I used to have a trek 5500 that came factory with the spinergy wheels wheel and they were grandfathered in to local races having been stock and it was awesome. And the whooshing noise is something you have to hear in person, just incredible.
I do strictly amateur level cycling BUT I did fit a set of the Spinergy wheels (1990s) to one of my bikes and that was a revelation. First, more comfortable, damping of the road roughness was clearly noticed AND compared to another set of wheels (Mavic SSC laced with DT Swiss bladed spokes) over the exact same course (approx 28 miles) I was averaging 1 mph better on the Spinergy wheelset. The only nit I had to pick with that wheelset is you needed an extension for the valve stem and it was a handful to pump up the tire. I can't figure out why the UCI considered the carbon spokes to be a hazard. With all the other pointy or sharp parts of a bicycle that could hurt you in a crash I'm sure the Spinergy spokes would be way down low on the list of "risks". Another big plus was that they were pretty much bombproof. The average pot hole at speed or road hazard never caused any damage to the wheel. I rode that wheelset for over 10 yrs with no maintenance required and they are still in tune. If Spinergy ever came back on the market I'd grab a set in a heartbeat.
I really like the look of these types of wheels too but had heard about them being potentially dangerous. Having done a bit of reading about them I can't find any reports of severed limbs etc but I have read about the dangers of them suddenly and catastrophically failing. The logic is that carbon fibre fails very suddenly, where as metal deforms before breaking. This combined with only having 3, 4 or 5 spokes means that when one spoke goes all the other go at the same time and it produces a big crash. It's also likely to fail under higher loads which I guess are going to occur at higher speeds. There is a report Mr. Rick Vosper: A tangled Web Woven, GorillaNet v.2.8.1, September 4th, 1998 if you want to read more.
I think it's the nature of failure that's the problem. When carbon spokes break you'll have catastrophic wheel failure, vs. going out of true and wobbling. I still have a set of Spinergys and frankly am scared to ride them.
They were not dangerous when they were whole. But they often weren't. They were flawed and broke often. The cause was insufficient "spoke" tension due to various factors. When you overloaded them, they would collapse, and contrary to a standard wheel, that was a catastrophic failure. The spokes would break, and if you ever saw carbon breaking, you know that it virtually explodes, sending sharp shards shooting all over the place. Plus, if it was the front wheel, the rider is falling on what is left of it - which in this case would be a hub with 8 sharp swords protruding from it. There was a GOOD reason to ban them.
Yup. The only issue I've had with the Zap was when the battery was low and it kept wanting to shift to the smallest cog instead of staying in the gear it was in. I still use mine everyday. I did adapt the Mektronics brifters to the Zap system.
Had a pair of Spinergys on another ‘banned’ product, the Trek Y-Foil, in the mid 90s. Absolutely fantastic combo. Fast, responsive, although by modern standards a little heavy. Still ride the Y-Foil but the Spingerys went out when I had a massive crash in Spain. Doing some TT training, down in the tuck and hit a 4cm deep pothole, front wheel crumbled completely flipping me over. Bike came up and over with me and I landed on top of it, my elbow going through one of the splines on the rear wheel. Lots of other parts broken including my ego as I managed to crash in front of a parade of shops. By the time I crashed, talk was of banning the Spinnergy style wheel, so I didn’t replace them when I rebuilt the bike, more the shame, because I loved them. As people say, looked amazing (especially on a Y-Foil), sounded amazing, rode amazingly well. Only negative was braking, as I had the original version so no steel rim for the pad to work on. To say it was sketchy braking in the rain or when the wheel and pad were hot (such as a long alpine descent) is an understatement.
I'm not a racer just a weekend warrior! I had a pair of the rev x Spinergy wheels. I loved them! They lasted me about 6,7 years. They did make that swishing sound. The one thing that was a challenge was cross winds. I always felt like the bike was going to push over. Man, they were cool looking!
Mavic Zap worked well, unless it rained..... I have a set of those Cinelli spinachi bars, in the parts bin....I still have a set of Rev-X wheels. You just had to inspect them every week, for little cracks.
Had several of these "fails" when I was racing through the 1990s -- Drop In bars worked fine. They were a deeper drop and great for crits. When I first got them, I was still using downtube shifters and it was easy to switch gear from the lower position. I thought handling was fine and definitely much safer than the (now UCI banned) method of stretching your forearms on the tops to try and get aero. Had a pair of Spinergy wheels which came apart on me -- a teammate had a pair and broke his, too. They did have an unmistakable sound and were pretty popular.
Rumor had it the failures were caused by a harmonic resonance that would flex the spokes to failure as static strength was very high. That is why the stiffeners seemed to prevent failures. Surely the stiffeners negated some of the aero advantage
I raced with the Scott-Drop ins in the 1990's and they where to me very effective. In a road race in a breakaway it helped me stay away tons longer. I even used them in a crit...but once again only in a breakaway. The steering was very easy and controlled for me.
The Scott Rakes were better than the Drop-ins. The Rakes allowed a more forward position of your hands so that you can get your elbows in front of your knees to get more aero.
I still have a set of Spinergy Rev-X wheels. You had to glue the factory supplied X stiffeners or it was rumored that they could collapse under load. Mine were fine, but the UCI were right regarding the amputation danger. I had a squirrel do what squirrels do, and the poor animal hit my front wheel and just exploded. They were the Cuisinart of wheels.
Some 25 years ago, I had 2 birds fly thru my front Spinergy wheel on a group ride and yeah, it didn't end well for them. Oddly enough, I didn't go down.
I had a set of RevX's that I used for about 5-6 years (eventually one was slightly damaged in a crash and that was that). They were pretty aero (especially for the time), but they were heavy. I'm fairly sure they were over 2 kg. One nice thing though is that you didn't have to worry about them going out of true.
Rev X’s were my first carbon wheelset, loved them - they were soft riding and made a good noise at 40kph. Super reliable as well, never had a problem with them and I rode them lots.
i used the Rex X on my cyclocross bike and my mountain bike with no problems with the wheel. I did get a large stick get chopped in half when thrown up into the wheel and could have had a squirrel cut in half but I believe he hit the spoke and bounced clear.
Can't really call the Cinelli bars a tech fail. They worked. They're collectible. Cinelli still sells them. They only left the pro peloton because they were banned. FWIW, I think that bar extensions, tri bars, aero bars, etc should not be allowed in any mass start race (gravel or otherwise) Oh, and the Spinergy wheels were awesome, I rode them for years, no issues.
Way more people crash while riding on the hoods than in aerobars, so we should ban any bars that DON'T have aerobars on them, according to your logic. Nobody rides in the aerobars during the mass start anyway, so your fear-mongering is false and pointless. And I've yet to see anybody crash riding gravel in aerobars. Show us a video montage of your proof it's an actual problem.
