be the biggest improvement of all and is shown well off in numbers at the end (avg. Speed´s a.s.o.) All in all it´s the same thing as driving a Ford Fiesta from the late 70´s and from 2021. They also are better in comfort, breaking technology, shifting, aerodynamics, efficiency and leight wheight material technology. It really turned into an equipment sport and no offense against very sympathic Ollie Bridgewood, but of course he doesn´t "need" a Pinarello F12 for his rides. Anyway, who am I to judge, riding a fine Storck myself as a pure hobby rider :-))) Kind regards from Austria to you guys! ♥
What do you think are the biggest advances in cycling technology? Let us know in the comments! 👇
Feels like Shimano 100 year celebration groupset launch is imminent...
Still,have an original SiS with shifts on the downtube.
Shoes. When I started in the 60s, shoes were awful. Rubbish soles, shoeplates nailed on, laces, leather that got soggy, clips and straps.
Today they are brilliant.
I’ve raced all the tech you have shown thanks so much for this film even Mavic mektonic 😬👍. The biggest by far we’re look clipless pedals I got mine in Dec 1985 starting and sprinting in crits was so much better. Then STI or campag ergo, actually campag we’re crap at downtube indexed but the ergos were better for racing than STI as they survived crashes better and didn’t get tangled up in your musette at feeds. Keep it up chaps great stuff
@@perwiratempur exactly, 12 speed wireless, 2021 is the biggest advancement:)
This video looks like a prelude to Shimano’s new upcoming di2 that will likely be revealed during TdF to commemorate their 100th anniversary
di3 maybe hahah but all jokes aside i was thinking exactly the same thing
Better wear you tinfoil hats then, right?
Shimano 105 Di2 and Shimano 12 speed Wireless (Hopefully!).
@@TroggyPK di3 automatically changes the gears for you using an algorithm based on data from a powermeter, cadence, speed and a built-in tiltmeter so you don't even have to think about it. It also has a super pursuit mode and talks telling you useful information like _"You're going too fast, Michael!"_
@@tudidingsapparel7197 di2 12spd won't be fully wireless it will be a similar system to FSA K-Force WE
What a great Video, It was brilliant having you down for the day & I look forward to seeing some of the follow up videos. Thanks for visiting & you are always welcome back to come and ride some of the other bikes.
GCN: Look at all the History!
Me: I’ve ridden all these systems….you calling me old!
Yep. Yes they are. Yup.
😂We would never!
Yeah, I started racing in 1980, before any of these innovations came along. Hard to imagine now, shifting with ordinary, friction downtube shift levers.
Me too! I remember pre-sis. If you wanted to shift as you stood up you had to use your knee to slam the shifter level up.
I'm on an early 80's World Rider 14sp with NONE of these shift technologies right now. I do miss indexing!
“We’ve come to Suffolk” sorry to hear that. Hope you have both recovered
😂
I love how it is referenced to London. Suffolk which is south(ish) of Manchester.
Alex says, "[...prior to this, changing gears required careful control and judgement from the rider to ensure they had the exact gear that they wanted... and changing gears was a slow process and something you certainly did not want to do when you were tired or under pressure in a race situaton." While SIS, STI and Di2 are massive improvement in shifting, those of us old enough to remember using friction shifters, we'd say it was an art and became intuitive. A skill rendering a competitive advantage. Also notable, you could see when a competitor reached down to shift gears. (Or a competitor reach over to shift your gears as seen in "Breaking Away".) Hyperglide (ramped gear teeth) have made shifting so much smoother. A change that you do not mention is the switchover from freewheels to cassettes in the late 80's and 90's. Freewheels maxed out at 7 cogs? Now we have 10, 11 and even 12 speed cassettes. Climbing with a five speed 13-23 freewheel paired with a 52-42 crankset "back in the day" is a world of difference compared to today's 11-34 cassettes paired with a 50-34 crankset Loved seeing Shimano's tech developments over the years.
Maillard made 8 speed freewheels so it's not that they maxed out at 7, more that cassettes just improve profit margins due to compatability
That Eddy Merckx is still one of the best looking bikes of all time
Best looking shifters ever
what is your successor doing? ... 7:19 teleported to a different time?
