Pro Engineer is generally the industry standard so learn that if you want to be really prepared for a possible career in bike design. Solid works is also used but less so I think.

Learn about kinematics and the forces in the suspension systems and how to manually analyse them, rather than plugging numbers into linkage. If you try and develop your own knowledge and methods, you might not get it all 100% right but you’ll learn a lot.

Pay attention in the material science lectures too, in particular about alloys, carbon fibre and manufacturing techniques.

Where are the details of this bike? Can’t seem to find anything since I imagine it’s being announced tomorrow?

I’ve been tempted by a quadcopter for a while for some alpine singletrack filming. I want one for a gopro or maybe with enough power to lift my Nikon P7100 large compact. I thought the cost was a lot until I saw this:

http://quadcopters.co.uk/dji-phantom-ready-to-fly-quadcopter-570-p.asp

However, since reading this thread it seems one can be built for far less. Is it difficult? Can you buy kits to assemble? Can any of them be folded up and put in a back pack? Sorry for the hijack!

I’d say so yes! The rotors alone are pricey.

The old style levers I think could have some problems if not bled perfectly. The updated levers have solved this. I run them on my Scale 29 and they have so far been excellent and I have not had any issues, although I have only used the bike for hour long forest loops and not any long alpine descents.

If all goes to plan I’ll be on a specific custom build for this race based around a Scott Genius 700 (650B). Maybe I’ll do a separate thread when I get around to making final decisions on which bits.

I’m intrigued to see who pops up on the pro list. I’d also be interested in what everyone is planning to ride….

Entry for me too, super pleased. Over subscribed within 3 seconds!

Doesn’t appear to be much chatter about this on here. I entered, its like a Trans Provence on steroids, sounds awesome!

I have one of these http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/camsports-hdmax-extreme-1080p-helmet-camera.html for sale if you want it for £100. Not used that much.

OK, here’s what I know.
Stating the obvious but, not all materials are equal. Good carbon is high modulus and low/stable resin content. Cheap carbon is low modulus with a higher resin content but it is also produced in such a way that the ratio of resin/carbon is hard to regulate. unstable resin content means unstable strength and weight. Factories that produce for well known brands use better quality materials and have more stringent quality control because this is specified and overseen by the brands. Smaller factories that don’t produce for well known brands use cheaper materials to maximise profits as they are not regulated by a large customer. The give away is the extra weight. The same goes for manufacturing techniques and processes and also design/engineering.

I also know that order quantities from major brands are huge compared to the numbers that are sold direct, therefore factories producing for major brands don’t need to sell direct. Its would be a waste of time. This means factories selling single frames direct are almost certainly not producing for major brands (this might not be fact in every case, only in my experience, but it makes sense no?) which in turn means they have less quality control and regulation.

I would hope that all these cheap frames pass the minimum EN standard tests but could they pass the top performance EFBe tests? I’ve not looked in detail at the websites advertising these frames but do they mention what test standards they pass, if any? Are the layups optimised for stiffness, strength and weight through testing?

I’m not saying don’t buy them, just do your homework and if you do go down this route (I wouldn’t) then buy from a place which has a good reputation amongst the forum dwellers, because that is all you have for peace of mind. I think most of you do this anyway because you’re bike geeks like me, but don’t assume a carbon frame’s a carbon frame and the quality is necessarily comparable.

So that’s based on supposition and your opinion, as opposed to the thousands of happy customers on bike forums everywhere?

No, not at all. It’s based on some fact and a bit of common sense. I’m not saying every small carbon factory that sells direct produces lower quality frames, i’m sure there are some good ones. I’m just saying that these cheap frames are not coming out of the same factories as the majority of the well known brands (although some people still seem to think this) and it is unlikely (but not impossible) that the quality is comparable. In the majority of cases the weight will certainly not be comparable and neither will the warranty support, so the buyer should be aware and do there homework.

Maybe there are thousands of happy customers on forums everywhere (I’m not convinced. Some, but not thousands) that have taken the risk with customs, delivery and quality and purchased direct from a potentially unknown Chinese factory, but compare that to hundreds of thousands of carbon frames produced each year for the big brands.

Us buying direct from the manufacturer are probably paying more than the big names do for theirs…just saying like…

I’m sure you are right but the quantity is not even close. A Chinese factory does not want to be shipping single frames across the world, even if they do make a bit more money on each one. It wants to be shipping full containers out every day/week, which is why the better factories don’t need, or want to sell direct.

Be a bit careful with these cheap carbon frames from China. Some people say that they are all made in the same factories as many brands you see in Europe/America but do you really think factories that produce frames for well known brands need to sell unbranded frames direct to consumers?

I suspect that these small factories selling direct are those that have not been able to obtain orders from major brands for whatever reason (which could just be price but equally it could be due to quality and experience).

Good carbon factories in China have good quality control, a high standard of work and have a lot of experience in carbon engineering which is, more often than not, gained through several years of partnerships with major brands.

Cheap carbon frames are heavy because they usually use cheaper materials, have more metal bonded parts and a heavier layup to account for lower modulus materials and poorer quality workmanship.

You get what you pay for. Just sayin’ like.