I was just going to say that they don't go into the extensions while in a pack in the gravel races. But, Brett beat me to it in a much more angry way for some reason. I have a race I do every year. It is very long and horrible wind. You will lambast me, but I'm using aero extensions this time. I hate riding in a big pack for a few reasons and often end up alone anyway.
My Scott Drop-in bars were the the most comfortable bars I've ever riden. They offered more hand position along with the standard 3 - tops, hoods, drops. My favorite hand position was the drops with my palms in that bar curve. The curve gave more surface area on my palms and thus made it super comfortable. The "aero" position was very stable - it's as stable the tops position - there is no difference. If Scott made them now for modern stems, I would be riding with with them today.
I subscribe to a lot of UTube clips and find yours the best because you don't have annoying adverts at the start. Bravo! Excellent content as well of course
I wanted to buy them to replace my Specialized Trispokes that I warped in Saudi’s extreme heat. Sadly, Nimble said they wouldn’t stand up to the hot road surface here.
Vaast bikes are magnesium and they are AWESOME. Cheap as aluminum, rides like buttered gold. Perfect for gravel. And a magnesium Pinarello won the TDF in 2006 or 2007.
I love Mavic! They have always been so innovative and in some cases; ahead of their time 🙂 I forgot they were first to market with an electronic groupset. But they also invented UST which I also love. Spinergy is great as well. I remember those bladed wheels and loved them. But like you, David, the closest I ever came to them were photos in Bicycling magazine. However, if those wheels were banned because of the bladed spokes then, I wonder what the UCI has to say about Sapim (and other) bladed spokes now! haha!!
Very nice video, the Mavic shifter was special, it was not allowed to use electric power to shift, so the was only an electric impulse to the shifter, the power to shift come from moving the chain, the upper shifting wheel gives the power to the shifter. An amazing construction. The synergy wheels were definitely very dangerous. I’ve got same scars from the special wheels 🤬
You're wrong on the Spinergy wheels. They were not banned because the edges were too sharp, they were banned because they failed very often, and when they did, what was left of them was VERY sharp and dangerous. A spoked wheel depends on the tension of the spokes for its stability. Spinergy wheels had a mechanism to adjust the tension, but many users failed to do that, and in some circumstances the tension would vary by itself. Having them in the car in the sun, for instance. Now, when you load the wheel so much that a significant number of spokes lose tension and go "limp", the wheel can fold. So you would get your wheels out of a hot car, put them on, get out of the saddle to accelerate and bam, you're down. With a standard wheel, folding usually results in a bent rim, but the wheel does not collapse. It's not easy to fold it to begin with because there are many spokes stabilising it, and when you do you probably don't fall. With the spinergy wheels, it is usually only ONE spoke that loses tension. And that one spoke is designed to be under tension, and not to bend. So when it bends it can easily break, and when it does, the ENTIRE wheel loses tension and ALL spokes break. Have you ever seen carbon breaking? It won't just break in one place, it shatters and shoots sharp shards everywhere. So the people watching are likely to get a couple of centimetres of sharp carbon in their eye. And the rider is going down, if it is the front wheel that has broken, he is going down straight on that - which at this point is just the hub with eight very sharp carbon daggers attached to it. I don't think I need say more. There was a (literally) bloody good reason to ban them. They were VERY dangerous. You would not get me to ride them for more than a couple of metres.
I remember when Mavic Mechtronik was new. I love the design and ergonomic feel of the levers. I was tempted to buy it once but didn't because no bike shop had and has the technical ability to service it if something were to ware out or brake. I have been working on bikes since 95'. I'm a big fan of the Avid Rollamajig and still use one to this day. I find it very disappointing that high end road bikes have gotten heavier with thru axles and disc brakes. Call me old fashioned but I believe that such things always belong on mountain bikes. Thanks.
Think I saw something similar to those Scott Drop-ins recently in Eurobike coverage made out of carbon! Might be back round again soon! Great video! Thanks David.
I have the Modolo "Q-Even" bars that emulated the Drop-Ins, albeit with the angular, ergonomic design that was popular in the '90's. Love that extra hand position, I sometimes rest my thumbs against the head tube & fork junction as I slam my pedals. No problem with stability, in some mysterious way the position stabilizes the handling of the Spinergy Rev-X's that I used faithfully for almost 20 years, until I wore through the rear rim brake track. I'm still using the Q-Evens, to this day. They now keep my new "SuperTeam" tri-spoke" carbon clinchers under control. Some stuff just works.
There were a couple guys in our club that had Spinergy wheels, circa 1995 or thereabouts. They raced in our spring crits a couple times before everyone told them not to bring their wheels any more, there no incidents, just a lot of fear as they indeed looked pretty scary in the pack.
Those Spinergy wheels were exploding everywhere! In fact, after making a warranty call in to them, I realized that they have an entire dumpster at their headquarters for all of the wheels that had broken!
1:56 But I don’t understand - SRAM and Shimano use radio waves to transmit shift signals for their modern wireless groupsets. In fact, as far as I’m aware RF is the only form of wireless transmission that doesn’t require line-of-sight. So I don’t think using radio signals was itself the actual issue. More likely the problem was that their particular implementation of radio transmission wasn’t robust enough in the face of interference.
It sounds like they didn’t use any sort of protocol to avoid interference or having one shifter shifting somebody else’s mech. Modern ones use Bluetooth (I think) which not only has a protocol with a unique identifier, but it also uses spread spectrum so it’s resistant against outside interference.
Great video. Funnily enough, I've got a Kirk with Rev-X wheels. Good fun to ride. I'd have also included the Selle Italia Appoggio Lombare (Lumbar Support) saddle that Thierry Marie once used before the UCI banned it.
Loved the Scott drop in handlebars. I was racing with the superb pro 7-speed index shifters and the mavic freewheel. For long rides I could ride those drops all day long and it moved you slightly further back in the saddle for a little more power coming from the glutes. Easy to just move from the drop to the shifter to shift. But, when you're in the 12 all day you really don't need to shift much.
I remember all of these, the Spinergy wheels were the coolest looking but not stealthy, with that whooshing sound you could not sneak up on somebody. Tricky in cross winds too. Spinacci bars were short aero bars you could add to the top of your handlebars, until banned. Another problem with magnesium is it becomes brittle with age, even so it was used in wheels, pedals and suspension forks with various alloys.
The funny aspect of the Spinergy wheels was you could hear when somebody attacked who was using them, so even if that rider was trying a sneeky attack from behind, I was ready and up to speed from hearing the warning signal.
Magura had a set for road bikes long before sram. Integrated brake/shift levers killed them off. I have a set on a time trial bike. They are unaffected by aero routing since fluid doesn't bind up in tight bends the way cables do. In an era where time trial and triathlon bikes had marginal brakes mine stopped very well.
