SKY's Secret Weapon...Cobblers....

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Elastomer but Raleigh used that, so has elastomer seen a comeback and will it soon be common place on our bikes.
Sky are using this on the cobbles today.
Comfort = performance or is this just too much
"The bike, which has been developed in conjunction with Jaguar, comes equipped with a suspension system at the top of the seatstay, which provides 1cm of travel to take the worst of the cobbles’s battering, apparently giving a 4.6 per cent increase in performance over the team’s standard F8 road bike on rough terrain."
This -
Elastomer rear end -

Raleigh Activator -http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=167725

There is one at the local tip now.

No no no no......the Raleigh..

Team Skys Cobble bike

https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspire ... ike_IG.jpg
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ike-165107
http://gosportsnews.com/tour-de-france- ... 8-s-video/
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/arti ... 8-s-44701/
[youtube]PeMsdevu8Z4[/youtube]

[mig]

4.6% increase in performance?

[Mick F]

Given the choice over cobbles, I'd have suspension at the front, not the rear.

[Brucey]

having used a softail MTB for many years I reckon the Pinarello could work very well. Front sus might give you comfort but rear sus will give you more speed, on cobbles. The only area where the softail might lose out is in the sprint.

cheers

[reohn2]

having used a softail MTB for many years I reckon the Pinarello could work very well. Front sus might give you comfort but rear sus will give you more speed, on cobbles. The only area where the softail might lose out is in the sprint.

cheers

I agree with that,it's the backside that takes the hits when riding cobbles and uneven surfaces hard IME.
The front end can be allowed to bounce if the TP's right and the elbows and wrists are allowed to flex like suspension arms it's controllable and doesn't sap leg energy .
Racing is about getting the power to the rear wheel which can't be done if the wheel's skipping about,so it needs some weight on it to keep it down.
Over long periods poor road surfaces sap energy,so if some of that punch from the road can be absorbed by the bike,however little,it will save rider energy for the final crucial km's when things get hectic.
Done right IMO it's a step forward

[Steveo2020]

IIRC Bicycle Quarterly tested a similar bike, made by Trek, where you could choose the firmness of the elastomer and they hated it at first only to love it with the softer elastomer, which I think then set them to thinking that stiff frames aren't necessarily better
Cheers

[foxyrider]

Bit like my Chameleon then.

[Spinners]

Stick a Girvin Flexstem on it

[Bicycler]

Ah the Raleigh Activator. The bike to introduce British public to the 'need' for cheap ineffective suspension systems on budget mountain bikes.

[niggle]

Pacific Cycles got there years ago, elastomer both ends (though of course the wheel size is probably banned by the UCI due to the grandaddy of performance road bikes with suspension, the Moulton):



I have a Reach City with straight bars that I tried a drop bar conversion on v similar to the above- pretty good to ride, v comfy and responsive but a tad heavy. Other issues are suspension pivot wear if used in dirty conditions, the rear brake needs a lot of maintenance due to living under the chainstay bridge and you cannot fold it with a front mudguard fitted. Also 451 rims are expensive and hard to find...

[reohn2]

Ah the Raleigh Activator. The bike to introduce British public to the 'need' for cheap ineffective suspension systems on budget mountain bikes.

[Si]

Pacific Cycles got there years ago,

although to be fair, the Reach was a harvesting of the Birdy and the Chameleon...both of which Pacific made for other companies.

[Brian73]

Moulton back end

[RickH]

I think the main difference between the Pinarello and the other (earlier) examples is that, AFAIK, it doesn't have pivot at the bottom bracket, it works on a small amount of vertical flex of the chainstays.

Rick.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Yes I was going to mention the non pivot, Wonder how the stress will hold up in that CFstays
Two days ago I noticed (on the cobbles but on a road section) Gerant I believe, his elastomer unit compressed some 10 MM momentarily.