Are You Faster On A Stiffer Bike?

Stiffer bikes are more efficient aren’t they. Frame flex robs you of power, so stiffer frames therefore transfer more of your power to the back wheel.

A lot of us might take that statement as fact. After all, pros want stiffer bikes, bike manufacturers sell us stiffer bikes because that’s what we ask for and it’s a characteristic that most bike testers praise to the rafters. But is it true?

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The question is then, if frame flex does transfer energy away from your drivetrain, where does it go? Well, maybe right back into it.

We have come down to the Bicycle Academy, the frame building school that is based in Frome, just down the road from GCN HQ. Tom Sturdy, the engineer who looked after the design of the GCN handbuilt bike is the head of education here and he has long been thinking about this frame flex conundrum.

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