WORDS: ALAN DOWDS
There’s no such thing as a stupid question. At least that’s what we tell Boothy every time we go to the pub (and he asks another barmaid for their name and number). But here’s one anyway: why are bikes designed the way they are nowadays? They (almost) all use a fourstroke water-cooled engine made of aluminium, with four valves per cylinder and fuel injection, telescopic front forks, monoshock rear suspension, hydraulic dampers, disc brakes, 17-inch(-ish) wheels with radial tyres, all held together in an aluminium frame.
Every single one of these technologies has decent alternatives – iron engines, two-stroke motors, carburettors, drum brakes, steel frames, girder forks. And they’ve all been tried over the years. Indeed, some have arguably been better than what we’ve ended up with. But there’s been a serious level of convergence in bike design over the past few decades.