Maybe, but that Kirk cast magnesium thing is positively the ugliest bike frame ever.
marco paniti's bianchi is..
@@feelingmoovey6318 record cable shifters are
Thank you for bringing back the fond memories of Shimano’s great inventions. There was a Shimano factory near my old office 20 years ago and I never had the chance of trying all the good technology they brought to us,. Yes, needless to say, Shimano is still number one to me in shifters and gears technology since I was a kid. The world would not be the same without them in the bicycle world.
I must admit that for 40 years now I have had huge admiration for, and loyalty to, the faceless Japanese company that is Shimano. 👏👏👏
2:45: I had one of those Gitane bikes, sold under the name of a particular bike shop in southern France, with the SIS system. That was indeed a game-changer. Click-clunk. No more squirreling around for the right gear adjustment. The hyperglide and STI have been on my last couple bikes, and are definitely wonderful
The Merckx is gorgeous.
That's my favorite era. Oldschool classic steel frames with newschool STi shifters. Beautiful bike.
Love it....what is going on, GCN feeding us all this ultra retro road bike pleasure! I had a Kirk Precision on the channel, heavy stiff fast frames, plus I’ve just finished a retro road bike build inspired by the Shimano Tri colours. Enjoying the celebrations, so congratulations and thank you Shimano. Oh and GCN for the content, spot on.
If you had a single bike without SIS in the olden days, you were used to it and shifting was intuitive and automatical, as a professional where mechanics fiddled with your bike and you had to change bikes a lot it was a nightmare because everyday shifting was a bit different. There was a period where you had to get used to the shifting of the bike, SIS changed that.
I agree and I would compare it to typing a letter with a manual typewriter, not even electric. You just knew you had to crisply and sharply strike the keys and you did. And same with automobiles, I rented a van a couple of years ago and the thing didn't even a knob for turning on the lights, some sensor did that for you. And yikes, not interested in that. And these days I am happily driving a sporty '97 Ford with five-speed manual and roll-up windows and lots of basic automotive tech, at least compared to now.
True, but friction shifting never went out of alignment.
@@weevilinabox That is also what I miss about it, but truth be told, your shifting usually has to be realligned once (a short time after you driven the first few days with it when things settled).
Yeah, I had a non sis downtube bike for a long time doing courier work. It was second nature finding the right gear, plus best of all, when you got good, you simply shifted up or down 3 or 4 gears in one go based on the upcoming circumstances.
@@carstenweiland7896 and you can compensate bad shifting by overshifting and then trimming it back a little.
I'm glad they found a Cervelo Test Team bike that Lloydy hadn't crashed.
It was a hard task...
Be glad they found some CTT kit Dan hadn't crashed in!
And it is in color, too, not old-timely black-and-white when Dan was racing in the '30s.
STI is the biggest innovation
Yeah, it was a real gamechanger in racing. gives you an advantage of 5m at every tight corner.
Jon I thought you were making a joke about sexually transmitted infections
@@angel_loves this is what I think of whenever I read STI.
I used STI for the first time last weekend. Great technology. (I'm only 31 years late!!)
For me it's sealed bearings.
Watching videos like this make me feel really old. My first bike had non index gears and my bikes haven’t moved on from Sti. Nice to see the rh sti lever had seen plenty of action, no garage queens here!👍
I feel the same way when I see trailer queens. A few days ago I saw a gorgeous Riviera on a trailer and I get it, just that, man, that cool car should have all fours on the road.
during my "cycling career" i experienced all of these inventions. the first look clip pedal and SiS = King of the road!
I had the first set of Look clipless pedals in New Brunswick Canada. Though I got them second hand from a friend of mine who bought them years earlier.
Great vid guys, informative and fascinating. A great tribute to Shimano, only a channel like GCN could pull this off
This video brings back memories! I still love my 1987s Centurion Ironman Expert with 105 SIS downtube shifters and Biopace! I totally regret selling my Nishiki Ariel that had Hyperglide and Deore DX thumb shifters... SIS and Hyperglide. Great picks for best innovations!
Had a Shogun with 105 downtime shifters and biopse as well.
Coming from a running background I liked the biopace.
The Cervelo kit still looks great!
