Road bike industry trends - video

Wider rubber, disc brakes and a merging of categories

Published: March 28, 2014 at 2:22 pm

For the annual Bike of the Year Test, Cycling Plus staffers tested more than 50 of the latest road bikes. In doing so — and through the course of constantly traveling to visit bike companies and attend trade shows — the editors get a great overall perspective about what's going on with road machines now, and what is coming down the road.

In this video, Cycling Plus editor Rob Spedding and senior technical road editor Warren Rossiter share some insight and some laughs about trends we're seeing for 2014.

Wider rims and correspondingly wide rubber are popping up seemingly everywhere. It's a topic BikeRadar has explored in news and features in recent months.

And while we are seeing some small-level splintering into specialty categories — be it gravel bikes or aero bikes — Rossiter reports on another trend going in the other direction.

Check out the video below, and then be sure to check out which bike won the Cycling Plus Bike of the Year here.

Road bike industry trends