5 ms·

If you do a road trip more than 80km, you feel the vibration. I find aluminum is worse than steel. With short, daily trips, I don't think people notice vibrat

If you do a road trip more than 80km, you feel the vibration. I find aluminum is worse than steel. With short, daily trips, I don't think people notice vibration.

dsego 8y ago
My 2 cents, steel is better, I've had wrist issues with an aluminum bike that I just don't get with the steel one. It seems to dampen and absorb the high frequency vibrations.
- toxik 8y ago
  The real solution to vibrations is a thoroughly damped bike, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39uwTykTQk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39uwTykTQk -- it features some next-generation thinking in its spring system.
- Fricken 8y ago
  I'm loyal to steel because of it's stiffness. It's almost twice a stiff as the next best material, and 20x as stiff as wood, according to the chart in the article. So I don't think wood is for me.
- halbritt 8y ago
  Generally speaking this stiffness is the result of the tube shapes necessary to achieve similar strength and stiffness of a steel frame while weighing less. A perfect example of this is the Cannondale CAD3. It had a massive downtube and huge (straight) seat stays as well. It was extraordinarily stiff and terribly unpleasant to ride, for most. Cannondale improved that to some degree by using S-shaped seat stays on the CAAD4 making the frame a less-efficient conductor of vibrations. Modern aluminum bikes use hydroformed tubes with optimized shapes and shouldn't really have these problems. Unless you're talking about something with an aluminum fork. That's just a cheap bike. Aluminum forks are terrible.
  - specialist 8y ago
    "hydroformed tubes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WpGsJKVhZY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WpGsJKVhZY Thank you. I kinda always wondered how bike frames were made. This is really cool.
  - johnvanommen 8y ago
    It's rare to see a fork that's NOT aluminum. Even "carbon forks" are typically aluminum forks covered in carbon. Source : I've shortened a lot of forks.
    - halbritt 8y ago
      Eh... Most steerer tubes are aluminum for exactly the reason that you've shortened a lot of forks. In the field, Joe Mechanic is less likely to screw up an aluminum steerer vs. a carbon one. As to what's rare, hell if I know. Aluminum forks are fairly common on low to mid-tier bikes and the cheap ones tend to suck.
  - dsego 8y ago
    Yes, I'm talking about a cheap frame with an aluminum fork.
gameswithgo 8y ago
>I find aluminum is worse than steel. Try to do a blind test on yourself sometime, with the same tires and tire pressures. I don't notice "vibration" at any distance unless its nasty chip seal at which point nothing will save you short of a mountain bike.
- MrMid 8y ago
  I don't think you want to do a blind test on a bike.
  - mrob 8y ago
    You could wrap the tubes in cardboard tubes so you couldn't see what they were made from.
mrob 8y ago
I've done longer journeys that that on a steel frame touring bike with 1.5" tires and I didn't notice any problems with vibration. I think most people complaining about vibration are probably using excessively narrow tires.
anon_cow1111 8y ago
I've done a road trip more than 1000k on a ~$100 aluminum frame and vibration was never even a minor concern. If you're going at very high speed or constant rough ground I can see how it'll get you, but seat design and quality of shifting/braking components were by far the biggest factors.
mancis 8y ago
Great bikes! Ordered a frame form Materia bikes nearly 4 years ago. The bike is still in perfect condition and I am really enjoying it. If we are talking about bike stiffness and vibration damping - the front triangle (Top-tube, Bottom-tube, seat-tube) is made from solid wood, that is why I found the ride much smoother compared to my old carbon or aluminium bikes. - the rear triangle (seat-tube, chain-stay, seat-stay) is made from laminated wood so the rear end for the bike it is really stiff and hard, what is good for performance.
vanderZwan 8y ago
Is this assuming a racing bike or something? I biked 20km back and forth to school daily for six years, and 80km road trips are not something out of the ordinary. I don't think I've ever noticed anything about vibration. But that is in the countryside of the Netherlands, with flat terrain and good roads. The worst thing I ever had was stiff knees for a week after, from inflammations caused by biking in too high a gear for too long.

