Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark McM
Hey, that's a really awesome video! It clearly shows that the fork is flexing (and that the rest of the frame really isn't - especially the rear triangle).
This is going off topic a bit, but -
To my eye, the thing that stands out the most is that it sort of looks like the fork is "pivoting" forward and back at the headset/crown, almost as if there was "hinge" there As the fork blades flex forward and back, there is very little change in the actual shape of the blades. This illustrates something that I keep saying - in most cases the majority of the flex in a fork is in the steerer, (plus a smaller bit at the crown and the tops of the legs), but that the curve in the lower part of the fork adds very little to fork flex.
|
I agree. Most production steel disc forks are going to be very stiff in the legs and only flex at the crown. Rarely, especially now, there are lighter ones that will flex at the legs. This is a soma champs elysses low-trail disc QR disc fork that has very obvious flex at the legs. Probes were mounted 5mm apart at mid-blade eyelet and dropout eyelet. I pushed down on the drops and had the tire compress about 40% with the bike on a bathroom scale that was zinging up and down to about 50 pounds. This is the most compliant fork of any kind I've ridden.
The biggest factor I've found for frame comfort has been the headtube diameter - even a 28.6mm steerer fork in a 1 1/2" headtube is uncomfortable. Same way that 55mm tires cannot fully account for the same large diameter headtube, despite what the marketing and personalities say.
I think most modern steel bikes are terrible because they are designed to meet ISO/CEN testing and nothing else. Velo Orange is a good example of the dark path. What happened to the pass hunter is a shame. The first two iterations were nice, light and responsive bikes that had fair compliance for mass production steel. The current version is heavy and may have the stiffest fork/headtube junction ever produced on a bike meant for pavement. It's an impressive design feat. The ride is, to be charitable, not very good.
