suddenly .... hydroform
pbassred
Posts: 208
A friend of mine bought a new low-end road bike at the beginning of the year. It was probably last year's model though. I looked it up on the manufacturer's site. The 2015 model was different. The old round tubes were gone and it was all hydro-formed aluminum. All the other parts are the same. The frame is still ...... frame shape. Nothing extraordinary.
What is the benefit of the change? Would the rider notice?
What is the benefit of the change? Would the rider notice?
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He'd notice decent punctuation, that's for certain.Advocate of disc brakes.0
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Maybe. It all depends on how and why what was done and it done right."Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
Parktools :?:SheldonBrown0 -
Come on Nick, at least get the guy to say hello!Advocate of disc brakes.0
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He'd notice decent punctuation, that's for certain.
Hello Homer. Actually that was a repeated text error, not punctuation, unless I missed something else. Embarrassing all the same. Nothing worse than poor grammar.
So, what benefit if it was "done right"?
I personally, shouldn't be here since I am from the twilight world between road and MTB. That trans-dimensional space called "hybrid" which is shunned by forums and all pure souls. My new Trek is all art-formed aluminium. The curious thing is that all the flattening is in the horizontal plane whereas on my old bike it was vertical.0 -
I must object. A hybrid is not between a road and mtb any more so than a Reliant Robin is part way between a car and a motorcycle.I personally, shouldn't be here since I am from the twilight world between road and MTB. That trans-dimensional space called "hybrid" which is shunned by forums and all pure souls. My new Trek is all art-formed aluminium. The curious thing is that all the flattening is in the horizontal plane whereas on my old bike it was vertical.
No one goes from mtb to road via a hybrid, or vice versa. No one's second bike purchase is a hybrid. The hybrid phase is only ever passed through; either on the way to the shops, to work once or twice in July via the bike to work scheme, or occasionally as a prelude to realising that cycling is fun and wouldn't it be nice to ride a bike adapted for at least one type of surface.
Hydroforming is just another way to adapt tube shapes, ostensibly to tune ride quality. There are tube shapes that can't be achieved any other way (for metal frames), but whether there is any actual benefit to having such tube shapes (over other ovalised tube shapes) is questionable. It was all the rage in the naughties, when there were some truly hideous creations. Less so now. Make of that what you will.
Of course, any hydroforming of a hybrid bike will be pointless and will have been selected at random by a design team lead by a committee of people who tried cycling once and didn't like it very much.0 -
Nothing wrong with hybrids. I bought a Specialized Sirrus Elite hybrid a few years after I had bought a steel light tourer road bike. I have since bought a carbon road bike. I still use and enjoy riding all 3 bikes. I mainly use the hybrid for commuting, 18 miles each way. As it is a triple with some really low gears it is also easier to spin up very steep hills than the fast carbon road bike.
I must object. A hybrid is not between a road and mtb any more so than a Reliant Robin is part way between a car and a motorcycle.I personally, shouldn't be here since I am from the twilight world between road and MTB. That trans-dimensional space called "hybrid" which is shunned by forums and all pure souls. My new Trek is all art-formed aluminium. The curious thing is that all the flattening is in the horizontal plane whereas on my old bike it was vertical.
No one goes from mtb to road via a hybrid, or vice versa. No one's second bike purchase is a hybrid. The hybrid phase is only ever passed through; either on the way to the shops, to work once or twice in July via the bike to work scheme, or occasionally as a prelude to realising that cycling is fun and wouldn't it be nice to ride a bike adapted for at least one type of surface.
Hydroforming is just another way to adapt tube shapes, ostensibly to tune ride quality. There are tube shapes that can't be achieved any other way (for metal frames), but whether there is any actual benefit to having such tube shapes (over other ovalised tube shapes) is questionable. It was all the rage in the naughties, when there were some truly hideous creations. Less so now. Make of that what you will.
Of course, any hydroforming of a hybrid bike will be pointless and will have been selected at random by a design team lead by a committee of people who tried cycling once and didn't like it very much.0 -
Nothing wrong with hybrids.
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Hydroforming gives more control to make the tubing more compliant or stiffer in any direction similar to the way CF tubes can be shaped. Of course Alu has different properties than CF so I have to wonder if shaping them the same is partly just to look like CF for asthetics to attract buyers or to make a better frame or both. I think we have to ask the engineers who build them. So I guess I don't have the answer to the OP's question.
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I reckon they found a new source of blanks and stopped buying the old frames to order.
Its often a volume brand thing. Hydroforming gives you the ability to tune the strength, stiffness and flex in the frame to where you want it. Much the same way as different lay-ups of carbon fibre can. That is not to say the manufacturers actually bother too much.
Hybrids? - I never understood why people don't just put slicks on an MTB and lock the forks out.0 -
You'd still need to raise the bars and install a huge comfortable saddle...Hybrids? - I never understood why people don't just put slicks on an MTB and lock the forks out.0 -
He's properly mental! But entertaining and pretty impressive. I got hooked on some of his other vids; particularly liked his hydroformed pulse-jet engine
He's clearly got more spare time and disposable income than me...0
