Sauce.

Seriously cuts into motor room though

Is that a zip.?

Pretty much the second coming according to initial reviews. At £3600 for the losers’ model and £7600 for the good one, it’s perfect for riding up your local cobbled high street.

“Bontrager has stepped up with their new IsoCore handlebar.”

Grr. Decide whether a company is singular or plural and stick with it. At least for one sentence, FFS 🙂

This looks great for long-distance rides involving less than perfect surfaces. I really wish manufacturers would put this sort of technology into a ‘hybrid’ style bike. I’d buy something like that in a shot, if it wasn’t road-race type geometry.

Ohh I like that 😀

Biblicaly expensive though.

Vertical compliance isn’t adjustable, the system adjusts how floppy you want your seat tube to be 🙂

So that front decoupler, like a flexstem but lighter?

Is it really vertically compliant or does it just allow the seatpost to flex back an forth?

Front end is interesting, but Look managed that years ago by using a full carbon fork with 1″ steerer, Sprinters need not apply. 😀

Is it really vertically compliant or does it just allow the seatpost to flex back an forth?

15 Minutes late to the party 🙂 Much more marketable that a flexible seatpost though and way more profit in it!

I’m waiting for on the fly adjustable lateral stiffness.

15 Minutes late to the party Much more marketable that a flexible seatpost though and way more profit in it!

I thought the point was that the seatube can bow so as you push the seat down the whole tube bends, rather than just the last 150mm of seatpost. The ‘zipper’ effectively locks the post so you can adjust the amount of bend available.

Look at some versions and you can see the bearing where it pivots, the elastomer just provides the damping.

I thought the point was that the seatube can bow so as you push the seat down the whole tube bends, rather than just the last 150mm of seatpost. The ‘zipper’ effectively locks the post so you can adjust the amount of bend available.

Yep. But presumably there is a certain amount of give at the saddle a given rider will prefer and the flexibility of the seatpost or bowing of the seat tube could be engineered just as well as each other to provide that level of movement desired. The adjustability of the frame is a nifty idea but I’d have thought swapping to a slightly stiffer/ more flexible seatpost is more practical (but less sexy). Just funny how people are reluctant to add 50g to a seatpost but add more weight and money for the same (presumably) outcome. All that said, Fab’s bike is bloody lovely!

Ahh see what you mean now, middling stiffness frame and just swap the seatpost.

(but less sexy).

The photo is in the dark, I’m going with ‘engineered’ rather than ‘sexy’, unless that was supposed to be mood lighting.

🙂

Super stiff frame is fine and there’s plenty of seatposts with varying levels of fore aft flex (up to 25-30mm). I’ve no idea how much the saddle can move with the seatube set to it’s bendiest setting but it can’t be much more than the 30mm already provided by seatposts??? If you are too heavy for the super flexible posts then there’s a range of options to find the one that suits best for the same outcome as the decoupler

I can’t think of anything worse TBH.

Ok, Fabulous went well on it at the weekend, but he’d be good on an IslaBike with 24″ slicks and a basket.

Seat post flex? So, you are hacking hard in the saddle, slam some effort in in the same gear to get over a small rolling bump and lock in, peddle hard on the downstroke to find the seatpost moving backwards as you kick down? 😮
Where does all that power go then? All you’ve effectively done is bend the seatpost and perhaps wait for the recoil? 🙄
Also, the headset sits on a pivot. Ok a pivot thats locked in by an elastomer and pivot arrangement, but still.. put yourself in the scenario I pointed out above and again you are just loosing power through the frame instead of it landing on the cranks.
And, the bar has rubber in it, so that flexes also.
So, if you are out of the saddle sprinting, or climbing, the bars going to wobble, so too the headset, and it’ll feel like a sack of frogs underneath you.

C’mon. The bikes designed for Sportive riders who want a cushioned ride, make that the selling point and they’ll be laughing all the way to an offshore tax haven. Market it as something like a race bike and it’ll go down in history as a design gone too far..