I had a set of Spin's on an old mountain bike. Ended up selling them but they never let me down. I had always wanted a set of Spinergy's for my road bike and have always been keeping an eye on marketplace but a recent new road bike purchase will mean that dream dies as I'm now on the newest standards and loving it.
I actually was biking with and saw an older gentleman with 2 of those wheels on his bike! He was fast for his age! I was drafting a car when I saw him and I pulled out of the draft to slow up and see those wheels! He gave me a run for my money when he caught up, he was damn fast!
When spinergy Wheels came out I couldn't wait to get a pair. They were awesome. Super fast. Then I started hearing about the catastrophic failures, and I moved on.
Hi! Always wondered the pros/cons between 32 and 36 handbuilt wheels. Straight gauge or double butted spokes? Were pros using 36h wheels in the rough Spring Classics races? Thanks!
I had Scott Drop-Ins. I couldn’t find any aero advantage. I don’t think they were dangerous. It was a 25.4mm diameter when stems were 26.0mm. Moreover, I was always careful with my knees hitting them. The handlebars were flexy too. Spinaci were okay. And now riders are using 36cm wide handlebars with their hoods angling inward. Nobody is talking about that lately. Are those dangerous in your opinion?
I had the Scott drop in bars as well but the grey ones, nit the aluminum shiny color and yes they were flexy and they even cracked where the stem holds.
@@huffytoss yes they were my mistake. My drop ins came on a Lemond race bike l purchased used from a local team to help them raise funds and l used it as an early gravel bike to explore dirt roads in the Santa Cruz mountains. It came with the drop ins on a locally constructed stem 26mm from a small builder. I did not know they used a shim for the 26.4 size as mine were already installed. I replaced mine with An ergo bar and the shape was the reason. The Lemond was one of the last Reno built frames and has a very long top tube so my knees had no interference issues with the drop ins. As l have any attraction for the slightly unusual l also have any aluminum Cinelli integrated bar stem combo and a set of the cnc'd stem angel aero bars as well. Oddly enough l never had a standard 26.4 Cinelli set up a l generally built up bikes with ttt or itm bars and stems.
That era of Scott bars were quite comfortable and to me felt "next gen", but like the scott MTB wrap around bar of the same era they felt way to soft and far to narrow for me.
One pro rider (USA, IIRC) adopted an extra-long wheelbase bike. This was sometime in the late nineties or early noughties. Can't remember much about it except it looked like a stretched out 1920s race bike, with frame angles in the 60s. Except for the extra metal in seat and chain stays, it was competitively light but never caught on. Looked very comfortable, which contravened most riders idea of what a race bike should be.
Good video I still have spinergy rev x from 1999 and still ride on them and took care of em all these years they are in good condition. I have very minor crack on blade. A carbon blade got a minor chip while I was degreasing the chain it’s not major and no cracks at the rivets. I was cranking the pedal running the chain through my degreaser and the blade hit the degreaser contraption yesterday on my Cannondale R800. What epoxy would you use to make sure it stays safe? Can I get the stuff I need from Ace Hardware? Any help is greatly appreciated I love these rims and don’t want to retire them.
Spinergy wheels failed because they would literally fail, catastrophically. They would vibrate themselves apart because there resonant frequency was at a rpm attainable by human riding speeds.
People seem to forget those spinergy wheels actually sliced off the fingers of 3 pro cyclists as they tried to adjust the speed sensor on the forks of their bikes. Added to that when they crashed the wheels shattered showering razor like carbon around. No surprise they're gone. Shame about the spinergy spox though, they had carbon vectran string for spokes and we're so comfortable. Now only used on wheelchairs....
looks like the Giant TCR (light climbing bike) & Giant Propel (aero bike) will be combined into one super bike as used by Bike Exchange in the TDF. (sounds like Giant could be doing what Specialised S Works did)
Spinergy RevX failed? Two World Champions on the road, two WC on the cyclocross, one time WC on time trial and countless pro wins.. Probably most successful bike part ever produced...Iconic wheels
Seems like everyone local racing had spinergys but I certainly couldn’t afford them. Spinaci’s….I did a 40km TT with those and my forearms were beaten up with no support….put them on the shelf. Don’t forget the Softride beam, that was supposed to be better and some of the guys that rode with that frame style would boast about faster acceleration having the smaller wheel diameter.
Interesting video with undoubtedly revolutionary ideas. One thing I was wondering is whether aluminium ever had its glory days in the Pro peloton? Did we transition from steel to carbon directly or there was a period of aluminium bikes?
Yes, you see riders in the Super Tours, One day classics, and Tour of Flanders in the 1980's from 1986 onward and into 1990's using Aluminum frames until about 1998 when nearly the whole tour went Carbon except a few small teams. There was a small period where Titanium Alloy was used in the late 1970's and early 1980's but the frames were so expensive at the time until the early 2000, they were not selling well that Bike manufactures went on to make Aluminum Alloy frames that worked better were lighter and could be made of more of the main material. There also was some Aluminum Alloy bikes in the 1900's early odd Tour De France and similar big races Pre WWI but the Tech from WWI helped so that Bikes made of Steel were lighter then the Aluminum bikes we see now mainly due to the fact they were using only aluminum in the frames so they had to be thicker walled tubing. The manufactures after WWI found that the new lighter Steel frames could be an early type of Stainless called Rust-less steel in the 1920's as well as having Dura Aluminum hybrids due to WWI but those were hard to make strong enough for a rider often coming in flat sheets so not used for Bikes.
I'm pretty sure any wheel would have killed the rabbit that has become synonymous with Rev-x, it's not like they came off to chase the rabbit. And Paolo Bettini would have been injured no matter what in that crash. The wheels were a scapegoat.
How about the Trek Y-Bike? I can't remember if it was used in the Tour or not, but it was banned. I think they stated safety reasons, but I think it was bogus and they banned it just because they didn't want anyone to experiment with different frame shapes.
Hmmm. Spinaccis. Such a failure the UCI banned them... I seem to remember them being extremely successful... Still have a few sets in the shed, but sadly can't fit them onto the 31mm bars..
I still have two sets of the Scott Drop In bar. One set is on my backup Cannondale (with 9 speed Campy and a down tube front derailer shifter). Never had a spec of trouble with those bars.
I own about 10 bikes that would be piles of junk if they had come equipped with electronic shifting when they were new. "Firmware not supported" would be the status of them all and they'd be non-functional today. Landfill fodder. I DO NOT like this trend. The auto industry is quickly adopting the wonderful world of "planned obsolescence" the high tech industry has perfected. Oh how nice that a 10 year old car will be a brick and MUST BE REPLACED!!! And then there's charging everything you own. Soon you will have to maintain the charge of about 50 things in daily life. Wanna use the phone? It's DEAD! How about a drive... OK then, let's go for a ride.... uh oh!!!
