More people are buying mountain bikes than before. In a way, people buying mountain bikes rather than leisure bikes are the same as people buying SUV’s rather than sedans. A lot of the people who buy mountain bikes do not take it out to the mountains or take it off-roading. In a way it is very inefficient to ride a mountain bike on the road due to large contact area between the tires and the ground. For instance, it is very painful to ride a downhill bike on a road because it is very heavy and require a great amount of energy to move a certain distance. The downhill bikes are great to ride when descending a mountain, but not on a flat ground. Although this is the case, it seems like the more mountain bikes are sold for the reason that they look “better”. Also mountain bikes tend to be decently comfortable for the reason that it has relatively high handle bars and have great shock absorbers (suspension).

With the advancement in technology, many types of materials are being utilized and discovered to make the bikes lighter and tougher. Bikes have been made of thermoplastic, aluminum, steel, titanium, carbon fiber and etc. The only wall that people run into with these materials is the price. For instance, titanium frames are desired by both roadies and XC riders because they are super light and tough. However they are ridiculously expensive. For just the frame, they may be about $2000 and more. This is just the price of the frame and does not include the cost of other components.

Along with the usages of different materials, the designs of components have been changing as well. The brakes for instance have changed greatly. In the past, since disk brakes were so heavy, no one utilized them. However, because of the improvement in technology, they are starting to become more common. At least for more exotic bicycles, which utilizes components of highest qualities. The disc brake is less affected by weather compared to rim brakes and they provide excellent frictional force. In the future, it may be that all bikes are hydraulic disk brakes. Some of the cheaper bikes that come assembled have started to adapt to mechanical disc brakes. Although not as firm as hydraulic disk brakes, they are definitely better type of brake when riding in all weather conditions.

Along with the brakes, many of the of the other components are becoming better, compact and integrated. For instance, the new Shimano components that control the shifting of the derailleur and also braking system is one unit. One lever is used to do both the shifting on braking. The direction in which the lever is pushed dictates what the out come of the action is. For instance, if you pull the lever, the bike will start to brake just like a conventional brake; however, if you move the lever up and down, you will shift the gears. Along with this, the metals are being made into the specific components with great accuracy and technique. For instance, the cranks have become lighter and lighter without it becoming weaker. This is because they were able to make the crank thicker, but create a hollow area in the middle, this allowed for the higher end cranks to be super light, yet strong.

As for the downhill bikes, it has been very interesting. The forks and tires are becoming bigger and bigger to withstand the impact that they may be experience. It seems like they are becoming more and more like motocross. For instance, conventional mountain bikes have 1.7in wide tires, however, downhill tires may go up to about 3in. It’s almost double the width of a normal mountain bike. I am very curious to find out when the biking industry would stop making it like motocross. Some of the experimental bikes contain gas injection (gas tanks attached on the frame) for the rear suspension, which is used to control the dampening and contraction of the rear suspension. The main difference will always be that bicycles will have mechanical human drive (pedals) to move the bike; however, I feel like at some point, the bikes will be too well built and heavy that it is just not possible to move by human legs. Would there be electrical motor that aids the pedaling? Would that then be considered as bicycles or motor cycles?

As mentioned previously, the mountain bikes will continue to grow. Also, the capabilities of these mountain bikes will also keep on going up. Whether it may be the braking system or better pedaling system, I’m sure that it will get better. It also may be that the bikes be taken over by electronic bikes. I know that in some bikes, batteries are installed so that when going up hill, an extra motor provides an additional force to the turning wheels. This motor enables riders to go up hill without too much effort. I know that this is becoming more popular in Japan amongst the middle age population. Would all bicycles lose the human powered component to it?

As for other types of replacement, there is another vehicle called SEGWAY. This is not powered by the movement of muscles, but electrically ran. The SEGWAY works by leaning back or forward just like walking. when The leaning controls the speeds, while turning the handle left or right enables the rider to make a directional change. To ride this vehicle, you basically stand on it and lean on it. The downside of this is that it is very expensive at this point compared to a typical bicycle. Also not too many people are aware of this technology yet. For now there are no off-roading SEGWAY, but perhaps, in the future there may be.

http://www.segway.com/