Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,520
Likes: 12
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8
Originally Posted by
caterham
imo, compact design wasn't totally viable and largely unexplored until after "oversize" and shaped tubing became readily available. with "standard" tube diameters, lateral stability in locating the headtube/steerer was too compromised. oversized top & downtubes created a much more stable steering geometry which could be exploited without serious compromise.
Sorry, you lost me. Can you exapnd on that a bit?
Originally Posted by
caterham
it's my personal belief that there's an additional factor to consider regarding longitudinal stiffness and handling/cornering qualities- ie: that any sideways frame deflection exhibited should ideally be even & progressive and occuring along the entire frame's length, from steerer/headtube to the rear dropouts or else a "hinging" behavior will occur where one or more segments of the frame deflect at a different rate or load than the rest of the structure, leading to unbalanced vehicle dynamics, loss of adhesion and unpredictable cornering behaviour.
Yeah, you REALLY don't want that. I had a Suzuki GS1100E back in the day that developed an occilation at high speed and caused me to crash in at 110-mph. It was not a pleasant experience.
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1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista