Alt Bike Culture - Roundtail bicycles

Has anyone heard of these? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1mPd97x6r4) Comments?

I hadn't heard of them before. Looks like it would work, but also seems unnecessary on a road bike.

I think part of the idea is to divert road vibration and frame stresses away from the normal seat tube (i.e. and the rider's lower end).

Looks like yet another soon-to-be-forgotten attempt to "improve" the bicycle. There has been no fundamental improvement to the double-diamond frame design in over 100 years. It's like trying to improve a claw hammer- you can mess with details & materials, but the basic design was perfected about 2,000 years ago.

I wish them luck and all, but honestly: bicycle frames that used round frame tubes as crude suspension first appeared over a hundred years ago.


I hadn't heard of them before. Looks like it would work, but also seems unnecessary on a road bike.

Full suspension (that had no weight penalty) would be a wonderful thing for a road bike, but a suspension fork and a shock seatpost can do quite a lot in that regard.

This looks like it would be flexy laterally as well, and undampened suspension tends to "pogo".

Full suspension, even with no weight penalty, would be terrible on a road bike. Suspension eats watts.

They say it's equally stiff laterally, but I don't really see why that would be the case.

Regardless, the features they are claiming are improved comfort, not improved performance, which puts it into the "comfort bike" category, not the "road bike" category, so far as selling.

Looks like it would have additional wind drag and reduced seat tube strength as well.

Full suspension, even with no weight penalty, would be terrible on a road bike. Suspension eats watts.

Careful now. It wasn't that long ago that many people were talking about how dumb shock absorbers on a MTB were... ;)

looks kinda groovy !

Interesting idea but i think its just some1 trying to re-engineer something that no1 feels the need to change. prob wont go anywhere.

The reason I hate suspension with such a passion is that, on every suspension bike I've ridden, I feel like I have less control. I'm all for continuing efforts to improve suspension. A full-suspension loaded touring frame would be awesome if done right. Made of carbon fiber. Also comes with a free pony.

Full suspension, even with no weight penalty, would be terrible on a road bike. Suspension eats watts.
Minor suspension to reduce rider fatigue makes watts.

The reason I hate suspension with such a passion is that, on every suspension bike I've ridden, I feel like I have less control. I'm all for continuing efforts to improve suspension. A full-suspension loaded touring frame would be awesome if done right. Made of carbon fiber. Also comes with a free pony.
Generally on a road bike I've found this to be true. However, on a mountain bike having over inflated tires vs slightly under inflated tires (ie basic suspension) makes a huge difference in terms of control. Over inflated you slide around, under inflated (by the right amount) and you'll stick to the ground much better. Being more comfortable without risking pinch flats is something I would love to have on my tandem (road) or road bike.

note: I'm defining properly inflated as what I would set the tire pressure to for hard level even ground.

I know I once saw a bicycle with "S" shaped chainstays once. The same idea, to absorb vibration, but I think it was much better in design.
Made in England , IIRC?

I know I once saw a bicycle with "S" shaped chainstays once. The same idea, to absorb vibration, but I think it was much better in design.
Made in England , IIRC?


I found it! here is is a link, it's called a HETCHINS:

http://sheldonbrown.org/hetchins/

I love it how among the video suggestions there are a few about stuff that failed due to metal fatigue. Exactly what I was thinking about! :D

This is the greatest revolution in bicycle design since the Softride! Oh wait, whatever happened to that company?