All rights reserved. Go Premium. Need Help? Learn More Customer Login. By Greg Kaplan. Greg Kaplan, A lifelong endurance sports athlete, Greg raced bikes on the road as a junior prior to changing his athletic focus to rowing. Upon retiring from elite rowing competition, Greg revisited his passion for racing bikes and also added some swimming and running into the mix, competing at the ITU Age Group World Championships on multiple occasions.
He and his wife Shannon—also a rower, bike-racer, and triathlete—enjoy traveling, learning about wine and keeping up with their rescue cats when they are not training or racing. A lifelong endurance sports athlete, Greg raced bikes on the road as a junior prior to changing his athletic focus to rowing. Share this article. Are you sure you want to delete this family member? Find activities close to home. Activities near you will have this indicator.
Within 2 Miles. Because aluminum is only one-third the density, however, makers can use more metal for a stiffer ride while still keeping the overall weight down. Riders found early aluminum bikes overly flexy compared to steel, and some manufacturers over-adjusted to make their bikes too stiff.
Modern high-end aluminum bikes, however, use honed engineering practices to reinforce the areas that require more strength while allowing other areas of the bike to flex for a comfortable ride. Many department store bikes still use old designs, however, which makes them stiff or uncomfortable when it comes to build quality. Once you move into even higher tiers, you start to encounter frame materials such as titanium and carbon fiber in its many flavors. Generally speaking, they offer stronger, stiffer frames with drastically lower weight, which improves the overall efficiency of the ride.
On a more granular level, more expensive frames also have more consistency from unit to unit. Full suspension bikes—with springs at the front and back—look burly enough to handle a brisk romp through a small boulder field. In all kinds of full-suspension bikes, the idea is the same: As you go over bumps, part of the frame rotates around pivot points supported by a shock that absorbs the hits and springs everything back into place.
Bikes at different levels, however, approach this task very differently. Cheaper bikes typically rely on steel-coil springs. Riders can adjust them by rotating them in threaded collars near the mount. Keeping the coil compressed increases the spring rate so it takes more effort to squish the frame.
A consideration. Posted in: Bike Co-op , bikes. But they can be. But consider for a moment some of the ways you want a bicycle to perform: You want to be able to ride it uphill without fainting from exhaustion, so it has to be strong without being too heavy You want to be able to go over bumps without the frame crumpling in two, so the frame has to have some flex as well as being strong and light You want the gears to change when you tell them to, which involves a not-uncomplicated set up of levers, cables and springs You want your drivetrain pedals, chain, gears to be able to withstand considerable force from your legs without exploding You want everything to be waterproof, because it rains You want your brakes to function well even when wet, potentially to save your life And you want your bike to do all of the above, reliably, for hundreds or thousands of miles.
You get what you pay for. Why is a Ferrari so expensive?
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