Hmm, so after a couple of days of not posting new stuffs, I decided to find something to talk about and after browsing through some of Eurobike 08 stuffs, I got my self interested into carbon flex.
Most riders buy carbon frame because of the stiffness offered by carbon is uncomparable to aluminium frame. Even Specialized states on their site that thier 08 stumpy carbon frame is stiffer then their alu frame (07 alu frame is stiffer then 08 according to spesh site). Anyway if a carbon frame were to flex, most riders wont like it and that will be their biggest disappointment of the bike. So why am I writing about carbon flex?
Well if you guys notice, they are a few 08 bikes that design their carbon chainstay to flex. A company that has been developing flex carbon stays for quite a while now is Cannondale, most riders doesnt notice this cause Cannondale doesnt really promote about it, but their XC bike, Scalpel stays depends of flex. If you read over MTBR, some riders actually commented the flex as a bad part of the product. Anyway the Scalpel got redesigned and lighter by 200-300g compared to last year model and its travel has been increased by 100mm and the shock is now located below the top tube instead of behind the seatpost like lasts year model. Below is a pic of the 08 Scalpel frame, without shock.
Anyway besides Cannondale, another company decide to make the chainstay carbon to flex. The Italian company is called Carraro and for 08 its releasing a full suspension bike called the Rampant.
So, knowing that they are other company that has decided to use Cannondale flex stay concept, I decided to do some research on carbon flexing/bending and surprisingly I found out that some carbon can be bent at 90degrees. Click here for more info about it.
So what else I found out? Because of nano-tech, its possible to design a super stiff and strong seatpost like Easton or to design a bendable carbon nano tube. Click here for the pdf page (only accessable by AdobeReader or formerly known as AcrobatReader, click here to go to the download site), its pretty impressive how they manage to flex the carbon nanotube.
So far thats the usefull sources that I can find about carbon flex. I will try and find out more in time :D. And below are the pics of Cannondale 08 Scalpel chain stay, Cannondale earlier version of chain stay and Carraro Rampant.
My say: I cant confirm the durability of flex chainstay as in jumping or standing up while mashing the pedal cause I myself havent manage to test this kind of design for a period of time, I only ridden a Cannondale full suspension bike a couple of time only and I think its a old model, heard of Sobe? and I used to wonder why the chainstay is oddly shaped and now I found its purpose. If the durability of flex chainstay is getting better year by year, I belive in the future, you can see more company doing flex chainstay and it will appear from XC to Trail bike range. Imagine the possibility of making carbon flexing to absorb small bumps and the shock will only be used once your bike hit bigger obstacles. I remember reading it from a mountain bike magazine where a teenager managed to design a full suspension bike without the shock, just by flexing the carbon. How cool is that, you just dropped 200g from the bike. Anyway thats all for today and toodles. :D
Ride 4 Health
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