If you do a road trip more than 80km, you feel the vibration. I find aluminum is worse than steel. With short, daily trips, I don't think people notice vibration.

dsego 8y ago

My 2 cents, steel is better, I've had wrist issues with an aluminum bike that I just don't get with the steel one. It seems to dampen and absorb the high frequency vibrations.

toxik 8y ago
The real solution to vibrations is a thoroughly damped bike, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39uwTykTQk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39uwTykTQk -- it features some next-generation thinking in its spring system.
Fricken 8y ago
I'm loyal to steel because of it's stiffness. It's almost twice a stiff as the next best material, and 20x as stiff as wood, according to the chart in the article. So I don't think wood is for me.
halbritt 8y ago
Generally speaking this stiffness is the result of the tube shapes necessary to achieve similar strength and stiffness of a steel frame while weighing less. A perfect example of this is the Cannondale CAD3. It had a massive downtube and huge (straight) seat stays as well. It was extraordinarily stiff and terribly unpleasant to ride, for most. Cannondale improved that to some degree by using S-shaped seat stays on the CAAD4 making the frame a less-efficient conductor of vibrations. Modern aluminum bikes use hydroformed tubes with optimized shapes and shouldn't really have these problems. Unless you're talking about something with an aluminum fork. That's just a cheap bike. Aluminum forks are terrible.
- specialist 8y ago
  "hydroformed tubes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WpGsJKVhZY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WpGsJKVhZY Thank you. I kinda always wondered how bike frames were made. This is really cool.
- johnvanommen 8y ago
  It's rare to see a fork that's NOT aluminum. Even "carbon forks" are typically aluminum forks covered in carbon. Source : I've shortened a lot of forks.
  - halbritt 8y ago
    Eh... Most steerer tubes are aluminum for exactly the reason that you've shortened a lot of forks. In the field, Joe Mechanic is less likely to screw up an aluminum steerer vs. a carbon one. As to what's rare, hell if I know. Aluminum forks are fairly common on low to mid-tier bikes and the cheap ones tend to suck.
- dsego 8y ago
  Yes, I'm talking about a cheap frame with an aluminum fork.

gameswithgo 8y ago

>I find aluminum is worse than steel. Try to do a blind test on yourself sometime, with the same tires and tire pressures. I don't notice "vibration" at any distance unless its nasty chip seal at which point nothing will save you short of a mountain bike.

MrMid 8y ago
I don't think you want to do a blind test on a bike.
- mrob 8y ago
  You could wrap the tubes in cardboard tubes so you couldn't see what they were made from.

mrob 8y ago

I've done longer journeys that that on a steel frame touring bike with 1.5" tires and I didn't notice any problems with vibration. I think most people complaining about vibration are probably using excessively narrow tires.

anon_cow1111 8y ago

I've done a road trip more than 1000k on a ~$100 aluminum frame and vibration was never even a minor concern. If you're going at very high speed or constant rough ground I can see how it'll get you, but seat design and quality of shifting/braking components were by far the biggest factors.

mancis 8y ago

Great bikes! Ordered a frame form Materia bikes nearly 4 years ago. The bike is still in perfect condition and I am really enjoying it. If we are talking about bike stiffness and vibration damping - the front triangle (Top-tube, Bottom-tube, seat-tube) is made from solid wood, that is why I found the ride much smoother compared to my old carbon or aluminium bikes. - the rear triangle (seat-tube, chain-stay, seat-stay) is made from laminated wood so the rear end for the bike it is really stiff and hard, what is good for performance.

vanderZwan 8y ago

Is this assuming a racing bike or something? I biked 20km back and forth to school daily for six years, and 80km road trips are not something out of the ordinary. I don't think I've ever noticed anything about vibration. But that is in the countryside of the Netherlands, with flat terrain and good roads. The worst thing I ever had was stiff knees for a week after, from inflammations caused by biking in too high a gear for too long.