Wait a minute! Just because they stopped worse, weighed more, were difficult to adjust and required a 3.5mm allen wrench to tighten the cable clamp? They also did a complete redesign to work better. Didn't really though. Most of the sponsored pros used older calipers with the record groups of that era. Yes l have a pair. I do have all of the required tools and skill set to properly adjust them but they are still marginal at best. Not as good as the single pivot from the earlier groups and incredibly inferior to the later dual pivots. I must be a magnet for this Stuff as l also have Scott Drop ins, Spinergy rev x's, Cinelli Spinacis and the unmentioned but should have made the list grip shift road bike shifters.
Another Two tech that failed was first the handlebars with extra end cap shifters apart from main handlebar ones from the 1970's onward until the early 1980's when they were dropped, you see riders with them on but never using them as they were unresponsive and would often throw the chain off the bike if you got them to work. Now in the 1990's sometime and onward until they were ban due to safety by UCI the bike as manufactures seemed to have perfected the use of the second end cap shifters that more and more riders were using even when lever shifters started to become a thing. The second is on older bikes in the 1950's you see this the most to sometime near the end of 1960's maybe very early 1970s with then only a few teams using bikes that have one or two shifters on the top tube near the stem or the stem of the bike and the reason those got dropped was in favor of the handlebar type was that riders had kept hurting specific body parts when riding along with safety of having to remove a hand or two from the bike. Now the trend is in having integrated shifters with road bikes breaks along with having main shifters as an option for those who want them as the shifters are so responsive now unlike back then even if using a wire type.
@@SMenkveld it's not frame flex that's the issue. It's frame fatigue. Flex isn't an issue on the riding side however some materials fatigue easily or offer great weight savings but lack the necessary stiffness or strength to make those weight savings while remaining durable.
@@andrewince8824 That's true, but given that the common material most vulnerable to bending fatigue, aluminum, was the original material of choice for the "stiffer is better because flex wastes energy" people, I don't remember fatigue life being part of the discussion.
Stats show an 8% increase in the winning TDF speed over the past 50 years, and who can say what portion of that was due to tech improvement. There have been many other factors at play as well. I'd say that tech development's clearly gone about as far as it can go. We'd be just as well to go back to the tech of Merckx's TDF days.
Magnesium, manganese, sodium, among many others, are flammable. "Mag" wheels in cars were modified to prevent "spontaneous" combustion in wrecks. Basically, it's an alloy that won't catch fire when sparking across the pavement. Otherwise, once it ignites, it doesn't go out until the material is gone.
I have been using aero bars since 1992, for me to get to the brakes is the exact same time for a rider on the tops of drops bars. I am faster getting to the brakes than an inexperienced rider on the tops of drop bars. I can take a bump while on the aero bars to, it is not less stable, and I can handle the bike the same on the aero bars. It is all just a matter of experience, if you never used aero bars before, you will not feel as safe as on drop bars. Aero bars are no more dangerous than a rider going from flat bars to drop bars for the first time. It only takes me a 1/4 second to go from aero bar to the end (grips) of the flat bar. Bar ends also don't have brakes and you have to move your hands from bar end to end (grip) to reach the brakes, again a 1/4 second is all I need. It is probably a faster time than that, I am erroring in favor of making a point.
Gtfoh. Spinergy is a living legend. Buying a pair of their gravel wheels soon. All arguments aside, magnesium trellis frames were most definitely a fail for the ages.
I used to have a trek 5500 that came factory with the spinergy wheels wheel and they were grandfathered in to local races having been stock and it was awesome. And the whooshing noise is something you have to hear in person, just incredible.
I do strictly amateur level cycling BUT I did fit a set of the Spinergy wheels (1990s) to one of my bikes and that was a revelation. First, more comfortable, damping of the road roughness was clearly noticed AND compared to another set of wheels (Mavic SSC laced with DT Swiss bladed spokes) over the exact same course (approx 28 miles) I was averaging 1 mph better on the Spinergy wheelset. The only nit I had to pick with that wheelset is you needed an extension for the valve stem and it was a handful to pump up the tire. I can't figure out why the UCI considered the carbon spokes to be a hazard. With all the other pointy or sharp parts of a bicycle that could hurt you in a crash I'm sure the Spinergy spokes would be way down low on the list of "risks". Another big plus was that they were pretty much bombproof. The average pot hole at speed or road hazard never caused any damage to the wheel. I rode that wheelset for over 10 yrs with no maintenance required and they are still in tune. If Spinergy ever came back on the market I'd grab a set in a heartbeat.
I really like the look of these types of wheels too but had heard about them being potentially dangerous.
Having done a bit of reading about them I can't find any reports of severed limbs etc but I have read about the dangers of them suddenly and catastrophically failing.
The logic is that carbon fibre fails very suddenly, where as metal deforms before breaking. This combined with only having 3, 4 or 5 spokes means that when one spoke goes all the other go at the same time and it produces a big crash. It's also likely to fail under higher loads which I guess are going to occur at higher speeds.
There is a report Mr. Rick Vosper: A tangled Web Woven, GorillaNet v.2.8.1, September 4th, 1998 if you want to read more.
I think it's the nature of failure that's the problem. When carbon spokes break you'll have catastrophic wheel failure, vs. going out of true and wobbling. I still have a set of Spinergys and frankly am scared to ride them.
They were not dangerous when they were whole. But they often weren't. They were flawed and broke often. The cause was insufficient "spoke" tension due to various factors. When you overloaded them, they would collapse, and contrary to a standard wheel, that was a catastrophic failure. The spokes would break, and if you ever saw carbon breaking, you know that it virtually explodes, sending sharp shards shooting all over the place. Plus, if it was the front wheel, the rider is falling on what is left of it - which in this case would be a hub with 8 sharp swords protruding from it. There was a GOOD reason to ban them.
In its defense, the wired Mavic Zap actually worked quite well. Their wireless Mektronic was a disaster, though.
Yup. The only issue I've had with the Zap was when the battery was low and it kept wanting to shift to the smallest cog instead of staying in the gear it was in. I still use mine everyday. I did adapt the Mektronics brifters to the Zap system.
Had a pair of Spinergys on another ‘banned’ product, the Trek Y-Foil, in the mid 90s. Absolutely fantastic combo. Fast, responsive, although by modern standards a little heavy. Still ride the Y-Foil but the Spingerys went out when I had a massive crash in Spain. Doing some TT training, down in the tuck and hit a 4cm deep pothole, front wheel crumbled completely flipping me over. Bike came up and over with me and I landed on top of it, my elbow going through one of the splines on the rear wheel. Lots of other parts broken including my ego as I managed to crash in front of a parade of shops. By the time I crashed, talk was of banning the Spinnergy style wheel, so I didn’t replace them when I rebuilt the bike, more the shame, because I loved them. As people say, looked amazing (especially on a Y-Foil), sounded amazing, rode amazingly well. Only negative was braking, as I had the original version so no steel rim for the pad to work on. To say it was sketchy braking in the rain or when the wheel and pad were hot (such as a long alpine descent) is an understatement.
