Read any review of a Starling Cycles frame, or any steel frame in fact, and you’ll see reference to “flex”.
There will be mention that the frame has a certain ‘compliance’ that comes with the material – flex, compliance, twang, ride-feel.
Whatever you call it, we’re all convinced that steel mountain bikes have a certain quality that alloy and carbon ones don’t.
But do steel mountain bike frames actually flex more than carbon mountain bike frames?
Joe has a theory that there’s a bit more going on that we all take for granted.
And because he’s a curious sort, he couldn’t help himself but setup an experiment. We borrowed a Nukeproof Reactor carbon mountain bike frame and tested it head to head with a Starling Cycles Murmur steel frame. Both have similar travel and geometry numbers, so felt like as good a test as any.
First, we tested the flex of our test wheel so we could isolate what influence that has.
Then, we clamped both frames to a big, heavy, flat surface and hung a weight off the back wheel. The idea was to recreate the forces each frame would experience when cornering. We used 20kg of weight, the amount recommended by our friends at EFB who lab-test our frames.
We tested each frame with and without a shock, and each time we measured how much the frame moved, or flexed, carefully recording the results.
We won’t spoil anything by typing out the results here – but hit play and get stuck into the video to find out what we discovered. The results are NOT what we expected!
Don’t forget to leave a comment on the Youtube vid, we’d love to hear what you think, and what you think the results mean.
