taras0000

Colnago did something similar as well, with two downtubes. In the end, a bent seattube is better for stiffness and aerodynamics. They say fashion and trends are cyclical, so I'm curious to see when we will see something similar again.

Banchad

Factor Bikes make a road bike with a split downtube. https://road.cc/sites/default/files/s...?itok=wv6GkAoa

carleton

My favorite split-tube bike

Haro Master (seriously)



I lusted after this bike after a kid. Never got one

Dalai

Time to get one now then.

I still have my old beaten up Malvern Star SuperMax I bought with my paper round earnings sitting in the corner of my mum's garage. Still have the receipt too! Plan is to restore it one day...

carleton

Nice!

There's a whole scene for that. Have you seen: BMXmuseum.com

taras0000

There's always Moser's split ST hour record bike

himespau 

Holy crap. That looks as though the seat lug itself was split too.

TrackMonkey7

Interesting, this reminds me of Oval Concepts' forays into 'vented' forks and more recently, base bars:


Which in turn reminds of of sports cars with double element rear wings:



Of course, these two examples are trying to achieve somewhat different things in very different environments. The double wings in general work to increase downforce, but in the case of the Porsche RS Spyder above, interaction between the flow over the main chord and the bottom surface of the smaller chord generate similar downforce levels as a single element wing of greater height, decreasing frontal area and drag.

In the case of the forks, they are claim to draw airflow away from the turbulence generated by the spinning front wheel. I'd love to read some analysis as to exactly how that is done. One also wonders if it were such an effective design, why don't all the 'fastest' bikes have some iteration of it? Perhaps Ridley copyrighted it, since their TT, aero road and track bikes (hooray for us) still have these forks.

I guess with that Factor it's a similar idea: "Top of three is the Factor One, the new aero race bike that's the most similar to the Vis Vires. The front end has been reshaped and the fork is no longer twin-bladed, but it retains the distinctive 'Twin-Vane' down tube to help funnel wash from the front wheel through the frame rather than around." Additionally, the twin-bladed fork is unlike the Oval ones above, it's actually more similar to Wilier's Twin Blade set up:


I wonder how long stuff like this will trickle down into the track world. As cool as it is (to me), I imagine that these designs are innately less stiff and would require considerable carbon magic not just to mold the frames but to make them strong enough for the track world.

Dalai

Thanks carleton. Had indeed seen that site. Photo from that site of an identical Malvern Star SuperMax to mine



These were THE Australian BMX bikes to have in the early 80's. I paid $269 in November 1981, a small fortune when my paper round was only paying me around $5 per week...

carleton

Nice!

Godsight

Multi elements wing are used to prevent the airflow from stalling while having a high down force or lift wing. If the wing was a single element, the airflow would separate from the underside of the wing and create a ton of drag.The multi elements design prevent that by letting the airflow regroup momentarily between the elements.

Cycling doesn't care about lift or down force. They are not needed for our speed. The only thing that matter is drag. How do you reduce drag ? By reducing your frontal area. By making sure the laminar flow that is coming to you doesn't transform into turbulent flow and to reduce your skin friction drag. The split fork design doesn't do any of those unless it can straighten up the turbulent airflow created by the rotating wheel which I don't think it can.

taras0000

I present to you...The Hipster Hour!

dunderhi

I had a road version of one these curved seat tube Paramounts as a team issue bike when I was a teen. Sadly, my track Paramount had a straight seat tube, which didn't help in the elimination races.

WhatsYoCadence

So, i'm 99% done with building my new bike for track racing.

I'm down to the handlebar/stem, in which I have two options.

Option A) Carbon track drops with a -10º stem
or
Option B) Aluminum road drops with a -17º stem

Both options will give me the same amount of drop (give or take). What would you personally do in this situation?

A few minor details- I raced the alu drops all last year and loved them. Bought the carbon drops (from MarkWW!) recently and haven't even ridden them yet. I can tell you the grip is way thicker and is supposed to be used without tape, however the grippiness is starting to fade. I don't want to HAVE to wear gloves. Should I tape them with a thin cloth?

What would you personally do?

Thanks!

carleton

Handlebars come in different materials and shapes for a reason. Pick the bars that do what you need them to do.

If you heed forearm clearance for standing starts, then maybe the track bars.
If you need a wide top for holding during Madison exchanges, then maybe the road bars.

There are lots of things to consider. Make a pragmatic decision.

taras0000

The pragmatic decision is wearing gloves no matter which bars you choose.

carleton

I don't know, man. The EC90s feel great without gloves. The texture is like a freshly knurled barbell

Dalai

I'm with you taras0000. I always wear gloves on the bike*

* except pursuits - aero trumps the risk of loosing skin on my hands in that situation.

dunderhi

Which carbon bars did you get? I picked up a pair of Pro carbon bars this winter and I'm looking forward to trying them out. My plan is not to use tape, but use full finger gloves.

taras0000

Because this really sucks

Barbell calluses are cool tho. They matched up with my stretcher calluses when I was a medic, lol.

carleton

I removed the graphic images. Sorry.

taras0000

No prob. Even tho it's not necessarily NSFW, it can be a bit much for some people. Maybe the removal alone will be enough to scare some people into wearing gloves, lol.

"Geez! I dunno what it looked like, but if it's that bad then I don't want to end up like that either!" kind of thing.

dunderhi

When I saw the pics, it caused me to take a look at a scar on my left hand that I earned 35+ years ago from a bike crash. I remember being a bit shocked when the doc said I wouldn't be getting any stitches, because it was a hole and there wasn't anything that he could sew back together. My mother wasn't happy with me and biking at that moment.


How's that for an always wear gloves warning?

taras0000

Just imagine not being able to tie your shoes for 3+ weeks because your hands are bandaged up. Usually if your hands are banged up that bad, the rest of you is too. I knew a guy who not only couldn't change his own bandages on his hips, thighs, elbows, and back, but also couldn't wipe his own butt for 2 weeks either because he didn't wear gloves.

I always wear full finger gloves, even in the summer. In the trades they say "the 10 best tools you own are on your hands. Look after them"

On a side note, my left elbow will still occasionally spit out a piece of fine gravel/asphalt that has worked it's way to the surface. That was from a crash 10+ years ago.

WhatsYoCadence

Literally some old Pro carbon bars! I also don't like the way they look. I want them to be just black, instead of having white and gold decals all over them.