Ollie : our "grubby little hands"
nice choice of words ollie, you got mr canning's legacy to carry on GCN tech.
I have bar end friction shifters on my bike, but they're hooked up to a Shimano Deore system so the shifting is amazingly smooth anyway.
SiS, Hyperglide, STI & Di2 - sounds like things you go to the doctors with after a club 18-30 holiday.
Ollie from 12 years ago looks exactly same as today.
Still getting dropped
Really nice video, gents, and thanks for modeling the coolest cycling threads of the era. And speaking of 7-Eleven, yesterday at work two gents parked their bikes as they did a bit of shopping and I got to talking to one when they returned--I had blocked off their bikes in a corner by parking shopping carts around them inside the front door--and when chatting with another rider, I default to the topic of favorite cycling channels and we agreed that we like GCN and Chris Horner--and that it'd be nice if Bob Roll did something again. And then he said he met Bob awhile back and there you go, racing and riding stories about a famous 7-Eleven rider. So thanks for wearing the 7-Eleven colors, Systeme-U, too--and was anyone more stylish than Laurent Fignoun at speed? He was about the coolest.
I really liked this video and I think it's great that you guys are showcasing these old steel bikes which are the foundation of all that is good in road bikes today. I happen to have one or more of each of these technologies (except Di2) and even have a bike with Shimano 600 friction shifters which work beautifully. Keep up the great work and more vintage!
This is the best "Included paid promotion" I have ever seen.
12 speed DI2 about to drop is all I hear
That was such a fun video to watch. A real trip down memory lane. I'm old enough to remember all of these innovations as they happened.
Now I'm really stoked to pull out my 1997 (ish) Casati Duo roadbike and go for a ride! Loved the change to STI shifting back in the day.
Casati,the italian stallion!! 🤙
MAVIC were the first company to introduce electronic shifting with the Mectronic system. It was wireless. Where Shimano's system is wired. It gets overlooked way too much and doesn't get the respect it deserves. Thanks.
Exactly. The sponsorship is very obvious, if you want to talk about cycling innovation objectively you can't do it without Simplex, Suntour and Sachs Huret as well
That Kirk is a work of art! 😍
Yeah, channelling Dali!
Yes loved the Kirk I had, amazingly smooth ride. Unfortunately they had to put aluminium inserts in the rear wheel drop outs to provide sufficient durability. Due to the reaction between dissimilar metals, (aluminium and magnesium), these aluminium dropouts detached resulting in bent and broken axles or worse. Actually surprised they found one in ridable condition. Just wish I kept mine as an ornament and hadn't scrapped it.
thanks steve for the bikes contribution, awesome piece of history there for us cycling nerds 👍
When the content is flat-out cool and interesting like this no one actually cares that it's an ad.
I went 30 years between changing road bikes. I had a Schwinn World Sport in 1987 that had shifters on the stem. When I got a new road bike in 2017, I was blown away with being able to shift using the brake levers.
Wow that Kirk Precision is such a beauty!
Where would cycling be without GCN? 🤔😎💪🏼🌎
This video is amazing.
😂
Lmao I just realized my bike doesnt even have the oldest tech shown here. Student budget hurts
same here. But I also love my heavy 1983 miyata bike :). More style than everyone else on the road.
Still enjoy taking my vintage Bridgestone RADAC 3100 with 7-speed Dura-ace Hyperglide out for a spin on occasion. Still shifts as precisely as it did when I bought it new in 1990.
Enjoyed this segment. As always, thanks much for sharing.
Steve
Reynolds 531 tubing 💕. I was lucky enough to have a Raleigh bike with Reynolds 501 tubing and Shimano SIS 2x7 speed sis chain set. Bought second hand of course.
I have a 531c Raleigh. Rides very nice.
Thank you Japan for giving us the gift of innovation.
THANK YOU, SHIMANO!
Always a good review from Ollie and Alex and some super cool looking bikes from across the periods of modern cycling there, chapeau GCN.
Glad to see GCN extend the love to the 7-11 kit and Merckx team bike: the best looking team bike ever IMHO.
I love love love this video, please make more tech timelines!
SIS. I still recall how blown away I was when I bought my first Dura Ace SIS gruppo in 1985
This is what I want to see from GCN ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
What?! Advertises for bike parts manufacturers?! Then just go to the Shimano website! All bias....
