D
Donald Gillies
Guest
Steve Sr. <[email protected]> writes:
>I have seen carbon fiber seat stays being advertized as improving the
>"comfort" and the ride "quality" of a bike. Serotta even goes so far
>as putting a bearing at the dropout end on their high end bikes to
>allow the seat stays to flex and act as springs to soften the ride. Or
>at least this is what is claimed. Other manufacturers make similar
>claims.
I think this is just B.S., but you have to find out for yourself. Go
to a dealer and ride one of these heavy beasts. Hint: Next Year Your
Bike Dealer Will Be Touting The Lightness Of All-Aluminum Framesets!
A carbon rear triangle probably beats a frame made entirely of
aluminum, but maybe not by more than the addition of 2mm of rubber on
your rear tire.
I liked my 1998 TREK 2300, which had 3 main tubes of carbon fiber. No
carbon fiber in the rear aluminum triangle, but it had outstanding
compliance, which is probably what allowed TREK to sell the same
frameset for 8 years, unchanged. That's gotta be a record with these
hi-tech framesets. Mine split at the seat lug - how did YOU break
your TREK frame THIS MONTH ?!?!
I think that vibration absorption on the front end is proably more
important than on the rear because the front end of the bike has less
load and is therefore less damped and will therefore vibrate more
easily and for longer periods on a rough road surface with your 160
psi rock-hard tires.
Just my 2c.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA
>I have seen carbon fiber seat stays being advertized as improving the
>"comfort" and the ride "quality" of a bike. Serotta even goes so far
>as putting a bearing at the dropout end on their high end bikes to
>allow the seat stays to flex and act as springs to soften the ride. Or
>at least this is what is claimed. Other manufacturers make similar
>claims.
I think this is just B.S., but you have to find out for yourself. Go
to a dealer and ride one of these heavy beasts. Hint: Next Year Your
Bike Dealer Will Be Touting The Lightness Of All-Aluminum Framesets!
A carbon rear triangle probably beats a frame made entirely of
aluminum, but maybe not by more than the addition of 2mm of rubber on
your rear tire.
I liked my 1998 TREK 2300, which had 3 main tubes of carbon fiber. No
carbon fiber in the rear aluminum triangle, but it had outstanding
compliance, which is probably what allowed TREK to sell the same
frameset for 8 years, unchanged. That's gotta be a record with these
hi-tech framesets. Mine split at the seat lug - how did YOU break
your TREK frame THIS MONTH ?!?!
I think that vibration absorption on the front end is proably more
important than on the rear because the front end of the bike has less
load and is therefore less damped and will therefore vibrate more
easily and for longer periods on a rough road surface with your 160
psi rock-hard tires.
Just my 2c.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA