The trick is bike frames do not get loaded like the tubes in that video. Of course carbon fiber composite is going to smash, because you are only loading the matrix (plastic) and you are placing zero load on the carbon fibers when you run over a tube on flat ground. Frames are loaded in tension, and some bending (which leads to tension on one side of the tube). Running over the frame simply loads plastic in compression. The video demonstrates nussin' Lebowski...it's nothing more than a cool party trick.

I actually see alot of Litespeed bikes on the road so they must be selling and doing something right. Why is it sad to show how your material holds up better than other materials? Industry does it daily in their R&D departments. I found it very interesting to see what a Ford F250 HD truck with it's weight would do to a material. I was impressed. That's not saying you will run over high end road bikes on a daily basis with heavy trucks but it did show material strength. They probably did that clip because quite frankly, they have the money and the budget to do so. I agree with all that I hope that they don't get so complacent on showing material strength but rather keep going forth with frame design and development.

What they did show you is that if your bike is on it's side and Billy Bob runs over it with his hunting truck..............it may survive!

Loaded queston. Vs. what, a $40 wally mart mt. bike?

I'm gonna throw my litespeed under my rear wheel and test out this theory.

I'll agree that how a bike rides has a lot to do with things other than materials. But I dont think its possible to build a Ti bike that will ride like an extremely stiff CF bike. If you look at frame flex data (there was a good comparison of flexing between a number of steel, al, ti and Cf bikes in Velonews), the Ti bikes were not anywhere near as rigid as the pro tour Cf bikes that were tested.

In my personal experience, my Merlin Extralight, which is designed to be stiff, with oversized, ovalized, butted tubes, is not even close to as stiff as my CF bike. I doubt a Litespeed Vortex is anywhere near as stiff as a CF bike designed to be stiff.

I guess you could make a Ti bike as stiff if you made the tubes about 1/2" thick, but then it would be so much heavier, the weight would alter the ride, and it would have zero market appeal.

Thus I think its an overstatement to say the ride isn't in part dependent on material selection.

Wow...what an incredibly relevant test for cycling. I like the other videos that show that you can ride a Ti frame in the dead sea, and that CF frames don't hold their orbit around the earth as well when blasted into space.

Why didn't they run over a frame to prove some stupid point? Could it be that the welds would just snap as easily as any other frame?

By this mentality, we should no longer crash test cars because they are all made out of steel.

This is late-night informercial crap that sells to rednecks in....oh...sorry.

Hey! They make some nice ones out of Al and CF too!

that was a bad example. sorry

We all know that in reality a frame would get warped at the very least. I was being funny one might say............I know that was hard to pick up on

It did show the crush factor of the material however. That is irrelevant for how the Ti and CF is joined and ridden but in the same breath..............really interesting. Hey, when you deal with death daily, child molestors, and drug dealers these things are considered value entertainment for me.......don't pee on my parade

I'm wondering how the ride in the truck felt on each of the tubes.

I found it funny that the tire at first did not grip the Ti but did the other materials easily. Regardless, yes valueless, but rather Jackass quality entertainment. BTW- When is Jackass 2 coming out on video?

Every thread about Litespeeds or Ti frames always ends up with someone posting a link to that video. Then it just turns into an argument about the crush resistance of various tube types despite the fact they will never see those sort of loads in those directions (hopefully anyhow). Carbon will always look bad in this test because it has very little crush resistance (hence the warnings about overtightening on steerers and clamp type FDs).

