New Technology !

[hondated]

Just had some family around and happened to mention that before I leave this planet I really want to have a go on an electronic equipped bike. Hopefully I will stay have plenty of time to fulfil my desire.
This lead onto a discussion about whether they are worth the extra cost and someone said that they could see in the distant future these bikes being also equipped with GPS and that this will be used to change the gears automatically. Well if this does happen I cannot see me being here to experience it but can I ask whether any of you can see this ever happening or is it just a pipe dream.
Happy Christmas everyone and its just great that I have this forum Cyclechat. YACF, CGOAB etc to entertain as what's on tv won't.

[Roadster]

Bikes of the future will be fully electronic and, in all probability, riderless.

[hemo]

Anything is possible one day !!!
Xiongda make a 2 speed ebike hub that automatically changes between low and high speed internal gearing.
Though any one with one still has to manually deal with the freewheel gearing.

[Si]

I dont think that there is anything technical stopping us have these things.

Bikes that change gear automatically have been around for a while, the old bianchi cafe racer for instance. I dont think it would benefit things for gps to change gears, rather it should depend on load, revs and power input.

Likwise, there isnt anything difficult about putting gps on a bike, my bike has a gps tracker built into the steerer, poweed by a dynamo hub, and i can get a read out of where i am on my phone (or i could if i didnt have a wphone).

"The world of tomorrow, here today!"

[pwa]

I cycle partly because it is casting excess technology aside and getting back to a stripped down simple existence for a while. Ideally with no GPS, simple equipment and the wind on my face. Cycling is a way of escaping the tyranny of New Technology.

But that's just me.

[hondated]

Thanks everyone. Still on the forums whilst wife is watching TV. Glanced at telly and said in this programme there is always someone giving birth ! OOPS.

[iandriver]

I'm sure I read somewhere that a lot of people on Ebikes are actually putting out the same watts but going much quicker on the hills etc. All I can say is the most senior members of our local group seem to have found a new lease of life from them. Some of them can ride far more happily than they can actually walk ( apparently that's not that uncommon). They look to be a staggeringly good way to maintain active independence and to carry loads. They were everywhere in the Belgian countryside this year.

[john4703]

I thought I'd reached the height of technology with my smart phone in a poly bag attached to my handlebars with a bulldog clip. It shows me the way to go (and I only get lost when my wife phones me, and instead of a map I see her face on the phone)
When I started cycling a sturmy archer 4 speed hub was the ultimate thing to aspire to, I never got beyond 3 speed. I started riding on two wheels in 1951 after learning to pedal on a trike.
I love the new tech and as I get older the idea of electronic gear change and such gadgets could mean that I can keep cycling for many more years.

[nsew]

Ditto the above re e-bikes, big business on the continent. Metropolitan areas with full sized hoardings strategically placed on punishing short climbs. Amusing and disheartening toward the end of a long day, taking the mickey out of your noble endeavour.

[JohnW]

I cycle partly because it is casting excess technology aside and getting back to a stripped down simple existence for a while. Ideally with no GPS, simple equipment and the wind on my face. Cycling is a way of escaping the tyranny of New Technology.

But that's just me.

................yeah, me too - good on yer.

[cycleruk]

Electronic gears have been around for a while now. No reason why they can't be linked to a load sensor to set the gear range.
Link them to a speed sensor for a constant or average speed of an electric assist if you want.

[tim-b]

Hi
Pipe dream, how do you repair a puncture electronically?
If it does happen there'll still be plenty of discussion on here about whether a steel frame conducts better than CF, do 36 spokes provide more or less electrical resistance than 20 aero spokes, metallic tyres (solves the puncture problem) revolving within a magnetic field mudguard could provide the power; the clearances would need to be wide enough to stop sticks getting caught in there tho and PV cells mounted on a hel...
Regards
tim-b

[djnotts]

I cycle partly because it is casting excess technology aside and getting back to a stripped down simple existence for a while. Ideally with no GPS, simple equipment and the wind on my face. Cycling is a way of escaping the tyranny of New Technology.

But that's just me.

And me. The beauty of a bicycle is its simplicity (when my body was capable I far preferred fixed and single free to gears partly for that very reason).

[reohn2]

I cycle partly because it is casting excess technology aside and getting back to a stripped down simple existence for a while. Ideally with no GPS, simple equipment and the wind on my face. Cycling is a way of escaping the tyranny of New Technology.

But that's just me.

I wonder if people said that bicycles were a tyranny of new technology when first invented?
Indeed i think some still do .

The tyranny you speak of is in the mind,to some,such technology is freedom.

[reohn2]

I cycle partly because it is casting excess technology aside and getting back to a stripped down simple existence for a while. Ideally with no GPS, simple equipment and the wind on my face. Cycling is a way of escaping the tyranny of New Technology.

But that's just me.

And me. The beauty of a bicycle is its simplicity (when my body was capable I far preferred fixed and single free to gears partly for that very reason).

Nail,head,on!
Though the need over want is a more compelling reason for comlexity.