carla_rogers
New Member
What is the reason for having a significant part of the frame made of aluminum instead of carbon fiber?
What Is The Reason for the Aluminum Element in V20 Frame?
- Thread starter carla_rogers
- Start date
Tuloose
Guru
I can think of a few reasons.
Because it would only add cost and not make a dime's worth of performance difference.
Because aluminum holds up better than CF in an accident. Get a deep scratch in a carbon bike and it's trashed.
Because the buzz around carbon builds are just the way the bike industry keeps their sales figures up. It's the newest "gotta have" for bikers. Ditto for disc brakes, through hubs and electronic shifting.
Finally, aluminum and steel are recyclable at the end of their lifespan. Carbon fiber gets thrown in the landfill along with the wind turbine blades.
Because it would only add cost and not make a dime's worth of performance difference.
Because aluminum holds up better than CF in an accident. Get a deep scratch in a carbon bike and it's trashed.
Because the buzz around carbon builds are just the way the bike industry keeps their sales figures up. It's the newest "gotta have" for bikers. Ditto for disc brakes, through hubs and electronic shifting.
Finally, aluminum and steel are recyclable at the end of their lifespan. Carbon fiber gets thrown in the landfill along with the wind turbine blades.
LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
With the Hydro formed frame - there is also no way a CF frame would be any lighter - Agree with all of the above.
WIth the CF new front end on the V20C - we only dropped 1 lbs. However - and bad fall is more likely to compomise the CF parts, where if they were the steel ones - they hold up to more abuse.
WIth the CF new front end on the V20C - we only dropped 1 lbs. However - and bad fall is more likely to compomise the CF parts, where if they were the steel ones - they hold up to more abuse.
On a recumbent having it be featherweight is a really a wild goose chase in my opinion. The "lightest"recumbents I have ever been on - either aluminum or CF - were so flimsy that they were absolutely horrible at anything related to "performance" in the slightest. Also they are the worst climbers due to power loss in the flexy frame. A few felt so flimsy that I feared for my own life that they would break in half on me if I hit a bump one to many times.
A CF frame would be rather sexy for sure.... but not likely as light as the hydroformed tube. Our HF tube is also proprietary for our use, with a good investment in its tooling and development, so it will definitely be around for a while.
Any CF we do would however be well engineered to tackle the above issues - and perfect that weight to strength to road feel balance.
A CF frame would be rather sexy for sure.... but not likely as light as the hydroformed tube. Our HF tube is also proprietary for our use, with a good investment in its tooling and development, so it will definitely be around for a while.
Any CF we do would however be well engineered to tackle the above issues - and perfect that weight to strength to road feel balance.
This
I really do want a V20c for the additional clearance, but I do not want to risk the CF.
The front CF parts of the V20C are very very tough structurally - trust me. I tried very hard to shatter a boom and slider back when we were doing the samples by hitting them against metal surfaces like they were baseball bats. No shatters. They are also lighter than the aluminum fronts and absorb the road noise better so thats a huge bonus.
For the main frame - it was looking very very very difficult to make it as light as the aluminum hydroformed frame without it being extremely weak and/or flex - which is two things I wish to avoid at all costs.
For the main frame - it was looking very very very difficult to make it as light as the aluminum hydroformed frame without it being extremely weak and/or flex - which is two things I wish to avoid at all costs.
I think that the CF front is notably calmer on rough surfaces like bad chip seal, for example.
YOGA_O
Member
From a riding perspective, is there ever any good chip seal??
Mathew Fy
GRU
It's better than pot holes and fracturing roads, and after s few years it smooths out pretty good.From a riding perspective, is there ever any good chip seal??