Those tiny cassettes on those 80’s bikes. Crazy to think of those on the mountains of the tdf.
Here’s an innovation I’d like Shimano to try...give us a 32T or 33T option for Dura-Ace!
That would be an option, not an inovation.
its great to see the evolution of cycling tech. please make more videos about old bikes and how the tech evolved
This trip down Shimano memory lane was fandabbydozy - looking forward to the in depth tech vids. As a relative newbie to road cycling it would be fascinating to see a bit more about how people shifted before SiS.
it was called suntour might shift.. shimano took the patents to build sis
I took my wife's very, very old bike down the street the other day to just see if it was in working order and worth keeping and it had the downtube shifters that were non-index shifters. I found it really , really hard to ride and change gears. I used to ride one of those when I was a kid, but now I couldn't imagine not having indexed shifter/brake levers. Now I also have Di2 so I can't imagine ever shifting gears and having the shifting miss ... ever. I also have the wireless unit so I can't imagine not seeing which gear I'm in on my screen or not being able to just swap screens on my Garmin without my hands leaving the handlebars. We are so lucky. I'm very aware on every ride of what a convenient set up I now have.
I love the 7400 DA STI levers.. still great… The scraped up levers after many crashes still work great is amazing
And here I was expecting you to start out with wool riding shorts, jersey (Molteni, of course) and Detto Pietro leather perforated shoes! That Gitane 531 was a beauty to kick things off. Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane.
Thanks for making me feel old. I had bikes with the SIS, hyperglide and the original dura ace sti. Plus I had the original white Look Pedals. I feel ancient now lol.
When will GCN do a similar video celebrating Campagnolo's history and innovations over the many decades?
Yeah, the beauty of the Ergolever. How to stop twisting around your break-levers!
When they get given a load of free stuff . . .
@@kalenderquantentunnel9411 and the amazing braking of the record delta brakes. But they sure are pretty
@@helmutkok7833 Delta brakes were indeed a failure, but Ergopower levers were a success from the very beginning. The ergonomics of their 2009 iteration (since 11-speed) is still unsurpassed and not matched by any competitor.
Mind you, that video would be a lot shorter ... 😉
Absolutely brilliant video, guys. Very well made and fun to watch, thank you.
The guy in a red jacket reminds me of Jeremy Clarkson. Very knowledgeable on their subject and similar talking style. Cut from the same cloth as Kevin McCloud from grand designs... the voice and the knowledge to complement
Knowledgeable but annoying, his pauses inbetween words at the end of sentences is infuriating but he knows his stuff
Best cycling innovations: Cassette hubs, strap-less pedals, integrated shift/brake levers (preferably those with completely separate brake and shift function) and hub dynamos (silent, almost no added resistance).
This was a great video! Thanks Alex and Ollie👏👍Does anybody remember these small, three speed, black, shifters that sat on top of the handlebars? ”Torpedo” was one brand. This was early 80’s and for standard, every day bikes. You pulled the leaver for an easier gear and pushed it up for a harder gear. Those were the days😂
yup..i had one...modded the bike to take drop bars and brake levers.. but the 3 speed shifter stayed on top of the bars.next to the stem
Awesome presentation 👍🏽 enjoyed every minute. Straight to point, just enough information to inform & leave me wanting more. I have got to catch
Up.
I do recall the days of down tube shifters and friction shifting-to Ollie and Alex they are archaic features! I must be getting old!
I've never seen someone tuck their hoody into their jeans before. Now I have.
The drip is unreal
Love the shout out to Steve Bauer. Signed from Pelham Ontario Canada
I thought that was great as well, our cycling CDN hero and the reason I got into biking in the 1980's
Love the System U jersey. I have one of these and wear it all the time for road rides. The System U decals and seat are pretty sweet!
Thank you for this! I owned bicycles like these back in the day. The Gintane reminded me of my Raleigh 753 from 1989 - Reynolds 753 frame, Shimano DuraAce SiS. My grandson now rides that bike as a retro enthusiast.
