All of my bikes have steel frames. Some, however, were made recently and have modern componentry. The others are older and have components that are more or less "period correct."
Even if one weren't well-versed in the nuances of modern vs. retro machines, he or she could tell which bikes are which by one tell-tale detail: the brake cables. My modern bikes have aero levers with concealed cables (or, in the case of Vera, my Mercian mixte, inverse brake levers with cables hidden under tape) while my older bikes have traditional cables that loop from the tops of the brake levers.
Hidden "aero" cables were designed, as the name implies, for aerodynamics. For my purposes, that doesn't matter much. The reason I use aero levers are that they're designed to work well with modern brakes--and because I like the feel of one lever in particular: the Cane Creek SCR5/Tektro RL 200.
(Cane Creek's lever is a Tektro with a nicer finish and little gekkos embossed on the hoods. Both levers, lamentably, were discontinued several years ago.)
When I was an active mountain biker, I wished there were an "aero" version of mountain bike brake levers. I found that, even though my mountain frames were smaller, I needed longer cables and housings because in tight technical stretches, I was more likely to make a sharp turn, even to the point that my bars were almost parallel to the top tube.
The problem came when riding through areas of bush and bramble: The cables, on occasion, would become entangled in them. Siddesh Dubal, a Purdue University student and researcher, had the same problem. Unlike me, he came up with a solution. "I created this device based on my own experiences while mountain biking in India and other places," he explains.
I'm probably not the first person to look at it and wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" Apparently, he used a modified top cap from a headless headset (which practically all new mountain bikes use) to rout the cables through the steerer tube rather than across the stem and along the top tube. The result, Dubal says, is something that "provides safety and convenience for riders, and is also simple and cheap to manufacture and install on a bike."
Will it make him rich? Who knows? Somehow, though, I think Siddesh Dubal has a bright future--as a cyclist and in whatever career he pursues.
Even if one weren't well-versed in the nuances of modern vs. retro machines, he or she could tell which bikes are which by one tell-tale detail: the brake cables. My modern bikes have aero levers with concealed cables (or, in the case of Vera, my Mercian mixte, inverse brake levers with cables hidden under tape) while my older bikes have traditional cables that loop from the tops of the brake levers.
Hidden "aero" cables were designed, as the name implies, for aerodynamics. For my purposes, that doesn't matter much. The reason I use aero levers are that they're designed to work well with modern brakes--and because I like the feel of one lever in particular: the Cane Creek SCR5/Tektro RL 200.
(Cane Creek's lever is a Tektro with a nicer finish and little gekkos embossed on the hoods. Both levers, lamentably, were discontinued several years ago.)
When I was an active mountain biker, I wished there were an "aero" version of mountain bike brake levers. I found that, even though my mountain frames were smaller, I needed longer cables and housings because in tight technical stretches, I was more likely to make a sharp turn, even to the point that my bars were almost parallel to the top tube.
The problem came when riding through areas of bush and bramble: The cables, on occasion, would become entangled in them. Siddesh Dubal, a Purdue University student and researcher, had the same problem. Unlike me, he came up with a solution. "I created this device based on my own experiences while mountain biking in India and other places," he explains.
I'm probably not the first person to look at it and wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" Apparently, he used a modified top cap from a headless headset (which practically all new mountain bikes use) to rout the cables through the steerer tube rather than across the stem and along the top tube. The result, Dubal says, is something that "provides safety and convenience for riders, and is also simple and cheap to manufacture and install on a bike."
Will it make him rich? Who knows? Somehow, though, I think Siddesh Dubal has a bright future--as a cyclist and in whatever career he pursues.
