Originally Posted by Broctoon

I’m not looking to start a debate about the pros and cons of specific novel features or of bike evolution generally. I’m just imagining what a state of the art bicycle might look like ten years from now, whether we feel good, bad, or indifferent about it.

Here’s what I think is coming (along with my prediction on each feature’s likelihood):

- (Very likely) Anti-lock brakes. Should be easy enough with everything going to hydraulic discs. You just need to add some wheel speed sensors, a computer, a little valve and motor on each caliper, and a power source. This might not be a totally pointless feature. Many will argue it’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist--perhaps that’s true. Regardless, I will be surprised if it does not appear in the next several years.

- (Probable) Tire pressure monitoring system. Also quite simple; would follow from technology used on cars for many years. They just need to develop smaller and lighter pressure sensor/transmitter units (probably located on the valve stem), and some software for the cycling computers/smart phones. You’ll never have to wonder how many PSI each tire has, or worry that you might not know when a tire suddenly begins to deflate.

- (Absolutely certain) Smaller, lighter, and more efficient motors for e-bikes. Plus smaller, lighter, and longer lasting batteries as well. Perhaps there will be solar charging on the bike (even something like photovoltaic paint, so the entire frame is effectively a solar panel?) And regenerative braking, so instead of working hard to build up kinetic energy and then throwing it away as friction, you could recover some of that energy to put back into the battery when slowing or stopping.

- (Possibly?) Rear-view camera and cockpit display (probably integrated with the cycling computer, which is already becoming more of a multi-functional display). Garmin Varia radar already gives an audible and visual indication, but it only shows that there is a vehicle (or two or more vehicles) approaching, with a relative indication of their distance and speed. A camera will let the rider remain facing forward and see a lot more detail. Is it a dump truck that’s weaving all over the road and flinging dirt and rocks everywhere? Just a Mini Cooper two lanes to the left? Technology to do this already exists and would just have to be refined/adapted for bikes.

- (Hopefully) Much better bike locks. Better = lighter and smaller but also tougher to defeat, while not becoming outrageously expensive. It seems like lock technology has not progressed very much in the past several decades. There have been little, incremental improvements, but a determined thief can still defeat any lock without much effort. I’d like to see high tech materials change this situation, so that the limiting factor will become “how strong is the structure you’re locking your bike to?”

What do you folks think? What predictions would you add to the list?