i talked to an industry person who has sold high-end carbon bikes since they came out & he said that a carbon bike will not stand the test of time that an alloy bike will. the make up of cf just isn't designed to do so, so to speak, esp earlier cf frames. sure, they'll last you for many years, but they will lose their original ride characteristics with many miles over many years. (granted that's MANY miles over MANY years.) he said that on average people buy a new bike every 5 years or so, so they won't even notice anyways. plus carbon technology seems to get better each year so each new ride just gets better in quality, no matter the brand- as long as it's a respected brand. he has an older cf bike that came out in the early 90s or so that he kept & a newer cf bike of the same brand & he said it's like night & day. i personally rode both of them & agree, totally. he said that it's more of the technology that makes the newer bike ride smoother & handle better, but he does believe that some of it is because of wear on the carbon. he says this because he remembers it being smoother than that, but then again it could be that everything was harsher than that at the time it came out & he simply forgot.

all that being said, i have a cf bike & love it. i have a ti bike & love it. i have an aluminum bike & love it. i have a steel bike & love it. i could go in to my perseptions of how they each ride, but i think i've over done my posting in this thread for today. hahaha!

I think the video would be more compelling if they took a weight on the end of a string and dropped it against the side of the tubing, then showed the resulting damage - because side impacts on the tubing is probably the #1 cause of frame damage, excepting severe high-speed crashes. You're always hearing about a Cannondale owner dropping the bike and sustaining a big dent on the top tube. I'd expect Ti to be better in this regard - who knows? At least it would meaningfully reflect a possible real damage mechanism.

For even more fun, they oculd build up the bikes, weight the seats, and crash 'em into stationary barriers to show what frame material was tougher. Would also make an entertaining video.

If I'm ever out for a ride and my bike gets run over by a truck, the last thing I will be worrying about, is my bike.

Merlin,

I have to disagree, one of the harshest ridding bikes I've ever owned was my IF Ti crown jewel. While I'm by no means bashing the company, it just goes to show you that Ti can be made to ride like an older Cannodale if one so desired. Be careful what you ask for when going custom, ask for stiff and you'll get it. To contrast, my old off the shelf Moots, and custom Dean, and English Omega all have that more than adequte stiffness but ride like butter.

JR

I don't find that Ti rides any smoother than my alum frame w/carbon forks . . .

^Those bikes are hot man.^


Thanks for the opinions, I don't think I will be getting a Ti quite yet but I might go for it later. After I run out of cash with holiday shopping...

If it's a modern Alu frame then you shouldn't, I'm actually very fond of my wife's Bianchi SL, muy nice ride. Ever ridden an early/mid 90s Cannodale or Klein? My spine hurts just thinking about it.

Hahaha! What a biased video! The guy takes a carbon tube from a bike, a aluminum tube from a bike, and a titanium tube NOT from a bike and then does his experiment. How about using a titanium tube from (shudder) an actual bike so that the comparison is a fair one?

It was on the internet...............sure it's real!

I loved the sound of the F-150 running over the CF tube.

I'm curious now how a true Ti tube that is intended (triple butted, etc) for a road bike would do on that test though.

A year or so ago, there was a local street, heavily used by cyclists, that was closed down for about 6-months. One of the short-cuts required that you bunnyhop a curb. On one of my rides I mis-timed my hop (going too slow) and came down before clearing the curb. I went down but my Ti frame was undamaged. A couple of days later, one of the local women pro's did exactly the same thing and destroyed her aluminum frame. I weigh about 165 lbs.; she weighs about 100 lbs. Fortunately for both of us, no one was videotaping these escapades.

A Ti bike is probably 'forever' - but I'm not sure that matters all that much to some of us who would like to have something new every 4-5 years anyway. Or perhaps it gets to the point where the more you ride (and I ride lots of miles) the more you need at least two good road bikes - and at that point a 'forever' bike is a good thing to have in the garage. My Ibis Titanium is my permanent 'second' bike now - after being refinished and refitted - I'm hoping that 1995 model is still under my ass when I'm 70 years old (I turn 50 next year and I've been riding the bike for 10+ years already).

I have to honestly say that if I was forced to choose one bicycle forever, I'd either keep the Ibis or go out and buy a Serotta or Seven cycles Ti model and forget about buying bike schwag. Like that's ever going to happen being on THIS stupid forum. Right.