2018 Speedvagen Tubing
Have you ever wanted a more in-depth read about whats beneath the paint on a Speedvagen? Below, founder Sacha White writes about the technical details of our tubing, which gives our bikes that signature look and more importantly ride.
SEAT STAYS
Like all of the rest of our tubes at .5 mm our seatstays are ultralight. But wait, there’s more!
There’s a lot going on in our seatstays. First, the curves: they’re sexy, we admit it, but they’re also curved to soak up shock from the road. Imagine you’re holding a small tree branch in your hands. If it’s straight and you’re pushing on both ends, that branch won’t bend. If it has a little curve (like a bow) in will flex under pressure. The same science applies to the rear end of a Speedvagen. With that flex comes shock absorption, giving the bike a springy liveliness and smoothing out the rough stuff.
If you look at the bike from the side, you’ll notice that the seatstay looks a lot thinner down low. That’s because the stay is squashed in that plane. From the back, that lower portion of the stay looks quite wide. We do this to help the bike resist flex from side to side - part of what helps the Speedvagen put power to the pavé.
DOWN TUBE
Our down tube is ovalized vertically at the headtube to deal with the tremendous force that’s transmitted from the road, through the fork and into the frame. It’s then ovalized horizontally at the bottom bracket to help transfer your pedaling power directly to the rear wheel, instead of flexing the frame. These shapes also allow us to run a thinner tube, making it lighter and giving you a more lively ride.
TOP TUBE
The top tube is there to resist flex on the front end. Without it, the bike would be super floppy from side to side.
Our top tube is a larger diameter at front end and a larger diameter makes for stiffer, so it does an even better job of resisting the twisting forces on the front of the bike when you’re standing up and hammering. The top tube then tapers to a smaller diameter at the seat tube to give you more suppleness and comfort.
CHAINSTAYS
A typical chainstay has a long small diameter taper. A smaller diameter means more flex.
In addition to being 4-6 times stronger than a typical steel, our Chainstay retains a large 24mm diameter nearly all the way back to the rear dropouts. Larger diameter makes for a stiffer tube. This means the power is going directly to the rear wheel and the bike has a sensation of jumping forward when you stomp on the pedals and... you are going faster.
HEAD TUBE
The prime example of our form and function approach to design. We use very light material for the main body of the headtube and reinforce the ends to distribute stresses from the rider and the road. These reinforcements taper out to just the right diameter before meeting the headset, making for a beautiful transition. Each headtube is finished by hand and sized to the perfect length for it’s owner.
All in, this adds an hour or so to the process compared to a standard head tube. With the weight savings and the added sexualisimo, this is one of those details that take a Speedvagen frame to the next level.
If you have any questions shoot us an email any time. info@speedvagen.com