This is the 3rd test in our series, road handlebars. We’ve once again brought back our favorite engineer, Jason Krantz. Jason’s a mechanical engineer whose graduate work focused on the intersection of composite materials and finite element analysis. Jason has worked for several companies in the bicycle industry and never fails to amaze us with the depth of his cycling related knowledge. He adds real value to all of the tests we perform.
Thru axles offer superior wheel security and alignment compared to quick release skewers but are complicated by the lack of a unified standard in the bicycle industry, causing frustration for consumers due to varied specifications and insufficient manufacturer information.
Recently we had the pleasure of chatting with Craig Edwards, who aside from being one of the founders and the brain behind Sweet Parts, also designed the eeBrake, and the eeWing, among other parts in the ee product lineup.
In celebration of Fair Wheel Bikes' 50th Anniversary we have dusted off our stiffness testing apparatus to once again measure crank stiffness. This time we have a pile of modern road bike cranksets to see where each crank manufacturer stacks up.
In the past year we've done deflection testing on cranks, stems and road handlebars. Now it's time to introduce the Mtb handlebar testing. For this first round of testing we've tested 50 different handlebars. While each model may not be unique each one does have unique characteristics. For example we may have tested the same bar in different lengths to see how length affects stiffness. We also looked at this with some rise and sweep options as well as different materials.