Still riding 86 motioncraft 105 groupset biopace crank, still smooth, love it
Just 'upgraded' an old wheel from Uniglide to Hyperglide. Definitely an improvement and there is really no reason (being period correct) not to have Hyperglide. Otherwiese I still prefer the look of the silver 5 arm crankset over the modern design.
You need to check out Shimano Positron, it existed in 2 versions before SIS. I sold bikes with it and I still see them coming in the door for service. Positron was the put on bikes for customers who had trouble learning how to shift friction systems.
Really cool video - can't wait for the more in-depth tech videos
'this bike has seen some action'
Yeah, I'd noticed the levers were a bit ground down on the outside ;-)
I loved seeing the KIRK. Talk about being ahead of it's time.
I rode a Gitane in early 80s. Loved that bike!
I have Suntour on a vinty Allez and it also has the friction optional setting. I firmly believe that if you haven't trained on a bike with downtube shifters you're missing out. It really tests your dexterity and stability being able to move those shifters at high speed when you're fatigued.
12 speed for road, that's the greatest Shimano innovation... So innovative, we are still waiting ;)
Campag had it first though
Awesome video! It's really hard to think now what was to shift gears taking our hands off the handle bars... and I didn't knew about hyper glide. Great work, guys! Cheers!
Great job guys - nice Retrospective !
Now can you PLEASE do a 'Futurespective' (is that a word?) on Shimanos NEW 13 speed gearbox ?
I'm very excited to hear about its details & availability especially for Road / Gravel applications !
when you re done filming with older bikes just send em to me thanks ,thats pre Di2 thanks :) GOTTA LOVE THOSE CLASSIC LOOKS
I remember well using friction downtube shifters. Even whilst using a brake!
Hyperglide coming out was massive news with me and my mates. I remember looking at manuals with exploded diagrams of shimano parts for hours
At 12:43 that looks like a KMC chain on there. Shozabura Shimano is rolling in his grave lol! Great video though, love seeing the history!
Thank you Shimano!
Ollie looking dapper in the Cervelo kit :-)
Great presentation. Hopefully a future one might cover Shimano's equally impressive innovation in hub gears.
The freewheel (-- c. 1896?) must rank as one of cyclings greatest leaps, though I don't think Shimano got there first. 😊🚴
Watching this video alone reminds us how uniquely dominant Shimano has been for decades in terms of core intellectual property rights. The competitors have had to pay a lot (unless you are an unknown Chinese non brand) to Shimano to use the basic technologies -- this has made Campagnolo insanely more expensive than Shimano for similar grade groupsets.
SRAM E-Tap is probably one of few attempts by the competitors to adopt a radically new idea of tech.
Campagnolo has always been stupid expensive before Shimano were anywhere near a proper competitor, and they don't hold that many patents that competitors use, that's why everyone has different shifters. SIS, hyperglide and cassettes were all they really came up with. The others have different cassette cuttings and freehubs so they still don't have to pay anything
I used a bike with a six-speed non-indexed, non-hyperglide cassette for my daily commute until 2000 and i still release power when shifting almost completely untill the chain stops rattling from one gear to the next. Can't get rid of this old habbit. But I have to say that the twisted teeth of the Uniglide SIS-cassetes made for a bigger improvement than Hyperglide. With those you just moved the shifting lever until you felt the chain jumping over and you wre done, even without indexed levers. With hyperglide you also could do this with power on the pedal but the SIS-cassette to me was a bigger improvement. And btw. you could mix your own cassettes with ease as there were no fixed and bolted combinations of sprockets. I really was a bit disappointed when hyperglide replaced the more flexible Uniglide-system as I felt Hyperglide was a thing more target towards mointainbiking.
This is really cool my dudes!
Nice shout out to Steve Bauer 🇨🇦
I raced in the Northeast in the 1980s and was occasionally asked if there was any relation between Steve and myself. Sadly, no.
I'm still using my triple butted cromoly steel road bike with its straight old suntour SL groupset on mavic montlery pro sew-ups tyres on our regular weekly ride. Before we were eight, now five, surely our bike will outlast us all
The shy hidden star behind the curtains of all this technology must surely be the SP41 outer gear cable, with out it all but the Di2 would have been impossible. SP41 isn't a wound outer cable it's straight wires that resist compression allowing accurate indexing of where the inner cable will be at any moment. Fabulous thinking.
