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Wooden bikes

materiabikes.com

1–10 of 238 posts

Re: Wooden bikes

#5
I just don't buy this. At all. Why don't we see the Tour de France peloton rolling through on wooden bikes? They can afford the best of the best.

Re: Wooden bikes

#7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty durable. Better than carbon and can compete with aluminium – since the build is filled.

> Better than carbon [citation needed]

Carbon bikes are made from hollow tubes, hollow tubes can buckle / collapse, plus carbon bikes are designed for lightness, not sturdiness. Wood can take a beating, but is a lot heavier.

Re: Wooden bikes

#10

I just don't buy this. At all. Why don't we see the Tour de France peloton rolling through on wooden bikes? They can afford the best of the best.

1. Weight, while it is lighter per unit than CFRP, you need more of it to sustain the same rigidity making it heavier. You actually need very little CFRP for a bike and mostly solid or near-solid wooden panels. Quite some of the minimum weight of professional bikes is additional equipment and the gearing mechanism. (min weight is a bit less than 7kg)

2. Stiffness. While not good for every day usage, it is good if you want to go fast. All energy absorbed is wasted as heat or vibrations (e.g. sound).

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