Sub 700 gram frame for Cervelo Test Team

[The_Break]

I dunno if I would trust a frame that light...

 

I agree, except when it comes from a company like Cervelo where they use the correct computational tools during the R&D. A cheap frame anywhere close to that weight from China or Taiwan which has no design traceability I would not touch with a ten foot barge pole. You pay for what you get.

 

What is more important is the testing of there products and they are pretty open about their test results.

 

As for pushing lower than the 6.8kg mark, that is in prep for future legal limits. If fuel companies never improved fuel to the point where we had rocket fuel we would not have space exporatin today and we would also probably therefore nt have affordable carbon fibre bikes.

[Willehond]

The whole idea behind the weight limit is to keep racing safe an affordable for most cyclists.  What this 8,000Euro bike prooves is that the UCI got it 100% right!  It's ok for a guy like Thor to ride a frame like this and get a new one for every race, but for us mortals the cost of replacing such a frame every couple of months is just unrealistic. 

With so many great sub-1kg frames being produced in the East, paying this much for a frame is just nuts.

[29pgc10]

US$9' date='600/?8,000 

Have a look at : http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/engineering/project-california/
[/quote']

 

Now, how to explain this to the wife that this is what I want for my birthday 

 

EDIT: good thing is, other companies will try to follow and the price will come down. By 2015

29pgc102010-02-22 13:59:25

[thysmeades]

 

The benefit of a light frame is that power meters and other "heavier" accessories can be added to the bike' date=' and still have a sub 6.8kg bike.

Mark my words, within 2 -3 years, we will have sub 500g frames, just a stiff as the current ones. Why, because they can.

Maybe they would even look at disc brakes for road bikes?

 

 

[/quote']

 

On the 22 of Feb this year I said sub 500g frames would be on the cards in 2 - 3 years time, well, I was wrong, it seems to be here already!!

 

Check this out!!! 450g frame which is pressurized!

 

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/500g-barrier-shattered-by-groundbreaking-new-frame-25600

 

Imagine saying "my frame has a puncture"

 

enjoy!!!

 

 

[ThRoTTLeS-WP]

very interesting.. funny i cant find any pics on google images..

[Bos]

I dig it. Being a designer and seeing technological advancements like this means mabe we will eventually see materials be used for new aplication that it was never heard of before, I saw a little clip on the santacruze interbike page and Rob was explaining that they are now using single sheets laid up for a full front triangle, this way theres no need to use the wrapped up joints as they are considerably stronger, He mentioned they could have made the frame refered to(blurLTc) about half a pound lighter, but decided to make it stiffer in stead. Like the GT carbon DH  bike, Its not much lighter but probably stronger than anything out there. So Its the filtering down of the technology that benefits us. Its come a long way.. There has been huge advance in the carbon cloth used 5 years ago and the cloth used by many of the frontrunners, Im a little out of Examples for roadbikes but Mtb's like the epic carbon, blur xc have a cloth that looks more like your old pair of jeans than the textures carbon lines we have all learnt to know.

 

Viva for advancements, viva la bicycle

[Bos]

The carbon fibre parts and accessories company, founded last year by our own technical editor, James Huang, claims that frame weight for the new Air-O is a jaw dropping 450g (0.99lb) ? for a large size.

Rather than jump on the currently fashionable aero bandwagon, the new Air-O (say "aero" ? get it?) eschews drag reduction goals entirely in favour of the proven light-and-stiff formula for faster climbing and more efficient power transfer. 

And in keeping with cc:'s original edict, the frame design is a familiar-looking combination of massively oversized tubes here and frightfully spindly ones there that is wholly lifted from shapes already produced by the likes of Cervelo, Canyon and Specialized for the ultimate blend of lateral stiffness and vertical compliance.

So if the tube shapes aren't exactly new, how do cc: achieve such an insane weight figure, you ask? The answer's in the frame's very name: it's air.

One of carbon fibre's inherent structural limitations is that it works best when loaded in tension. In other words, while the fibres themselves are incredibly strong when pulled and highly resistant to bending, they're conversely very susceptible to compression. As a result, conventional frames generally have to use excess material to deal with ancillary issues such as impact strength and crumpling under clamp-type loads.

The Air-O's patented 'BlowOut' technology, on the other hand, incorporates a trick fully sealed internal architecture that is pressurised via a built-in Schrader valve.  Once inflated up to the recommended 300psi operating pressure (a conventional suspension pump is included), all of the fibres in the system are thus acting solely in tension and reinforced pneumatically from the inside so much less material is needed to achieve the same levels of stiffness, strength and durability as a conventional frame.

Referenced from Bikeradar live:By James Huang, technical editor

[mikkelz]

01/04/2010

[Iwan Kemp]

01/04/2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suckers!