1. Geometry and Compression Frame Design

The most important thing that modern road vehicles learn from mountain bikes is their geometry and frame shape, which have had a profound impact in recent decades. Back in 1990, all road cars had to prepare a dozen frame sizes. Giant's designer Mike Burrows brought the compression frame design from mountain bikes to road bikes, with smaller front triangles and sloping upper pipes. The advantage is that it can increase the rigidity of the frame and reduce weight, while meeting the needs of most drivers with fewer frame sizes. It is called TCR, and this compressed frame DNA has now become the mainstream of road vehicles.

The geometry of most modern racing bicycles falls within a very small range. Firstly, the geometry of modern mountain bikes begins to change, becoming longer and slower to adapt to challenging terrain. A key change is that the front center becomes longer, combined with shorter handlebars to achieve stable handling, which can also be found in road vehicles, at least for those not only used on flat asphalt roads.

2. Toothless bowl group

When road cars were still made of slender steel pipes, you would find that the front fork was fixed to the frame with a 1-inch rudder tube, and a toothed bowl set and gooseneck handle were used. Initially, mountain bikes also used this technology, including the toothed bowl group. Developed by John Rader and produced by Dia Commpe, Aheadset, this radical new system is simpler, easier, faster, and lighter than the toothed bowl assembly by installing the riser on the rudder tube. The toothless bowl group quickly became the new standard for mountain bikes, and subsequently introduced road vehicles to completely replace the toothless bowl group.

With the use of the new toothless bowl group, the diameter of the rudder tube and head tube increased, and the early toothless bowl group became 1.125 inches. Subsequently, conical head tubes were introduced, using larger diameter lower bowl group bearings to help mountain and road bikes reduce weight and increase rigidity.

3. Disc brake

It is easy to see that mountain bikes have been using disc brakes for many years, becoming the mainstream and replacing V-brakes. All mountain bikes, even cheap ones, will be equipped with disc brakes. The field of road cycling is relatively traditional, and disc brakes have not been accepted. However, in the past two years, more and more road vehicles have started to use disc brake designs. The disc brake can bring stronger braking force and better control, and the use of the disc brake on pneumatic bicycles can even improve aerodynamic performance. The disc brake also solves the problems of carbon fiber wheel frame burning and brake force decline in humid environments. For beginners, using the disc brake can also boost confidence and better control the bike. However, using a disc brake also has a negative impact, which is that it is heavier than a ring brake and the installation is also more complex. You cannot upgrade from a road bike with circular brakes, you can only purchase new frames, wheel sets, and brakes. In the early days, disc brakes were installed in the same column style as mountain bikes on highways, but now flat mounted disc brakes have become the standard, which in turn has been adopted by some mountain bikes. (Rising disc brake pneumatic road vehicle)

4. Barrel shaft

The cylinder shaft is also developed for disc brake mountain bikes. With the disc brake, the cylinder shaft enters the field of road vehicles. Compared to the 9mm quick disassembly, the cylinder shaft uses a hollow and thick shaft rod to screw into the claw hook. Its advantage is to make the wheel group more secure and obtain stronger rigidity. The disadvantage is that the disassembly and assembly process is slower, which means the replacement of wheel sets is slower. Therefore, professional competitions even introduce electric tools similar to F1 racetracks to disassemble and assemble the cylinder shaft.

Mountain bikes used 12, 15, or even 20mm diameter axles, while early disc brake road bikes used 15mm front axles. Now we see that 12mm axles have become the standard for disc brake road bikes.

5. Wider tires

In the early days of road vehicles, the tires were wider due to poor road conditions, but as the road became better, the tires also narrowed. And now the trend is reversed, as I realize the advantages of wide tires, road bike tires are also starting to widen. Of course, this trend started with mountain bikes, which require the use of wider tires due to changes in the sports environment. Modern mountain bikes are also designed to accommodate wider tires. Using wide tires on mountain bikes can reduce air pressure, achieve better grip and comfort. The use of wide tires in road vehicles can reduce air pressure and achieve better comfort. The contact point between wide tires and the ground is closer to a circular shape, reducing tire deformation and even reducing rolling resistance. Can using wide tires on road vehicles really improve comfort, speed, and handling

6. Choleless fetus

Everyone has encountered a flat tire, especially on mountain bikes, and a bladder free tire (vacuum tire) can significantly reduce the problems caused by tire puncture. Brakeless tire technology, like disc brakes, has been popular in the field of mountain bikes for many years. With the development of disc brakes, bladder free tires are increasingly appearing on road vehicles. Many modern road wheel sets are compatible with bladder free tires, and their development has been very rapid in recent years. Road vehicles with bladder free tires can also reduce the risk of tire puncture. There is no friction between the inner and outer tires, resulting in less tire resistance, allowing for lower air pressure and softer tires, which can improve comfort.

7. 1x transmission

Many mountain bikes nowadays use 1x transmission. Cancelling the front transmission and using a single disc with a wider range of gear ratios as a flywheel has become very popular on mountain bikes. The three disc toothed disc is no longer the only option, and it also fully accepts 1x transmission on and off roads, without any front changes to reduce mud blockage.

We see that road bikes have borrowed a lot of technology and design from mountain bikes, and in the future, the boundary between the two will become blurred, while the classification will also become more detailed.

-------Source: Cray Bike Network