And your summary of the week on BikeRadar <\/p>
How often does a mainstream cycling brand do something that<\/em> different? Okay, they may find a way to make a bike more integrated or lighter, decide to get behind a new cycling sub-discipline (has anyone heard much about downcountry<\/a> recently?), or add a \u2018speed sniffer<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0<\/p> But, ultimately, these changes feel like finessing a formula rather than making anyone go \u2018wow\u2019. Except influencers, of course.\u00a0<\/p> This isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. As Alex Evans argued recently, maybe bikes are just great now<\/a>. Yet, I feel that if we shift our focus to different bikes and aims, we can still see great innovation, even if it\u2019s not on Grand Tour bikes.\u00a0<\/p> Cargo bikes<\/a> are one example. From once being a niche thing you\u2019d occasionally see couriers riding, they are now used commonly to ferry kids to school, or unbelievably, deliver eggs, at least in my overly middle-class east London enclave.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> One bike that launched this week that arguably fits into this category of innovation is the Brompton G Line<\/a>, the brand\u2019s first off-road folding bike, which it hopes will appeal to a broad audience.\u00a0<\/p> It\u2019s more intriguing than the other bikes released this week, the now-slighty-more-affordable Specialized Stumpjumper 15<\/a> and the Santa Cruz Hightower<\/a> which is\u2026 er, more capable than before. <\/p> With these thoughts in mind, Will Soffe\u2019s feature on the history of mountain bike innovations<\/a> made me think. Maybe it\u2019s time we bring back the genuinely inventive. And hey, maybe Ribble has<\/a>.<\/p>