Zertz inserts

[Johan Bornman]

Its the best bike Ive had and really stiff' date=' its a more comfortable bike than the rc6000 c I used to have.  Like i previously mentioned I think the zerts do no more than lessen the noise from the frame, there are zerts in the fork, seat stays and seat post.  I think its the slightly longer wheel base that makes the biggest difference in terms of comfort.[/quote']

 

I doubt your one bike's wheelbase is any longer than the other. It's quite easy to see, since the only place where you can increase the wheelbase significantly is between the back wheel and the seatpost. Most bikes have a minimum distance there that doesn't vary by more than 5mm.

 

These small differences in wheelbase makes no perceivable difference in comfort. I have one bike with the longest wheelbase you can possibly have (since I made the bike myself and didn't cut the supplied chainstays down at all) and another with the shortest possible wheelbase where the tyre just about rubs against the seatstay. If you were to blindfold me, I cannot tell you which bike I'm on.

 

 

 

 

[GIRR]

Whenever I've had to put my bike on an indoor trainer I've always had to extend the distance by about 1cm between where the rear skewer is held in place and the front fork is held in place compared to the bikes that were on it previously...anyway we seem to be off topic from zerts...

[Ox_Wagon]

I got one (same as in the article) but still agree with Mr. Bornman that it Zertz thingies is most probably a gimmick but is still a very nice bike to ride.  I think the geometry has a bigger effect on the ride. They did increase the chain stay and fork rake, see extract below.  <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

From the article:

?That concept is a decreased head tube angle but increased fork offset, designed to keep the trail measurement the same as racing frames like the SWE5 and Tarmac. The result is increased length in the front end (1.5 cm) to improve vertical compliance. The rear of the bike is also lengthened by 1 cm, making for a longer wheelbase and smooth, stable ride.?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2004/reviews/specialized_roubaix_pro

 

I also shoot compounds and think all the dampers has little effect on damping except if you can get the distance long enough as in a nice long stabilizer.