As you may have seen throughout the ProBikeKit website, we’re celebrating our 16th Birthday this year, and to get into the spirit, we’re offering a spectacular sale across our whole range of products for a limited time only. But the fuss isn’t all about us, it’s about the last 16 years, and how cycling has changed over the years, with highs, lows and downright ‘what the…’ moments, here are the highlights:

1997 – (not strictly 16 years, but the start of it all!)

1997 was possibly the year that we finally realised the nineties wouldn’t last forever. The new millennium was fast approaching and things were getting futuristic and culture was changing. We started cloning sheep – remember Dolly? The 50 pence piece got smaller, Channel 5 launched on terrestrial television and our very own glamrock hero David Bowie turned 50; things just weren’t the same as they used to be.

In cycling we also had some interesting moments, such as doping rising to the surface as a mainstream method of cheating. According to Wikipedia:

‘Djamolidine Abdoujaparov from Uzbekistan became the first rider to be disqualified from the 1997 Tour de France for taking banned substances after testing positive for Bromantan’

Dshamolidin Abdushaparow

1998

The following year was much the same, carrying on the alienation of a world entering a new age (arguably the birth of the digital age we now inhabit.) The birth of the two pound coin and DVD’s sent the UK somewhat mad. A two pound coin? Yes is was big, silver and gold, and it was two! After we’d spat out our food and gotten used to this new fangled item, we were hit in the face with DVD, the digital versatile disc. With people all over the country questioning their well-mainainted collection of video tapes, it soon became clear that things were changing fast, and the new world wasn’t going to go away.

It was also the year that long-time cycling giants Reynolds celebrated their 100 year anniversary. Celebrating 100 years of providing quality tubing technology to the cycling community and many professionals, they are now a huge company churning out some of the best wheels around and much more. Of course we have to honour them on our birthday year and create some great deals on their products, see here!

2003

In 2003 you were probably starting to use the internet for a lot of things, possibly not shopping for bike stuff, but for emails, messenger services and getting information it had become the number one contender. Welcome to the digital age.

A young  man with a penchant for Northern Soul and Paul Weller haircuts also came onto the cycling radar; Bradley Wiggins. The young 23 year old came in and stole the show at the Track World Championships, grabbing gold in the Individual Pursuit and second place in the Team Pursuit. This young mod was now on the radar for not just the cycling world, but for a lot of sports fans too.

Brad doing what he does best – image from Wikimedia

Steal gold with our fantastic prices on our Adidas kit!

2009

Alan sugar loses 22kg in weight from cycling.

2009 was the year that cycling started to creep into mainstream fitness culture, with Lord Alan Sugar taking up the sport as a pastime and losing a huge 22kg! The king of the entrepreneurs became the king of the road and you can still see him regularly posting on Twitter about his rides and passion for the sport!

Cycling wasn’t fully integrated into mainstream culture year though, not as a sport anyway, that was about to happen in a few short years’ time…

2012

2012 changed everything. It’s as simple as that. The year that Bradley Wiggins won the Time Trial in the individual in the London 2012 Olympics as well as becoming the first Brit to win the Tour de France, was the year that cycling became cool for non-cyclists. Finally, nationwide recognition for all those long slogs and hard training sessions. Wiggo was George Best, Rocky, Beckham and Tiger Woods all in one, he was the sports icon of the moment, and this photo says it all:

Image: Telegraph

Of course this is only a snipper of what happened over the last 16 years in cycling, there are plenty of highlights we haven’t touched on, what were the best bits for you? We’d love to know! Please post them below in the comments.