I guess I'm more facinated with how this "story" has spread throughout the net than any potential benefit to bicycle frame design. After all, there are already several metal matrix composite (MMC) frames available today and they are, at best, even more rare than Calfee, ariZona, or ZXT carbon composite tandem frames, e.g., Griffen's MMC and Vyatech's IsoGrid & ExoGrid materials used by Santana (as well as two companies owned by Vyatech: Titus, and Maxim).
Moreover, if I understand how and where this new technology would be used, it's primary application is wing skins, stiffners, longerons, and other flat panel or geometric shapes that bring to mind the I-Beam magnesium frames. Perhaps it can be extruded or shaped into tubes as well, that's just not how I've seen CFRP technologies used.
However, getting back to the "story", it appears to me to be a press release coming out of technical conference in Delft that was picked up and distributed by UPI and a few other outlets like TG Daily's (no relationship) Rick Hodgen, who seems to be everywhere in the world covering and embellishing upon every subject known to mankind -- at least based on a quick Google new search. (
http://news.google.com/news?client=s...=1&sa=N&tab=wn). Given the investment made by Boeing and others in CFRP technologies and manufacturing capabilities, this latest MMC looks like it has a steep hill to climb and the press release is more or less a very effective tool for getting the word on the street that a firm is looking for capital to fund further research.
Anyway, here's the REAL scoop that I'm amazed no one picked up that ALSO came out of Delft last week:
Originally Posted by Science News
Scientists discover how bicycles work
By UPI
Sep 24, 2007, 17:56 GMT
DELFT, Netherlands (UPI) -- Dutch-led researchers have solved a nearly 150-year-old mystery by determining how a moving bicycle can be as stable as it is.
Delft University of Technology researchers, working with colleagues from Cornell University and the University of Nottingham, have created the ultimate model of the bicycle.
'Bicycle manufacturers have never been able to say precisely how a bicycle works,' said Arend Schwab of Delft`s Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering. 'They have always had to refine their designs purely through experimentation.
'In our model, they can enter into the computer all of the various factors that influence the stability and handling of their bicycle,' said Schwab. 'The model then calculates how the bicycle will react at specific speeds.'
The study that included researchers Arend Schwab and Jodi Kooijman appeared recently in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Series A.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Hang on to your hats and your wallets, the next latest-and-greatest innovations in bicycle design are just around the corner! Yeah, right... Which is why I previously posted my retrospective on bicycle technology from the 1800's:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=340098. Everything old is new again, and much of what is new isn't necessarily improved...
Hell, it's taken me 5 years to come to a decision regarding carbon as a tandem frame material and it's still a leap of faith, despite 10 years and 200+ examples of carbon-framed tandems being in use around the world.