4 ms·
What I find interesting about this is that if you were to show typical folks a TV (out of the box) and an assembled bicycle, and ask which is fragile and which
by jp57 4y ago
What I find interesting about this is that if you were to show typical folks a TV (out of the box) and an assembled bicycle, and ask which is fragile and which is not, essentially everyone would say the TV is fragile and, importantly, the bicycle is not fragile. After all, bicycles are meant to be ridden outdoors, in the rain, through all manner of conditions, bumping over curbs, falling over, etc.
When a TV is packed for shipping it actually becomes somewhat more durable. But it seems that when a bike is packed for shipping it seems it becomes more fragile than when assembled.
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoI don't think it's that the bike is more fragile when shipped, but it's susceptible to different kinds of damage. Bike frames are optimised to be extremely strong in certain directions whilst using the minimum amount of material and certainly with carbon fibre, the frame "tubes" are incredibly strong to riding bumps, but can crack horribly when bumped from the side. Metal frames tend to be more resilient to sideways knocks, but the principle still applies. When shipped in a large rectangular box (the most practical shape for a bike), there's more chance that the impact is going to be on the large face and that's the direction that bike frames are not optimised for.