When comparing cycling to other industries, I assume that the next "innovation" will be some kind of subscription model: You'll get a certain amount of free shifts per month and if you exceed that, you either have to upgrade to a premium subscription or watch an ad on your bike computer

The weight of the first Tour de France winning bike is the equivalent of riding a modern bike with two more modern bikes strapped to your back.

Peugeot was actually a relatively well-known bike brand back in the 70’s.

How this hasn’t absolutely popped off is criminal. Well done dudes

I feel the need to complement the presenter on his clear precise articulate expressions. Good job.

Indurain didn't use Pinarello when he won his first Tour in 1991; for this year he used Spanish brand Razesa, and TVT for mountains. He's the only cyclist winning Tour with three materials (Steel, carbon and aluminum)

No R in Peugeot. Cervelo is Canadian not European. 13:40

Thanks for the video! I’ve got some more information on Greg LeMond’s Tour winning bikes 1986: Bernard Hinault branded steel frame for flat stages, Look/TVT carbon for mountain stages - both using Campagnolo components 1989: Bottechia steel frame using Mavic components 1990: TVT carbon using Campagnolo components

I think the tour should have a retro stage where they ride single speed bikes for the day.

You showed my Merckx I rode the Eddy for 8 years and 300 races. Couple of different wheel sets. I also had a really nice Frejus from the early '60s. That was one of the best riding bikes I've ever had. But I've owned every kind of bike so I guess I can just keep going.

I've always been looking for a video like this.

Great video; you covered a lot of ground in a short time without feeling rushed. I want to point out that all metals used in bike frames are alloy, not just aluminum. Alloy is simply a mix of more than one metal. Steel, aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and any other metals I missed, are all mixed with small amounts of other metals and therefore, are alloys. And I don't know how I have missed videos from 99 Spokes up until now, I will be subscribing!

I’m sure you spent many hours researching this so you deserve a Hearty Well Done!

Love those old pictures of the riders having a cigarette....crazy

very insightful video, especially the evolution of gear changes was really cool i did expect more pictures of the winnig bikes tho, as if something in the title promised that there would be a list of bikes by year

Good job with this video. Very entertaining review of this history. Bike tech is a pretty good reminder of how recent the industrial/technological society really is.... The first bike type thing, really like a balance bike for kids made of wood was what 1877? Then the safety bicycle is 1880s... then they're racing the TdF in early 1900s! Then I actually lived and road and raced bikes through late 1980s and 1990s when all the experimenting was going on. My first real road racing bike was a steel frame with downtube shifters and toe clips. I swapped the toe clips for clipless pedals maybe one season later, then STI swept away the downtube shifters in no time too, then much better helmets wiped away the classic hairnets. There were vast dumpsters filled with failed bike junk in those years too, like biopace chainrings. The bike tech of the 80s mirrored the innovation in other industries too. Back then people were really cognizant, I think that they were living in "the future", I remember it, and can recognize that type of thinking when I watch TV shows and movies from back then.

Excellent presentation. Fascinating!

I never liked cervelo after I watch the chainstay snap in half right in front of me in a field Sprint and the dude went down hard. Never could get that out of my mind every time I see that cervelo the Jonas rides

You flipped me out.... I ride a 1948 Legnano Grand Prix to work every day, bought the frame and turned it into a single speed...

Great Video Dude!

Pogacar is riding 165mm cranks this tour. More aero, less hip flexion, higher cadence. Seems to be working well so far.

I rode my Peugeot 979 with pride, I think dura ace ax was the dogs. Can't work out why it cost me @£750 back in 1986 to have a decent bike with brand new campy group set. Today it appears fashionable only to buy a bike over $10,000. Then stay in the big ring. I don't see the hype, it is the rider.