I'm not a racer just a weekend warrior! I had a pair of the rev x Spinergy wheels. I loved them! They lasted me about 6,7 years. They did make that swishing sound. The one thing that was a challenge was cross winds. I always felt like the bike was going to push over. Man, they were cool looking!
Mavic Zap worked well, unless it rained..... I have a set of those Cinelli spinachi bars, in the parts bin....I still have a set of Rev-X wheels. You just had to inspect them every week, for little cracks.
Had several of these "fails" when I was racing through the 1990s -- Drop In bars worked fine. They were a deeper drop and great for crits. When I first got them, I was still using downtube shifters and it was easy to switch gear from the lower position. I thought handling was fine and definitely much safer than the (now UCI banned) method of stretching your forearms on the tops to try and get aero. Had a pair of Spinergy wheels which came apart on me -- a teammate had a pair and broke his, too. They did have an unmistakable sound and were pretty popular.
What was the sound like? Can you describe it? I'm 41 so I just missed that era!
@@OakleafOrganic like a helicopter rotor or something, whom, whom, whom, whom.
Had a pair and loved them. they were wicked fast
@@ChrisTrunek what?!?!?! That sounds awesome!!!!! Remember the Sobe label with the lizard riding up a singletrack on a (mtn) pair? That was cool.
Rev x was a pretty darn good wheel .
I am still riding a trek 5500 with rev-x wheels.
@@ReginaldPoyau Very jealous 👍
Agreed. I've never had any issues riding both the road and mountain versions. They do look cool as sin, too. :)
Rumor had it the failures were caused by a harmonic resonance that would flex the spokes to failure as static strength was very high. That is why the stiffeners seemed to prevent failures. Surely the stiffeners negated some of the aero advantage
@@othgmark1 I think this is correct. The spokes are riveted together at the rim and I believe that is where the crack failure would start.
I raced with the Scott-Drop ins in the 1990's and they where to me very effective. In a road race in a breakaway it helped me stay away tons longer. I even used them in a crit...but once again only in a breakaway. The steering was very easy and controlled for me.
Looks like a good idea
The Scott Rakes were better than the Drop-ins. The Rakes allowed a more forward position of your hands so that you can get your elbows in front of your knees to get more aero.
I still have a set of Spinergy Rev-X wheels. You had to glue the factory supplied X stiffeners or it was rumored that they could collapse under load. Mine were fine, but the UCI were right regarding the amputation danger. I had a squirrel do what squirrels do, and the poor animal hit my front wheel and just exploded. They were the Cuisinart of wheels.
Some 25 years ago, I had 2 birds fly thru my front Spinergy wheel on a group ride and yeah, it didn't end well for them. Oddly enough, I didn't go down.
I had a set of RevX's that I used for about 5-6 years (eventually one was slightly damaged in a crash and that was that). They were pretty aero (especially for the time), but they were heavy. I'm fairly sure they were over 2 kg. One nice thing though is that you didn't have to worry about them going out of true.
just get yourself a pair of handbuilts w/36 straight guage spokes. My clincher wheelset are 20 years and still True.
Rev X’s were my first carbon wheelset, loved them - they were soft riding and made a good noise at 40kph. Super reliable as well, never had a problem with them and I rode them lots.
i used the Rex X on my cyclocross bike and my mountain bike with no problems with the wheel. I did get a large stick get chopped in half when thrown up into the wheel and could have had a squirrel cut in half but I believe he hit the spoke and bounced clear.
Can't really call the Cinelli bars a tech fail. They worked. They're collectible. Cinelli still sells them. They only left the pro peloton because they were banned. FWIW, I think that bar extensions, tri bars, aero bars, etc should not be allowed in any mass start race (gravel or otherwise) Oh, and the Spinergy wheels were awesome, I rode them for years, no issues.
Way more people crash while riding on the hoods than in aerobars, so we should ban any bars that DON'T have aerobars on them, according to your logic. Nobody rides in the aerobars during the mass start anyway, so your fear-mongering is false and pointless. And I've yet to see anybody crash riding gravel in aerobars. Show us a video montage of your proof it's an actual problem.
@@ZenEndurance Wow, somebody has a chip on their shoulder and just wants to pick a fight.
@@theantichrome9842 Says the guy that wants to ban something that people enjoy with no proof it's a problem.
I was just going to say that they don't go into the extensions while in a pack in the gravel races. But, Brett beat me to it in a much more angry way for some reason. I have a race I do every year. It is very long and horrible wind. You will lambast me, but I'm using aero extensions this time. I hate riding in a big pack for a few reasons and often end up alone anyway.
My Scott Drop-in bars were the the most comfortable bars I've ever riden. They offered more hand position along with the standard 3 - tops, hoods, drops. My favorite hand position was the drops with my palms in that bar curve. The curve gave more surface area on my palms and thus made it super comfortable. The "aero" position was very stable - it's as stable the tops position - there is no difference. If Scott made them now for modern stems, I would be riding with with them today.
Stupid question but would your legs hit them when riding out of the saddle?
Ooh! Cannondale CAAD frames just look lovely.
The Scott Drop Ins were awesome bars. I loved mine. They were very stable.
I subscribe to a lot of UTube clips and find yours the best because you don't have annoying adverts at the start. Bravo! Excellent content as well of course
Nimble Crosswind tri spoke wheels were amazing. Light and efficient, wish they were still in business. Still have my spinachi bars somewhere.
I wanted to buy them to replace my Specialized Trispokes that I warped in Saudi’s extreme heat. Sadly, Nimble said they wouldn’t stand up to the hot road surface here.
Vaast bikes are magnesium and they are AWESOME. Cheap as aluminum, rides like buttered gold. Perfect for gravel. And a magnesium Pinarello won the TDF in 2006 or 2007.
Do you have a Vaast? I am nervous about buying one.
@@DaveCM Yep! It's held up incredibly well. No corrosion, frame rides super smooth. Incredible value.
I love Mavic! They have always been so innovative and in some cases; ahead of their time 🙂 I forgot they were first to market with an electronic groupset. But they also invented UST which I also love. Spinergy is great as well. I remember those bladed wheels and loved them. But like you, David, the closest I ever came to them were photos in Bicycling magazine. However, if those wheels were banned because of the bladed spokes then, I wonder what the UCI has to say about Sapim (and other) bladed spokes now! haha!!
Very nice video,
the Mavic shifter was special, it was not allowed to use electric power to shift, so the was only an electric impulse to the shifter, the power to shift come from moving the chain, the upper shifting wheel gives the power to the shifter. An amazing construction.
