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Old 07-18-13 | 01:11 PM
  #17  
Hiro11
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Originally Posted by merlinextraligh
You can design CF to spring and flex back if you want.
This is true, but it's extremely hard to find a CF bike with that springyness. Average carbon road frames sold in bike stores are generally extremely rigid. This is because buyers generally look for a high degree of stiffness in their frame, convinced that it's faster. I'm not sure that stiffness=speed. Lemond, Roche, Fignon & co. rode first gen carbon or Ti bikes that were complete noodles by today's standards to very, very fast times up mountains. Sean Kelly was one of the greatest sprinters and classics riders of all time and he won a hell of a lot of races on a Vitus 979, a bonded thin-tubed Al frame famous (infamous?) for its flexibility.

Personally, I like both the "rocket", immediate response feeling of a stiff CF frame and the springy, "alive" feeling of a more compliant Ti frame. I'm unconvinced there's any real proof that energy is "lost" in using a flexy frame.

Last edited by Hiro11; 07-18-13 at 01:18 PM.
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