What do you guys think of this bike, the Roundtail

danimal · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:47 pm

http://roundtail.ca/index.php/main/benefits
Saw this at the SD Custom Show. I would like to know what everyone here thinks of it.

Ratigan · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:03 pm

interesting ....

rmdyman · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:15 pm

Weird but I think it will serve its intended purpose well.

his highness · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:04 pm

road bikes............GAY

that bike...............GAY-ER

sorry, just being honest...and you did ask

Slowgrind · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:13 pm

I think it's really interesting. Makes sense and as long as there is no weight penalty, why not?

In fact, why not make this a mountain bike with a carbon rear with some sort of inserts (like the Specialized road bikes) to add compliance and "travel," as long as you can keep it laterally stiff. I bet there are all kinds of possibilities for potential "suspension" features with a rearend like that.

Interesting....

oldskool · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:26 pm

Cleaning up the puke now..it should be called the WTF bike....

Robo · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:34 pm

There is only one design I can think of that achieves all that in such an elegant package.

Christ D. · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:30 pm

That thing is FUGLY !!!

GP_pilot · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:32 pm

Yep, first thing that came to mind was, oh look, another Softride (fail)bike. Just try showing up with that at the local crit and prepare to be

:lol:

noissiM · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:25 am

Looks Horrible and those dropouts look like they wanna sheer off on the first cobble stone.

DirtyMartini · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:49 am

It may work, but I don't see a performance advantage.

Imagine on a regular frame you bent/arched the seat tube forward, the chain stay down and the seat stay up and and rear, presto! You have turned a triangle into a circle! But the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so they accomplished the same thing by taking, might you say...a round about route ( :lol:

) and therefore used more material to accomplish a weaker design.

Under compression (external forces pushing inwards, like on a bike) triangles are far stronger than circles because you have to overcome a buckling force to deform the a straight bar. However circles are "pre-buckled" in a sense because they are not straight, and therefore weaker under compression. This s why you see bridges made out of a triangles, not circles.

However expansion forces circles are stronger because they evenly distribute the forces across the material. This is why pressurized chambers (propane tanks, scuba tanks, etc) tend to have a rounder construction.

Pretty sure this about looks, not performance.

Regarding looks, it's been said: fugly and gay-er.

EMFC · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:06 am

To each there own but I would never ride that thing

JustRideMike · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:52 am

Good old Softride, they were all the rage in the tri scene back in the 90s. Along with 650 wheels and slingshots. Cervelo came along and forced everyone to pretty much make the same bike with different labels.
M

Robo wrote:

There is only one design I can think of that achieves all that in such an elegant package.

JetRow · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:27 am

Wow... damn hipsters turnig that softride into a "fixie". Rode a softride for a while and the only thing more comfortable is fat tires.

If you want comfort, put some 700 x 35c on your roadbike. Or just ride your mountain bike.

Ld00d · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:36 am

DirtyMartini wrote:

...
Under compression (external forces pushing inwards, like on a bike) triangles are far stronger than circles because you have to overcome a buckling force to deform the a straight bar. However circles are "pre-buckled" in a sense because they are not straight, and therefore weaker under compression. This s why you see bridges made out of a triangles, not circles.
...

this is what i was thinking when they said they used the "strength of the circle". hey-- aren't triangles *much* stronger than circles?

seems to me they just found a gimmick and then tried to back up their decision to move forward with "science".

if bikes are anything like planes where the better looking design is almost certain to fly better, then this thing wouldn't get off the ground.

which, in a round about way (heh), is my way of saying "blech!!!"

What do you guys think of this bike, the Roundtail

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