Was a really good video 👍

That was excellent. You handled the EPO very well. For me, I would emphasise the change in geometry in the last 15 years ( eg sloping top tube, more compact frame geometry vs high seat, lower attachment points for rear stays etc. ). I remember when carbon wheels came in in the mid 1980's, first as TT wheels ( MAVIC ! ) ... Looks like one bike for all stages, and 11/12 gear cassettes with one chain ring is the way forward now. I really hope there are no hidden motor cheaters in the pack.

Wonderful photos!

pretty sure that back in the stone ages they did not move their chain over, as you stated, but used a "flip-flop" hub with 2 different cogs on the rear wheel. THey then undid the massive wingnuts holding the wheel on (by hand), turned the wheel around, and put the chain back on. Maybe that last bit is what you were referring to, but to me it sounded like you implied that they moved the chain over to a different gear, which would be on the front chainrings, not on the rear cogs which were, as I mentioned, flip-flopped. Just want folks to have a clear picture of what these folks endured for their sport.

Fascinating history lesson gents! Really enjoyed it, well done 👍🚴🏽‍♂️

I echo the gentleman's sentiments. Well done and so very interesting!

great video

the BMC you show at 14'04" is - as you said - equipped with Shimano Dura Ace DI2, but the BMC that Cadel Evans rides in the picture before has a Campagnolo group set

Next innovation to become mainstream is gearboxes replacing derailleurs. Such as those from Classified.

Cheers for this from the UK 🖖👌👍🤙

Nice work digging out all the old photos and video 🙂 I’m a mt biker but road bikes have gotten neat looking over the last years and always enjoyed TdF. But is there any part left that can really be upgraded or improved?

TVT was a great brand. Back in the end of the 80's and beginning of the 90's all manufacturers used them for their top frames. Lemond, Pinarello and so on.

Nice channel

Why the pic of the consumer-level Peugeot Tourmalet to illustrate the steel bike era? No similar pics of actual Tour-winning bikes available?

An interesting follow-up video: How Doping has Evolved since 1903! Cheers!

Nibali won in 2014 on a Specialized. Froome crashed out.

AFAIK Cervelo isn’t a European brand (although it sounds like it) it’s a Canadian one. Actually now they’re headquartered out of Southern California in Alisa Viejo, so if anything they’re an American/Californian brand.

Great video! Cervelo originally from Canada. Now California.

Top cyclists often had steel made-to-measure bikes branded, for example, as "Bianchi".

It wasn't a dark time.... It's just the same as now. Should have gone into the trek bikes more. Shill a great film though. 😀👍

5:58 a thing of absolute beauty!

"...but not from cycling" .... wow! you were right and it didn't take long.

I think Indurains road race bikes were steel up to '94. He made the switch to alloy in '95.

How tf did they back in 1900´s descented with no brakes? Insane! 😊

What a great historical survey. Q? Where did GT road bikes fit in. I saw a photo of a GTzr in a 2001? or 2002?? TDF. Not sure which. It was the only photo I saw of one. Thanks...

The best cycling of all time was the Lance Armstrong era!

This was the third go around for oval chain rings. Previous to this Lemond had them on his time trial bike. Even so, it was not new technology for Lemond. I believe it first appeared in the 20's? feel free to correct me.

13:45 isn’t Cervelo a Canadian brand? Or at least back then?

Good job, you could do a more detailed one 5mn more.

Can you do : Tour de France winning drugs: 1903-2023 ?

Good video. I would love to see more equipment videos. Rather than bike manufacture, where the area bars started? All carbon bike started. Even just the frames.

The Tour was doping long before Lance and still is today.

I predict doping makes a comeback and is declared the winner.

Well the change in materials has more to do with cost of materials. Example the 90s Russia entered the market selling aluminum to the world. The price dropped like a rock intact it costs more to ship than buy per ton. It is not by chance the tig welded bikes aluminum took over from steel. Labor cost sent jobs overseas for carbon.

Lance is still the best. The rest have not been caught… simple

You know how to say Peugeot. You said it one time? !

