I had a Rossin ghibli 57 cm steel frame. And what Mike calls flex is also known as planing, as in when a speedboat climbs out of the water. When you put in enough power, it feels like you get lifted out of the water and your drag drops noticeably. It’s quite simply put fantastic and you quickly become addicted to it. This is what a bicycle should feel like in my opinion. This planing property I haven’t experienced in carbon or aluminium frames. And sure someone could do it, but why choose carbon or aluminium? Carbon and creaking bottom brackets go together hand in hand and they often have a huge price tag. Aluminium is light, but this obsession with weight,aerodynamics and speed is ridiculous and just a clever way to rip people off. Kinetic energy is not your friend and going 50 kph on a flimsy construction is not a good thing.
Yeah... "planing" is nonsense though, recently promoted by none other than Jan Heine, who has commercial interests in vintage-style bicycles. It was in discussion some decades ago and then ignored, because there's simply no real science behind it. As for "vertical compliance", that's the biggest lie in cycling since the dark ages. A diamond shaped frame is like a truss bridge, they absolutely do not flex in a vertical plane, no matter the frame material or the thickness of the seat stays. A small frame with a long seatpost however... seatposts do flex, particularly the smaller diameters. The bike industry has its head so far up its own asshole now it's about 2 weeks away from becoming the "High end" Hi-Fi industry.
It's also about the shape of the object that defines the stiffness, just as he said in the video. The diamond shape has a very high stiffness in the vertical direction, so no, a steel frame won't absorb bumps better because the steel can't bend in this direction in a bike frame. What helps is the bended steel fork because this can actually deform a bit when hitting potholes Springs are made out of special steel that can bend further without plastic deformation. Springs are also shapedto allow bending of the material.
You can make springs out of carbon fibre, particularly leaf springs. It all depends on how you use the material you've got, a bicycle frame is relatively similar across all material choices though, so it's going to behave... like a bicycle frame.
@@Metal-Possum Yeah you can...but why? It is very brittle. It would not stand a crash where a steel one will. The nice thing about carbon fiber in a bike is that you can 'dial in" where you need stiffness and where you need flex. It also can be molded more aero.
@@bradjohnson169 The pros who help sell bicycles don't care about what happens in a crash. Bicycles designed for sport are about performance, not durability. How something crashes doesn't matter if it can win races, especially if there were to be a compromise because of it.
@@Metal-Possum " Bicycles designed for sport are about performance, not durability". What?? You mean you can win races if you crash? ("How something crashes doesn't matter if it can win races"). I get it, Pro riders are supplied their bikes from the team, and it's probably a carbon fiber bike. it is light ,responsive, stiff and fragile. A former pro rider I know ( US Postal Service) much preferred steel for durability and ride quality. If one wants to keep a bike for 20 years it better be tough. I have had three crashes on it that would have destroyed a carbon fiber bike.
Rip Mike National Treasure ❤
Just received Mike’s book in the post. A fascinating read.
A trick: you can watch series on flixzone. Been using it for watching loads of movies these days.
@Alan Konnor Definitely, have been watching on flixzone for since december myself :)
Remember the plastic bicycle. Didnt catch on but a lovely exercise in material strength all designed before the days of computer modeling
I am interested in a windcheetah trike for sale in California USA. Is the windcheetah as fast as a vtx or a catrike 700?
I need one of Mike's, bikes
I had a Rossin ghibli 57 cm steel frame. And what Mike calls flex is also known as planing, as in when a speedboat climbs out of the water. When you put in enough power, it feels like you get lifted out of the water and your drag drops noticeably. It’s quite simply put fantastic and you quickly become addicted to it. This is what a bicycle should feel like in my opinion. This planing property I haven’t experienced in carbon or aluminium frames. And sure someone could do it, but why choose carbon or aluminium? Carbon and creaking bottom brackets go together hand in hand and they often have a huge price tag. Aluminium is light, but this obsession with weight,aerodynamics and speed is ridiculous and just a clever way to rip people off. Kinetic energy is not your friend and going 50 kph on a flimsy construction is not a good thing.
Yeah... "planing" is nonsense though, recently promoted by none other than Jan Heine, who has commercial interests in vintage-style bicycles. It was in discussion some decades ago and then ignored, because there's simply no real science behind it.
As for "vertical compliance", that's the biggest lie in cycling since the dark ages. A diamond shaped frame is like a truss bridge, they absolutely do not flex in a vertical plane, no matter the frame material or the thickness of the seat stays. A small frame with a long seatpost however... seatposts do flex, particularly the smaller diameters. The bike industry has its head so far up its own asshole now it's about 2 weeks away from becoming the "High end" Hi-Fi industry.
What... steel does not have any special qualities and does not absorb bumps? Do they make springs out of aluminum or carbon fibre?
It's also about the shape of the object that defines the stiffness, just as he said in the video. The diamond shape has a very high stiffness in the vertical direction, so no, a steel frame won't absorb bumps better because the steel can't bend in this direction in a bike frame. What helps is the bended steel fork because this can actually deform a bit when hitting potholes
Springs are made out of special steel that can bend further without plastic deformation. Springs are also shapedto allow bending of the material.
You can make springs out of carbon fibre, particularly leaf springs. It all depends on how you use the material you've got, a bicycle frame is relatively similar across all material choices though, so it's going to behave... like a bicycle frame.
@@Metal-Possum Yeah you can...but why? It is very brittle. It would not stand a crash where a steel one will. The nice thing about carbon fiber in a bike is that you can 'dial in" where you need stiffness and where you need flex. It also can be molded more aero.
@@bradjohnson169 The pros who help sell bicycles don't care about what happens in a crash. Bicycles designed for sport are about performance, not durability. How something crashes doesn't matter if it can win races, especially if there were to be a compromise because of it.
@@Metal-Possum " Bicycles designed for sport are about performance, not durability". What?? You mean you can win races if you crash? ("How something crashes doesn't matter if it can win races"). I get it, Pro riders are supplied their bikes from the team, and it's probably a carbon fiber bike. it is light ,responsive, stiff and fragile. A former pro rider I know ( US Postal Service) much preferred steel for durability and ride quality. If one wants to keep a bike for 20 years it better be tough. I have had three crashes on it that would have destroyed a carbon fiber bike.