The synergy wheels were definitely very dangerous. I’ve got same scars from the special wheels 🤬
I remember pelotons of bikes with Spinacis on our weekend club races in the early '90's. Crashes galore! I stil have a pair lying around somewhere.
You're wrong on the Spinergy wheels. They were not banned because the edges were too sharp, they were banned because they failed very often, and when they did, what was left of them was VERY sharp and dangerous. A spoked wheel depends on the tension of the spokes for its stability. Spinergy wheels had a mechanism to adjust the tension, but many users failed to do that, and in some circumstances the tension would vary by itself. Having them in the car in the sun, for instance. Now, when you load the wheel so much that a significant number of spokes lose tension and go "limp", the wheel can fold. So you would get your wheels out of a hot car, put them on, get out of the saddle to accelerate and bam, you're down.
With a standard wheel, folding usually results in a bent rim, but the wheel does not collapse. It's not easy to fold it to begin with because there are many spokes stabilising it, and when you do you probably don't fall. With the spinergy wheels, it is usually only ONE spoke that loses tension. And that one spoke is designed to be under tension, and not to bend. So when it bends it can easily break, and when it does, the ENTIRE wheel loses tension and ALL spokes break. Have you ever seen carbon breaking? It won't just break in one place, it shatters and shoots sharp shards everywhere. So the people watching are likely to get a couple of centimetres of sharp carbon in their eye. And the rider is going down, if it is the front wheel that has broken, he is going down straight on that - which at this point is just the hub with eight very sharp carbon daggers attached to it. I don't think I need say more.
There was a (literally) bloody good reason to ban them. They were VERY dangerous. You would not get me to ride them for more than a couple of metres.
I remember when Mavic Mechtronik was new. I love the design and ergonomic feel of the levers. I was tempted to buy it once but didn't because no bike shop had and has the technical ability to service it if something were to ware out or brake. I have been working on bikes since 95'. I'm a big fan of the Avid Rollamajig and still use one to this day. I find it very disappointing that high end road bikes have gotten heavier with thru axles and disc brakes. Call me old fashioned but I believe that such things always belong on mountain bikes. Thanks.
Think I saw something similar to those Scott Drop-ins recently in Eurobike coverage made out of carbon!
Might be back round again soon!
Great video!
Thanks David.
Especially, when paired with the extra brake levers (like those Shimano GRX ones).
"Nothing new under the sun."
- The Data Book
How about wafer-thin chains that are there to accommodate too many gears, causing the lightest pros to break them and strain a quad?
I have the Modolo "Q-Even" bars that emulated the Drop-Ins, albeit with the angular, ergonomic design that was popular in the '90's. Love that extra hand position, I sometimes rest my thumbs against the head tube & fork junction as I slam my pedals. No problem with stability, in some mysterious way the position stabilizes the handling of the Spinergy Rev-X's that I used faithfully for almost 20 years, until I wore through the rear rim brake track. I'm still using the Q-Evens, to this day. They now keep my new "SuperTeam" tri-spoke" carbon clinchers under control. Some stuff just works.
There were a couple guys in our club that had Spinergy wheels, circa 1995 or thereabouts. They raced in our spring crits a couple times before everyone told them not to bring their wheels any more, there no incidents, just a lot of fear as they indeed looked pretty scary in the pack.
Those Spinergy wheels were exploding everywhere! In fact, after making a warranty call in to them, I realized that they have an entire dumpster at their headquarters for all of the wheels that had broken!
I always heard two words associated with those wheels, catastrophic failure.
No doubt about that, sadly.
Fun video to watch. Thanks, David
Glad you enjoyed it Larry :)
Thanks for the Flash~Back!!!
1:56 But I don’t understand - SRAM and Shimano use radio waves to transmit shift signals for their modern wireless groupsets. In fact, as far as I’m aware RF is the only form of wireless transmission that doesn’t require line-of-sight. So I don’t think using radio signals was itself the actual issue. More likely the problem was that their particular implementation of radio transmission wasn’t robust enough in the face of interference.
It sounds like they didn’t use any sort of protocol to avoid interference or having one shifter shifting somebody else’s mech. Modern ones use Bluetooth (I think) which not only has a protocol with a unique identifier, but it also uses spread spectrum so it’s resistant against outside interference.
I adore passing guys on their all carbon garbage bike with my Columbus SL bespoke bike.
True. I have to take the 53 ring off my Colnago Super and replace it with a 54-56 chainring just to hang on off the back. A 10lb difference is a lot
You should do a video on the Slingshot bikes of the 90s. Those things were crazy!
Or Softride. Always thought they looked cool.
Great video. Funnily enough, I've got a Kirk with Rev-X wheels. Good fun to ride. I'd have also included the Selle Italia Appoggio Lombare (Lumbar Support) saddle that Thierry Marie once used before the UCI banned it.
Ah yes I remember that saddle. Good memory.
Loved the Scott drop in handlebars. I was racing with the superb pro 7-speed index shifters and the mavic freewheel.
For long rides I could ride those drops all day long and it moved you slightly further back in the saddle for a little more power coming from the glutes.
Easy to just move from the drop to the shifter to shift.
But, when you're in the 12 all day you really don't need to shift much.
I remember all of these, the Spinergy wheels were the coolest looking but not stealthy, with that whooshing sound you could not sneak up on somebody. Tricky in cross winds too. Spinacci bars were short aero bars you could add to the top of your handlebars, until banned. Another problem with magnesium is it becomes brittle with age, even so it was used in wheels, pedals and suspension forks with various alloys.
The funny aspect of the Spinergy wheels was you could hear when somebody attacked who was using them, so even if that rider was trying a sneeky attack from behind, I was ready and up to speed from hearing the warning signal.
I wouldn't call it a fail, on similar grounds to the Scott Bars, but SRAM's hydraulic rim brakes went nowhere
I have a set of those sram force hydraulic rim brakes on my s-works roubaix... they suck :D
Magura had a set for road bikes long before sram. Integrated brake/shift levers killed them off. I have a set on a time trial bike. They are unaffected by aero routing since fluid doesn't bind up in tight bends the way cables do. In an era where time trial and triathlon bikes had marginal brakes mine stopped very well.
I still have Magura hydraulic brakes on the back of a tandem. Working (kinda) great after 25 years.
I had a set of Spin's on an old mountain bike. Ended up selling them but they never let me down. I had always wanted a set of Spinergy's for my road bike and have always been keeping an eye on marketplace but a recent new road bike purchase will mean that dream dies as I'm now on the newest standards and loving it.
I actually was biking with and saw an older gentleman with 2 of those wheels on his bike! He was fast for his age! I was drafting a car when I saw him and I pulled out of the draft to slow up and see those wheels! He gave me a run for my money when he caught up, he was damn fast!
It's a joke that the UCI banned Spinaci Bars, yet allowed the pros to steer with their elbows instead
@1:55 SRAM wireless uses radio waves to send the signals too. Definitely doesn't use IR.