The pushbikes are the only Peugeots worth owning.

As a 20th century retro grouch I think bike innovation driven by advent of mountain bike development in the 1980s. Not interested in 21st century. But searching for 1990s aluminum bikes like Cannondale's when they used to be made in the USA in Pennsylvania.

Weren't some of Merckx's bikes from DeRosa rather than Colnago?

Peugeot is still the most winning factory team in tour history, aren't they?

I would actually like to see a video of what riders were using to win the tour, that is what drugs or doping scheme were they using.

Really wasn’t a “dark time” unless you want to label ALL years of cycling a dark time. Back in early years the riders were all using amphetamines ,cocaine and other drugs. Drugs have evolved over the years and if anyone does not think these guys are 100% clean today they are nuts.

Wasn’t Cervelo Canadian at that time?

I thought SA 3 speeds were used some in the 1930s?? They were on a bunch of record making bikes till 1939 when defaileurs took over.

Disco was a thing in the 1970's NOT the 1980's.

Two other breakthroughs just off the top of my head. Cycling computers and powermeters. I personally would like to see powermeter info NOT given to the riders doing the race so they would race more on feel.

Where's the list of every winning bike by year?

Great video. One correction Cervelo is a Canadian brand… so not European.

Cool!

Lemond didn’t use Shimano.

Bikes got slower with those daft 28mm+ tires.

Pinarello bikes in 90s were magnesium.

Next up is brake by wire

During the LA years EVERYBODY "cheated". Which means NOBODY cheated. All were equal. No one had an unfair advantage.

he said bike nerd bike nerd me

This is interesting.😊

Yes I Understand that MP make a questionable desicion, but he is one of the best together with Le Mond, doping its a very thin crust...from A to Z...but he still the great, its like said that Shwarzeneger never use anabolics, or Michael Phelps because of his mental condition, we have to analize the person and his talents, of course doesn't have to be like the Russian team to a shameless competition, cheating and doping its a thin crust, definetely.

>We can't talk about these Lance Armstrong bikes because he was a doper >And here's Alberto Contador's bike!

Darkest time in cycling?? More like used Lance as their scapegoat when he really is the true goat.

Drug use is still more common than not. Armstrong just was a jerk and bully and was setup to be the fall guy. He still beat everyone else also doing drugs.

luto???

hey spokes how many subscribe banners before you count as annoying? probably 99 by your name

Yea, the bike won the race, not the engine.

"The top spot temporarily went back to Europe with Cervelo winning the Tour in 2008." Gerard Vroomen and Phil White would like a word with you. Cervelo was a Canadian company in the 2000s. And YOU made the choice not to cover all the Trek models Lance won on, which would have made this video better. Don't act like you could not, because the UCI stripped Armstrong of his titles. The entire sport was doped to the gills from the early 90s until . . .well it probably still is. It's silly to pretend Armstrong didn't win the Tour. If he didn't win, no one won anything.

So they cheated worse at the very beginning 😆

It's pronounced "leh auto"

Excuse me ! Thought grown ups might be responsible for this.

Modern race bikes look like clumsy instruments, nothing of the elegance of historic bicycles.

Late 90s to early 2010s the best ones, light, slick, rim brakes. Today's aero elephants are overpriced, overhyped junk.

Lance Armstrong is the true boss.

video out of focused

For a video that's suppose to be about a history of bikes, you have way too many seconds of flipping back to your face talking. Staring at you literally adds nothing to what you're showcasing and takes away moments your audience could have spent studying the bike pictures.

Name the era when cyclists didn't cheat bud? Blame Lance , it's lazy and easy .

No bike has ever won the tour de France.

It's computer technology that spurred the mid 80's technology...most bikes today are mid eighties technology....

Seriously, the word "auto" does exist in English and in this context means the very same in French and in English and it's not pronounced "looto" in either language.

You look like Joe dirt’s long lost little brother

Very chaotic.