Originally Posted by
Ron Damon
As one who cut his teeth in cycling riding oversized Cannondale Al-alloy tube, rigid, suspension-less, diamond-frame MTB in the 1990s and is quite fastidious about and builds his bikes, I'd like to think that I know what rigid, flex-less means. And I think this flex thing on contemporary folders is overblown, and that manufacturers exploit it. It's up to you to take or reject their the bait.
I agree. I'm very impressed with the rigidity of my (2004?) Dahon tapered steel one-piece stem. My other Dahon has a telescoping aluminum stem, and the upper has a bit more flex when climbing, but you really need to compare them side-by-side to detect the difference, so in other words, not a problem.
An old cheapie folder that I fixed up for a friend (he didn't want to worry if it got stolen), the long stem is skinny steel tubing, like handlebar tube diameter, and it flexes more, not enough to be problematic in safety and for the average consumer, it just might bug me when climbing, but again, not an issue for its target market.
A Cannondale road bike was my first good bike, I fell in love at first picture with that massive 2" down tube and Bicycling magazine's raving about the frame torsional rigidity for sprinting and the excellent value in terms of price. I loved the bike, but over time, grew less tolerant of the terrible ride quality, and fitting 28mm tires (just barely cleared the front derailleur) helped a lot.