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Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

lemond.com

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Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#111

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

gameswithgo wrote: post #107
_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

One chain ring is the new thing these days, with 11+ cog cassettes. Lack of aero shape probably facilitates putting the battery in there. Though they could do the handle bars and seat stays at least.

1x is a cost reduction measure disguised as a "new thing". Same price - less components = more profit.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#112

Post by semi-extrinsic »

hazeii wrote: post #99
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves I'm a fluid dynamics researcher, and I'll tell you the money these people spend on "aero" and "weight saving" and "higher drivetrain efficiency" stuff is 99.9% snake oil. Unless you are among the top 1000 road bike racers in the world. Increasing your exercise load by half an hour per week, or spending a little time understanding and implem…

>spending a little time understanding and implementing aerodynamically efficient body posture You might be interested in what we're up to [0], get in touch if it interests you. [0] https://bodyrocket.cc

Ooo, nice. This is quite clever - still will require insight and effort from the rider, but it should be less of a shot in the dark, if it works. I'm not in your target market personally, but I like the approach.

Are you going all out with triaxial load in the seat post, or uniaxial (posterior)?

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#113

Post by taude »

jeffbee wrote: post #91
compiler-guy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So complaining that they don’t have the right mount point for a light when one doesn’t need to be mounted shows that the product either isn’t a good fit for you, or that you are grasping at straws. I think it is unlikely that a carefully designed bike like this missed something simple like that. Much more likely you are kissing something.

It’s a simple matter of geometry. The bar is too high for the light to effectively light the road.

Why wouldn't the lights be tilted down from the bars? I have external lights on my bike that are mounted ABOVE the handlebars, and don't seem to have any problem illuminating the road in front of me?

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#114

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

jdeibele wrote: post #85
_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

I had read a long time ago that a typical 3x9 arrangement has fewer "real" gears than 27. One reason is that you're not supposed to heavily use the gears that are the most opposed because it causes additional chain wear. Another is that some of the gears calculate to the same gear/inch. https://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cran... has a nice summary, including a picture from Sheldon Brown's website…

This is really just tired old wisdom handed down from the days of wide inflexible chains. Modern 8-speed+ chains can cover the whole cassette with ease. Additional wear from the dreaded cross chaining is never going to be significant when the cogs already have profiled teeth. It's always funny to read the hand wringing from MTB riders about this when they don't even bat an eye at the horrible inefficiencies of 20psi fat tires.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#115

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #111
gameswithgo wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One chain ring is the new thing these days, with 11+ cog cassettes. Lack of aero shape probably facilitates putting the battery in there. Though they could do the handle bars and seat stays at least.

1x is a cost reduction measure disguised as a "new thing". Same price - less components = more profit.

I very much doubt that's true, as evidenced by cheaper bikes still sporting 3x chainrings. 1x is entirely about removing the front derailleur and all its associated complication. It's especially common in mountain bikes because they experience a lot more opportunity to break.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#116

Post by jjav »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

> Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive

Back in the 90s, yes.

Carbon frames are the mainstream now and have been for at least the last decade.

> I don't understand who this is for

I'd consider it if I was still commuting longer distances but covid put a stop to that. The range is a bit too short but if the additional external battery really delivers 70% more range as claimed, it would be a great fit for what used to be my commute.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#117

Post by hazeii »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #112
hazeii wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>spending a little time understanding and implementing aerodynamically efficient body posture You might be interested in what we're up to [0], get in touch if it interests you. [0] https://bodyrocket.cc

Ooo, nice. This is quite clever - still will require insight and effort from the rider, but it should be less of a shot in the dark, if it works. I'm not in your target market personally, but I like the approach. Are you going all out with triaxial load in the seat post, or uniaxial (posterior)?

You're asking the right sort of question :)

Seatpost is actually one of the simpler sensors, without giving too much away it's sensing force in 4 different directions.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#118

Post by Matthias247 »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

Apart from the motor and a straight handlebar the bike pretty much fits into the gravel bike category, which is doing extremely well at the moment.

Those are rather versatile bikes, which one can use for anything between commuting, bikepacking and not-fully-competitive road racing. At least the mid-range bikes in this category are already out of carbon. It's far more common than exocitic nowadays.

The price of 4500$ actually doesn't feel too excessive, given that a Specialized Diverge with similar components is 3900$ (https://www.specialized.com/us/en/diverge-comp-carbon/p/1752...) - without a motor. But ok - Specialized is also one of the most expensive brands.

I bought a gravel bike this year (Trek Checkpoint), and I'm very happy with it. If I would have a strong use-case for an e-bike - like a longer commute - I would definitely consider something like that Prolog.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#120

Post by ols »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

It feels like you are not really following the trends in bike designs.

Carbon frames are really common now, and are available in mid-range road, mountain or gravel bikes. You can even order one on AliExpress for cheap and build a decent road bike around it. And it’s not only the weight that carbon frame bike owners are after - the material gives much better ride quality than aluminium.

Deep rims are nothing spectacular either, their weight penalty is nicely offset by aero gains, and this effect is noticable even at non-pro speeds. With disc brakes there is less concern about the longevity of the carbon rim - so why not use it?

One chainring is all the rage in bikes now - since the advent of super-wide casettes with multiple cogs (reaching 13!) there is no real need to add a front deralieur. It’s a component that breaks down frequently, multiple chainrings weight a lot, the chain wears down more… The recent popularity of 1x11 or 1x12 drives is very well-deserved.

Mudguards and simple handlebars make this bike utilitarian and well-suited to commuting, while the other stuff is a collection of things that are common and highly praised by cyclists nowadays.

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