Quite sure he meant analogue radio signals, which quite different from modern digital protocols
Why dont the catch on? You can hit those with your knees if you stand on the pedals.
When spinergy Wheels came out I couldn't wait to get a pair.
They were awesome. Super fast. Then I started hearing about the catastrophic failures, and I moved on.
had those spinaccis.. very good aero benefit
All good, just as today all marketing cons, it’s all about the money, I know as a 50yr mechanic I’ve really seen it all, don’t fall for it people
Hi! Always wondered the pros/cons between 32 and 36 handbuilt wheels.
Straight gauge or double butted spokes?
Were pros using 36h wheels in the rough Spring Classics races? Thanks!
I had Scott Drop-Ins. I couldn’t find any aero advantage. I don’t think they were dangerous. It was a 25.4mm diameter when stems were 26.0mm. Moreover, I was always careful with my knees hitting them. The handlebars were flexy too. Spinaci were okay. And now riders are using 36cm wide handlebars with their hoods angling inward. Nobody is talking about that lately. Are those dangerous in your opinion?
I had the Scott drop in bars as well but the grey ones, nit the aluminum shiny color and yes they were flexy and they even cracked where the stem holds.
25.4 was what Cinelli made stem diameters at during the 26mm era. Scott made both diameters if l recall correctly.
@@othgmark1 Cinelli was 26.4 mm. The original drop-ins came with a shim. The later LF (liteflite) model had a bonded 26.0 tube in the center.
@@huffytoss yes they were my mistake. My drop ins came on a Lemond race bike l purchased used from a local team to help them raise funds and l used it as an early gravel bike to explore dirt roads in the Santa Cruz mountains. It came with the drop ins on a locally constructed stem 26mm from a small builder. I did not know they used a shim for the 26.4 size as mine were already installed. I replaced mine with An ergo bar and the shape was the reason. The Lemond was one of the last Reno built frames and has a very long top tube so my knees had no interference issues with the drop ins. As l have any attraction for the slightly unusual l also have any aluminum Cinelli integrated bar stem combo and a set of the cnc'd stem angel aero bars as well. Oddly enough l never had a standard 26.4 Cinelli set up a l generally built up bikes with ttt or itm bars and stems.
@@othgmark1 I can't remember. I thought Scott made 26.0 handlebars after the drop-in. That's a great point!
I raced spinergy wheels back in the day they were fast for sure
That era of Scott bars were quite comfortable and to me felt "next gen", but like the scott MTB wrap around bar of the same era they felt way to soft and far to narrow for me.
7:03 That's a pretty Litespeed!
I had some rev X wheels but ended up putting them on my TT bike.
One pro rider (USA, IIRC) adopted an extra-long wheelbase bike. This was sometime in the late nineties or early noughties. Can't remember much about it except it looked like a stretched out 1920s race bike, with frame angles in the 60s. Except for the extra metal in seat and chain stays, it was competitively light but never caught on. Looked very comfortable, which contravened most riders idea of what a race bike should be.
I thought initially of Campag SGR clipless pedals.
Pinarello made magnesium frames in the mid ‘00s. They were great bikes.
Pinarello also sold Dogma magnesium bikes for a couple of years. I don't know if they made them to the Tour de France though.
Good video I still have spinergy rev x from 1999 and still ride on them and took care of em all these years they are in good condition. I have very minor crack on blade. A carbon blade got a minor chip while I was degreasing the chain it’s not major and no cracks at the rivets. I was cranking the pedal running the chain through my degreaser and the blade hit the degreaser contraption yesterday on my Cannondale R800. What epoxy would you use to make sure it stays safe? Can I get the stuff I need from Ace Hardware? Any help is greatly appreciated I love these rims and don’t want to retire them.
Spinergy wheels failed because they would literally fail, catastrophically. They would vibrate themselves apart because there resonant frequency was at a rpm attainable by human riding speeds.
The Scott Drop-In handlebars? The Best and I still rock them on my Cannondale Team Comp...=)
People seem to forget those spinergy wheels actually sliced off the fingers of 3 pro cyclists as they tried to adjust the speed sensor on the forks of their bikes. Added to that when they crashed the wheels shattered showering razor like carbon around. No surprise they're gone. Shame about the spinergy spox though, they had carbon vectran string for spokes and we're so comfortable. Now only used on wheelchairs....
A friend's company was sued because of Spinergy. Small framebuilder sued because of the wheels. Such a shame our court system supports this baloney.
looks like the Giant TCR (light climbing bike) & Giant Propel (aero bike) will be combined into one super bike as used by Bike Exchange in the TDF. (sounds like Giant could be doing what Specialised S Works did)
spinergys did chop up a bunny and slice off someones finger but they did look cool... and thats all that matters
feels safer to chop up a bunny than for a rider to go OTB?
Spinergy RevX failed? Two World Champions on the road, two WC on the cyclocross, one time WC on time trial and countless pro wins.. Probably most successful bike part ever produced...Iconic wheels
2:30 I didn't know they were allowed to have electronics. They require a battery no ? So in a way they allow an external source of power.
Seems like the uci just bans innovation or am I being to cynical?
Uci could end up making all bikes the same like the bikes in keiren racing ended up.
Seems like everyone local racing had spinergys but I certainly couldn’t afford them. Spinaci’s….I did a 40km TT with those and my forearms were beaten up with no support….put them on the shelf. Don’t forget the Softride beam, that was supposed to be better and some of the guys that rode with that frame style would boast about faster acceleration having the smaller wheel diameter.
Coincidentally I have all of these in my museum
How about tech fail in 2022? Did some teams use tubules and what was going on with seat posts?
Speaking of tech fails, does anybody remember Miguel Indurain using a very high tech TT bike and getting mad at it and throwing it into the bushes?
Interesting video with undoubtedly revolutionary ideas. One thing I was wondering is whether aluminium ever had its glory days in the Pro peloton? Did we transition from steel to carbon directly or there was a period of aluminium bikes?
Yes, you see riders in the Super Tours, One day classics, and Tour of Flanders in the 1980's from 1986 onward and into 1990's using Aluminum frames until about 1998 when nearly the whole tour went Carbon except a few small teams. There was a small period where Titanium Alloy was used in the late 1970's and early 1980's but the frames were so expensive at the time until the early 2000, they were not selling well that Bike manufactures went on to make Aluminum Alloy frames that worked better were lighter and could be made of more of the main material.
There also was some Aluminum Alloy bikes in the 1900's early odd Tour De France and similar big races Pre WWI but the Tech from WWI helped so that Bikes made of Steel were lighter then the Aluminum bikes we see now mainly due to the fact they were using only aluminum in the frames so they had to be thicker walled tubing. The manufactures after WWI found that the new lighter Steel frames could be an early type of Stainless called Rust-less steel in the 1920's as well as having Dura Aluminum hybrids due to WWI but those were hard to make strong enough for a rider often coming in flat sheets so not used for Bikes.
