All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

News

BIKE 03/2016
Reading time 0:50 minutes

BIKE explains the world

Reader’s question

I have a Specialized Epic built in 2006 and cycled about 40000 km on it – forest trails as well as Alpcross and marathon races. My question: Can an aluminium frame become soft over time?

Reply by graduate engineer Dirk Zedler, two-wheel expert

"The myth of (aluminium) frames gone soft is nearly as old as the bicycle itself. This cannot happen to metal frames, as the stiffness depends on the material-own modulus of elasticity which doesn’t change during use. This physical law has already been proved by the German special interest magazine TOUR with tests of several frames on dynamic test stands years ago. If, in fact, an aluminium component goes noticeably soft, it already shows incipient cracks and is very close to complete failure. In most of the cases the changing feeling of the rider arises from other factors. It is therefore recommended to check first of all the firm seat and condition of the add-on parts and bearings. The argument ‘aluminium frame has gone soft’ may be helpful to push through the decision to buy a new bike with regard to the housekeeping money; it is, however, not convincing to the expert."

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