Great article. Seems like the fillet brazed and TIG frames were made unnecessarily heavy because they put a big seat clamp lug on there at the top of the seat tube.

I love seeing that Blackburn ad — it pummels the metaphor, but what a time capsule.

a nice review of the assembly methods.

The summary of "they really all do the same thing" isn't really surprising. I'm not sure why they bothered to say that there was a measured difference in stiffness, but they rode the same. Considering that they used the same tubes, I would have expected them to be essentially equally stiff. It would have been interesting (to me) to see the stiffness numbers, if only to learn whether they were within 1% of each other or 10%. Having been involved with testing of various types, I'd like to know how repeatable their test equipment is (i.e. does it give the same answer if you run the test 5 times) and how accurate it is (how the measurement compares to a similar piece of test equipment that is determined to be very accurate.

Anyway... a good review that should be helpful to folks new to the subject!

Steve in Peoria

I sorta skipped over that ad (must be the result of decades of exposure to advertising?), but now that you mention it, it does make quite a few topical presidential references. Very amusing.

Of course, the best of these topical political references must be the Specialized ad with Mikhail Gorbachev (sp?).
This was out there on the web..




There was another with Bill Clinton... not sure if was for a saddle that prevents crotch numbness or what.
hmm..... here it is (what would we do without the web??)



Steve in Peoria

Really neat deep dive into geometry, tubing, and frame construction.
And as always- both ads brought a smile. The blackburn's ad with its over the top number of geopolitical references was good, but the nordic chair ad was funny since its a guy in khakis and a polo working out in his house. Just funny stuff.

And let us shed a tear for what Bicycling Magazine used to be...

Can you imagine them doing anything like this at any time in the last two decades... let alone having the result be, "They're all awesome... pick the one you like best, because the differences don't matter?"

Someone should lock the current staff in a room with a complete set of magazines from the 80s and tell them, "We're not letting you out until you can write articles like this."

(Also, they should be forced to read every issue of Bicycle Guide, just to drive the point home... Straight through their foreheads.)

--Shannon

That first picture has to be altered somehow. That spray of sparks looks like he's using a cutting torch. The original must not have been exciting enough.

Great read and the ads are hilarious....I particularly like the one about the bike rack....with all the accoutrements, man dressed in cycling attire listening to his favorite tunes or getting directives from Secret Service while mounting the bike on an artfully decked out (make deleted) limo with double American Flags.
Best, Ben

Cool article. Thanks.