Since then, it's been general improvements in material technology and attention-to-detail rather than anything particularly ground-breaking.

The attention-to-detail aspect of device design is so important. A lot of aspects of the design of bikes could have been implemented 100 years ago, but it simply took a long time to try out lots of different permutations and figure out the best way to do things. Things like thru-axles, or universal derailuer hangers. Bikes from the 80s are totally rideable (I use one as a city bike), but they're definately mechanically quirky and annoying compared to something even a decade newer.

There are a lot of devices and mechanism out there that would benefit from the nit-picky development that bikes have received over the decades. It's distressing when you see modern versions of a device that have somehow regressed.