That Gitane is beautiful as well as the Merckx.
I want you to know, I paused the video at 6:30 to take time, to go to may Garage and appreciate my cassette, by lovingly gazing at it, I went back at 9:00 to do the same for my STI shifters.
That Gitane is a right beauty! I had that same saddle in pink on my first roadbike that I built, a light blue Peugeot, but sadly it got stolen two years ago.
Great video, lot of genius involved in all that innovation 💡👏
THIS is what I love! Get vid!!
Those power meters are the ones where pros sometimes cannot do without. Still have to wait for those electronic/digital brakes though.
That Kirk back is strangely beautiful I love it.
The epitomy of late 80's cool: Russell Williams in full Ever Ready Kit, riding a Kirk Precision at Herne Hill Velodrome (all those things occured, though maybe not that kit and that bike at the same time).
Bring on Campagnolo. 🤔
Can't wait for that one.
4:32 Home and Away on GCN? OK, maybe now I've seen everything...
Met the Shimano brothers when working in Japan. Interesting to listen to them describing Shimano's industrial strength and how they thought they could stay ahead of Chinese competition.
they out priced themselfs now.. and the chinese are getting a bigger cut..$1200-1500 for 105 dis??? wow,, campy chorus cabled is the same price or a little cheaper
I liked my shifter on the down tube. I could shift quickly and there were not any silly adjustments.
For the most part, my enjoyment of a bike ride hasn't depended on the level of modern technology available. I own road bikes going back to the 70's and 80's, as well as current ones that are completely up-to-date. Once on the road I adapt to the specific bike and just pedal. Sometimes the simplicity of an older bike is more attractive than the latest high-tech offerings available today. Shimano certainly dominate the world's bicycle component market, and they've done some great things. Once Suntour's patent on the slant parallelogram derailleur expired, Shimano didn't waste any time trying to perfect their previous design. The slant parallelogram made SIS and Hyperglide work that much better. SPD pedals are something I'd give them credit for, as they're a lot more practical for most cyclists than the Look system. I think in the future there must be a completely different way of thinking about bicycle components. Adding a gear to the freewheel/cassette every few years isn't exactly a major innovation. Most of what I see happening is just a refinement of existing ways of doing things, whether it's shifting electronically or going to tubeless tires. If CeramicSpeed's drivetrain concept is ever perfected and available to cyclists, that would be a significant game changer. Or, going back a long way, what if Huret's old Duopar rear derailleur had been adopted by Shimano and became the standard? It will be interesting to see how bikes evolve this century, but no matter what you're pedaling, just enjoy the ride!
There is that piece of tech that replaces the rear hub with a two-speed gearbox so you can get rid of the front mech without losing your range. Enabled only by today's shrunken electronics and wireless technologies. I think that's a fantastic piece of innovation right there.
I used to race on none indexed gears we could change gear quickly and efficiently, not very difficult with a 6 sprocket cassette! Campag ruled the roost and Shimano was considered to be good value but won't last the millennia club cyclists expected.
Fast forward today, Shimano is King. It works brilliantly throughout the range ,innovative and reliable. Chater Lee chainset anyone?
Did you have Regina chains and freewheels? Oro or CX line?
@@ralphc1405 Yes.Regina chains,not Oro.Chains never seemed to break as much in those days.Remembered servicing the freewheel anually,bearings on kitchen table and cotton thread to depress the pawls when inserting the body.Stuff is so good today!
The biggest advances in shifting were well presented by you guys. Other than that i think disc brakes are worth considering beeing a big advance of course imho. But wait, there is also the aero component which changed dramatically and may be the biggest improvement of all and is shown well off in numbers at the end (avg. Speed´s a.s.o.) All in all it´s the same thing as driving a Ford Fiesta from the late 70´s and from 2021. They also are better in comfort, breaking technology, shifting, aerodynamics, efficiency and leight wheight material technology. It really turned into an equipment sport and no offense against very sympathic Ollie Bridgewood, but of course he doesn´t "need" a Pinarello F12 for his rides. Anyway, who am I to judge, riding a fine Storck myself as a pure hobby rider :-)))
Kind regards from Austria to you guys! ♥