I still have my Rev-X’. Bought them brand new in 2001 or thereabouts.
I'm pretty sure any wheel would have killed the rabbit that has become synonymous with Rev-x, it's not like they came off to chase the rabbit. And Paolo Bettini would have been injured no matter what in that crash. The wheels were a scapegoat.
Technical improvement have been overshadowed by pharmaceutical advances
Hadn't there been hydraulic rim brakes by Mavic on the Lotus Carbon bikes in the 1990'? 😉
Thinking ceramic bearings in a decade. Remember those Shimano wheels with the spokes that were on the outside of the rim? Worthless.
Aluminum burns like hell too if you want it to…and the first titanium bikes made in France were notorious noodles until the metallurgy caught up.
Next year fails will be Anti Lock Disc Brakes & Aero Air Bags...
The purpose of the Scott drop-in handlebar was to offer one more forward facing surface on which to place advertising.
The scott drop handlebar gets in the way of your knees while sprinting.
How about the Trek Y-Bike? I can't remember if it was used in the Tour or not, but it was banned. I think they stated safety reasons, but I think it was bogus and they banned it just because they didn't want anyone to experiment with different frame shapes.
Hmmm. Spinaccis. Such a failure the UCI banned them... I seem to remember them being extremely successful... Still have a few sets in the shed, but sadly can't fit them onto the 31mm bars..
Why did recumbents fail??
I still have two sets of the Scott Drop In bar. One set is on my backup Cannondale (with 9 speed Campy and a down tube front derailer shifter). Never had a spec of trouble with those bars.
electronic shifting is a serious waste of money unless its free.
I own about 10 bikes that would be piles of junk if they had come equipped with electronic shifting when they were new. "Firmware not supported" would be the status of them all and they'd be non-functional today. Landfill fodder.
I DO NOT like this trend. The auto industry is quickly adopting the wonderful world of "planned obsolescence" the high tech industry has perfected. Oh how nice that a 10 year old car will be a brick and MUST BE REPLACED!!!
And then there's charging everything you own. Soon you will have to maintain the charge of about 50 things in daily life. Wanna use the phone? It's DEAD! How about a drive... OK then, let's go for a ride.... uh oh!!!
If the uci weren't stuck in their ways, we might actually get bikes designed beyond our imagination
Why are the LeMond steel bikes so expensive?
Re tech fails of the Tour de France : Campagnolo's Record C "Delta" brakes.
Wait a minute! Just because they stopped worse, weighed more, were difficult to adjust and required a 3.5mm allen wrench to tighten the cable clamp? They also did a complete redesign to work better. Didn't really though. Most of the sponsored pros used older calipers with the record groups of that era. Yes l have a pair. I do have all of the required tools and skill set to properly adjust them but they are still marginal at best. Not as good as the single pivot from the earlier groups and incredibly inferior to the later dual pivots.
I must be a magnet for this Stuff as l also have Scott Drop ins, Spinergy rev x's, Cinelli Spinacis and the unmentioned but should have made the list grip shift road bike shifters.
Another Two tech that failed was first the handlebars with extra end cap shifters apart from main handlebar ones from the 1970's onward until the early 1980's when they were dropped, you see riders with them on but never using them as they were unresponsive and would often throw the chain off the bike if you got them to work. Now in the 1990's sometime and onward until they were ban due to safety by UCI the bike as manufactures seemed to have perfected the use of the second end cap shifters that more and more riders were using even when lever shifters started to become a thing. The second is on older bikes in the 1950's you see this the most to sometime near the end of 1960's maybe very early 1970s with then only a few teams using bikes that have one or two shifters on the top tube near the stem or the stem of the bike and the reason those got dropped was in favor of the handlebar type was that riders had kept hurting specific body parts when riding along with safety of having to remove a hand or two from the bike. Now the trend is in having integrated shifters with road bikes breaks along with having main shifters as an option for those who want them as the shifters are so responsive now unlike back then even if using a wire type.
To me the biggest fail is the UCI…
I wouldn't have called Spinergy wheels a tech fail, more a victim of the UCI. Mavic R-Sys, now there was a tech fail.
Just say tour de france ffs. Give it the respect it deserves.
Weight to stiffness is so often overlooked. I'm surprised more crazy materials weren't on this list for that reason.
I wonder how many innovations have been killed in the womb by the idea that frame flex wastes pedaling energy...
Because it doesn't.
--Shannon
@@SMenkveld it's not frame flex that's the issue. It's frame fatigue. Flex isn't an issue on the riding side however some materials fatigue easily or offer great weight savings but lack the necessary stiffness or strength to make those weight savings while remaining durable.
@@andrewince8824 That's true, but given that the common material most vulnerable to bending fatigue, aluminum, was the original material of choice for the "stiffer is better because flex wastes energy" people, I don't remember fatigue life being part of the discussion.
“Stretched bike technology beyond our imagination”, only if your imagination doesn’t include recumbents.
Stats show an 8% increase in the winning TDF speed over the past 50 years, and who can say what portion of that was due to tech improvement. There have been many other factors at play as well. I'd say that tech development's clearly gone about as far as it can go. We'd be just as well to go back to the tech of Merckx's TDF days.
No. 1 fail: road bike disc brakes 🤮🤮🤮
My current hydraulic disk brakes work better than any rim brakes I've ever owned.
I wanna ride a carbon nanotube bike, with everything made from carbon nanotubes.
Ironic, but we used to joke about components being ‘aero’ back in the 90’s mountainbiking.
I enjoy your shows but I think it's manganese that's flammable.
Magnesium, manganese, sodium, among many others, are flammable.
"Mag" wheels in cars were modified to prevent "spontaneous" combustion in wrecks. Basically, it's an alloy that won't catch fire when sparking across the pavement. Otherwise, once it ignites, it doesn't go out until the material is gone.
I have been using aero bars since 1992, for me to get to the brakes is the exact same time for a rider on the tops of drops bars. I am faster getting to the brakes than an inexperienced rider on the tops of drop bars. I can take a bump while on the aero bars to, it is not less stable, and I can handle the bike the same on the aero bars. It is all just a matter of experience, if you never used aero bars before, you will not feel as safe as on drop bars. Aero bars are no more dangerous than a rider going from flat bars to drop bars for the first time. It only takes me a 1/4 second to go from aero bar to the end (grips) of the flat bar. Bar ends also don't have brakes and you have to move your hands from bar end to end (grip) to reach the brakes, again a 1/4 second is all I need. It is probably a faster time than that, I am erroring in favor of making a point.
Gtfoh. Spinergy is a living legend. Buying a pair of their gravel wheels soon.
All arguments aside, magnesium trellis frames were most definitely a fail for the ages.