Originally Posted by charlesw
Did you do any research? I'm sure manuf. would explain their thinking.
I'm thinking it means Thinner metal/ stronger frame perhaps?
Merlin backs this up, saying: "The newly designed butted and shaped oversized downtube adds remarkable stiffness to the bike."
http://www.merlinbike.com/bikes/2005/extralight.aspx
There ya go.
Let's not kid ourselves- it is all about fashion and making "last year's bike" look old and busted so people upgrade well before necessary. Look how briefly the standard threadless headset was in vogue- to be quickly replaced with internal headsets. Now we have all these oversized handlebars... rendering regular bars "obsolete." Bikes are looking more cartoonish than ever these days. Don't fall for the marketing hyperbole.