Out of the 24 bikes I own only one is Carbon, the majority are alloy and the rest are steel. I was mulling this ratio over while riding the Lesotho Sky MTB stage race last week and was thinking about my frame design choices over the past years and going forward into the future. On the ride I decided that the criteria I will use for my future bike designs is exactly what I have been practicing over the past 5 years and training for over the past 20 odd years. I will use a material that I can manipulate and design with precision, that is honest and is what it claims to be, is affordable and can be made very light with the correct manipulation, and can be tuned with the right skills to be stiff yet comfortable. It must be beautiful and warm to the touch with flowing lines. But most of all it must be tough and be able to withstand the rigors of African riding. Of course alloy is my choice… I have been working with and riding aluminium bikes for some time now and am passionate about the merits and work ethic of alloy bikes. Ever since I raced my first alloy bike in 1991 I have loved the feel as well as the ride quality. Since then I have had the opportunity to ride hundreds of bikes and have ridden expensive and cheap alloy bikes, bikes that rode like the wind and bikes that were absolute duds. In the end the ride quality of every alloy frame comes down to the experience of the designer and use of the tubing. People forget that the frame is the heart of the bike, hanging expensive parts on a poorly thought out frame does not make it ride well or feel light. For this reason I love alloy as it rewards the designer who knows how to manipulate it with a gem of a frame that will give years of riding pleasure to the end user without breaking the bank. With alloy I can choose my tubing preference, butted or not, formed or not, smooth or multipass welds. I can use my experience to set the frame angles, head tube heights, seat tube lengths, chain and seat stay shapes and lengths. All this I can do with alloy tubing and still deliver an affordable, race ready MTB bike, ready to take on all that Africa has to offer. A well designed alloy frame is still lighter, rides better and is cheaper than an off the shelf entry level carbon frame and molds cannot be manipulated. I could harp on about the merits of alloy against the latest popular material and throw scientific jargon into the mix to make it official but in the end I am driven by passion and experience and not by science.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:36:20 +0000
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