I read the Disc version will fit 32mm tyres but the rim braked one only 28mm’s, I think that is an indication as to the marketing audience. But you can get them in H1 (race geo) so the steerer tube is shorter lending itself to more race fit geo, but also you can get them in slacker geo fits too..

As a bike for a one fits all, it’ll do well in disc mode. Can’t see them selling many rim brake models though.
I do congratulate Trek for putting it in their catalogue though, they’re certainly filling a gap for sportive orientated bikes rather than relying on the Mad’one.

Not for me though, I like my teeth to fall out every ride.

C’mon. The bikes designed for Sportive riders who want a cushioned ride, make that the selling point and they’ll be laughing all the way to an offshore tax haven. Market it as something like a race bike and it’ll go down in history as a design gone too far..

Somewhat less cushy apparently… but the Madone 9 seems to be going down well

“The bikes designed for Sportive riders who want a cushioned ride”

I’m not a sportive rider, but I’d quite like a cushioned ride. As for the negatives you describe; I think it’s fair to say it’s pretty extensively field tested and ‘race proven’. 😀 Have you actually ridden one? I’d really like to read about the experiences/thoughts of those who have.

I ground my teeth everytime he said “vertical compliance” but still worth a watch (whether you think it is bunkum or not)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qdsuzuio14[/video]

Is this the frame Cokie was on about in this thread?
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-wanted-adds-scammer

you are just loosing power through the frame instead of it landing on the cranks.

Unlikely if the pedal to rear axle area of the bike is unchanged, this is just some suspension at the contact points to stop the rider getting beat up. The seatpost/tube flex is probably not far off having the saddle rotate around the BB centre so it may be hard to notice any difference in the pedal stroke, a bit like a thudbuster. Thudbuster + a Flexstem : ) Just ~2kg lighter ..

I have a Domane with an Isospeed setup. It works, it doesn’t seem to detract from putting the power down and all round its a brilliant system. Highly recommended imho for those that want the stiffness of a carbon setup, but a little bit of cush on the seat.

Its a bit false to think of it as vertical compliance in my books. To me, that relates to the rear wheel flexing upwards slightly. Its far better to think of it as a flexing seat tube, where the flex is spread across the whole length of the saddle to crank, rather than just in a flexing seat post. Result is that if you’re seated, then a bump on the rear just gets dulled a little with the seat traveling down and backwards slightly under your weight giving less jarring over a longer ride. My other road bike is a Klein Q Pro, which is a bone rattler and would give me a sore back after a long ride. Not the case with the Domane.

Stand out of the saddle, and the isospeed setup is null and void, it goes back to being a like a fixed joint, and forces transfer normall about the frame like any other road bike, so power isn’t lost. It definitely is not like bouncing along on a full rear suss mtb where you know effort is getting lost to the suspension setup.

Do I think that it needs a zipper adjuster… nah, not really, a bit gimmicky in my books. I dont feel I'[ve ever though “oh, I wish I could dial down the flex a little”

Look at the Roubaix (zertz) and the Domane (isocoupler)

Look at the Defy advanced / pro / whatever it’s called (good carbon fibre engineering)

Ride all 3 back to back, see if there is real difference?

It’s much easier for a salesperson to “sell” a visual frame feature (zertz/isocoupler) than explain carbon fibre layup 😉

It’s much easier for a salesperson to “sell” a visual frame feature (zertz/isocoupler) than explain carbon fibre layup

Probably not just me that is innately suspicious of “gimmicks” like these though, so do they put off as many riders as they attract?

Maybe for bridleslaying but not for a road bike anyway.

It’s much easier for a salesperson to “sell” a visual frame feature (zertz/isocoupler) than explain carbon fibre layup

Remind me….where do you work? 🙂

Joking aside, you have a valid point. Zertz work, that much I’m pretty much sure of, but they are also an easily explained “thing”. As in, “you know those thingies on a tennis racket?….Yes, just like that”. People get it.

Carbon’s clever. Very clever. Using it well it even better, and Giant are indeed very good at it. So are Trek and Spesh, though.

Clever maybe, but not as pretty as a ‘curly Hetchins’
😉