The Future is now

The EUROBIKE Show 2024 was a point of inflection. Not on its own, of course not, but what we witnessed there was.

The days in which innovation was disguised as saving weight, reducing size, and increasing power are over.

The self-indulgent bike industry imagined a journey to the future with those premises as the glowing lines of the road on a dark night drive. It seemed that the path was set, and the innovation, competitiveness, actors, and ideas would be predictable with only market share and EBITDA as variables.

The EUROBIKE Show 2024 will be remembered as the first day of the future. And I said the first but not the only one because, as of now, we will have a lot of first days of the future.

Do not understand this as a new bottom bracket, tire size, or a nuclear plant-like battery.

This is not about products.

I think that the new actors who just landed or are currently touching down in the bike place would bring benefits. Name it innovation of the one that has not been written. The sign of the times.

In the EUROBIKE Show 2024, we learned about some arrivals that perhaps will not become the new standards, the only credo which precepts you cannot violate in the assumption of the risk of being considered as anathema, and outlaw or just one more poor attempt.

We are witnessing new benchmarks and hints in the bike History that we will bring up in our throwback conversations with our grandsons, no matter how many units were sold or not.

We saw companies from outside the traditional paradigm showing us that there are several options if you think out of the box, but a different box as well. Not the typical box you mention when you pretend that you are acting differently.

DJI surprisingly came up with a lighter, more powerful, and truly advanced system proving that was possible.

You just need different knowledge, technologies, approaches, and cojones. DJI used this all with no shame.

And they did it by launching no less than a whole bike under their AMFLOW name in a masterpiece of branding movement. Perhaps to isolate DJI from the impact of the AMFLOW output in the worst-case scenario. Perhaps with the to consolidate the brand with further developments, or perhaps with both things in mind.

A bold statement that I love.

E-Mobility @ ZF is a similar case, but different. My long-time admired ZF 集团 is one of the biggest and most brilliant guys in the car world. They came here to prove that you can push the limits. The shocking size and shape of their engine, its position, its integration, and compatibility are second to none. Yes, it is powerful and light to a new standard.

Straight to the floating line of the establishment.

Schwalbe - Ralf Bohle GmbH brought a brilliant solution to a one-hundred-year-old problem: Presta and Schrader valves. Those outdated options exerted an exercise of slavery on us by being solidly attached to the tube. No option to swap them for good (but old) ones.

Tubeless systems helped us to opt for better spare valves, but I saw little concern on that topic from users since it seemed that it is generally accepted that valves are a source of problems and it is not worth investing in the peace of mind that good tubeless ones bring.

High-flow tubeless valves such as Reserve ones (my ride) came to our rescue, but still a certain level, a kind of cycilst is required coming from the mid-high top of the bunch. What Schwalbe - Ralf Bohle GmbH has just achieved is making the tire inflation easy, intuitive, compatible and a breeze.

A underrated revolution.

Even when Pinion GmbH (thank you Jonathan Antony Lamp ) launched a few weeks ago their groundbreaking gears/engine integrated system, this fact comes back to the hottest spot becuase I have been told that this combo is the upcoming proposal for some brands within the (not-a-lot) next few months.

This sets apart rebranding an engine or a firmware/software customization from the realm of innovation.

My good friend and bike industry safe beacon Simon Cox put in front of me Owuru, an stunning gear/engine combo with the particularity of a CVT technology handling the shifting, something in which I believe a lot perhaps because I drove a CVT equipped car for long time.

The farewell of the deraillereur has been something heard oftentimes during recent times, intensivelly in the last weeks. Things are not balck or white and nothing happens overnight, but this is the time to take the steps towards a new direction and place.

The future is now.