All about Bicycle

I like tubeless bicycle tires, but not the sealant

Car's tubeless tires don't need sealant. It is neat. We like neat things.  ---June 14, 2018

Clinch tire is unbeatable

Tubular is lighter, tubeless is more puncture resistant.  But clinch tire is easy to install and uninstall. This kind of easiness is important for recreational riding, training, commuting and so on. You can switch tires for various road conditions and types of  riding and race.


If add sealant to inner tube, clinch tire can be as puncture resistant as tubeless tire.  --- Dec. 22, 2017

Good news about disc brake

Tubular is lighter, tubeless is more puncture resistant.  But clinch tire is easy to install and uninstall. This kind of easiness is important for recreational riding, training, commuting and so on. You can switch tires for various road conditions and types of  riding or race.


If add sealant to inner tube, clinch tire can be as puncture resistant as tubeless tire.  --- Dec. 22, 2017

ME1000 is nimble, not twitchy, and stable. The secret is here

  • Good amount of trail of front wheel and proper head tube angle.
  • Super short rear wheel base
  • Super low bottom bracket, -77mm.  - - Oct. 23, 2017

Hit the Road, Hit the Road

There are quite some articles, videos and discussions about gravel bicycles and cycle-cross bicycles. For most people the differences are minor and not so important, should not be worried too much. For bicycle company A, their gravel bike's bottom bracket may be few millimeter lower, but probably is few millimeter high than company B's cycle-cross bike's bottom bracket. 

Test ride some bikes, buy the favorite one. Hit the road and enjoy the ride!

PS. See our gravel/cx bike next spring. - -  Oct. 02, 2017

Frame Design needs to be Different with Carbon Fibre

Bicycle was born more than one hundred years ago. Steel or aluminum tube is the material for bicycle up to now. But carbon fiber is a very different material with very different manufacturing process. Let's rethink the bicycle design with carbon fibre. - -  Sept. 29, 2017

Racing is Serious, Riding is Joyful

A thought on the influence of UCI rules on bicycle industry. - - Sept. 23, 2017

Crack, not Dent

  • Dent can be a good thing. Because you can see the damage, and the damage is normally local. Just like a big stone chip hits car body (aluminum or steel) and leaves a dent. 
  • Crack sometimes is difficult to see it, and small crack can develop to big crack, which is dangerous. Because it can be broken suddenly under stress without any warning signs. 
  • Carbon fibre frame needs to be handled carefully. Because carbon fibre is prone to have crack rather dent. Exam all carbon fibre products carefully on the bicycle after a crash. Bring the bicycle to carbon fibre professionals to have an examination with proper equipment such as ultrasonic detector if necessary.  - - Sept.23, 2017

Better Than Dope

In early this March a gentleman was thinking about buying a high end bicycle. He consults his friends. One of his friends told him that the enjoyment of riding high end bicycle is 'Better than Dope'. 'I never tried dope though.' he added.'Neither did I, but it must be very true', I smiled.  - -  Sept. 21, 2017

Grades of Tensile strength of carbon fibre

  • ksi - kilo pound per square inch
  • There are only few major suppliers of carbon fibre in the world. Toray and Teijin of Japan, Hexcel of US. 
  • Low end: 300 - 400ksi for less important or cosmetic only parts. 
  • Midium grade: 500 - 600ksi for the widest applications.
  • Aerospace grade: 700 - 800ksi. We use 800ksi grade medium modulus carbon fiber for frame, fork, handle bar, seat post, saddle, steering hood, etc.. Someone said that 800ksi grade is restricted to sell to some areas in the world for national security reason.
  • top grade: 1000ksi and above. It is very expensive and rare, probably can not be reached by civilian applications.  - -  Sept. 20, 2017

How serious is the aerodynamic drag?

  • Researches show more than 90% of ride's energy is for pushing the air when speed is above 25km/h. 
  • Aerodynamic drag is proportional to the SQUARE of the speed. Double the speed, quadruple the energy input.
  • About the 80% of aerodynamic drag is caused by rider's body.  Skin suit, helmet, glasses, shoes, riding position and so on can affect the drag.  Pro riders even remove the hair on their legs and arms to reduce drag. 
  • VASTOS ME1000 is designed to reduce aerodynamic drag and follow UCI rules. - - Sept. 15, 2017

High modulus carbon fiber is better?

  • Understand Modulus
  • Modulus is not the same thing as strength. 
  • High modulus carbon fibre doesn't mean high stiff frame. The layout/geometry of frame, section area of tubes,  lay-up design, wall thickness and so on have more important effects on the stiffness of frame.
  • Brittleness should be avoid. Frame-set and handlebar take impacts. 
  • We use 800ksi aerospace grade high strength medium modulus carbon fiber to make our frame-set, handlebar and seat post, etc.. - - Sept. 12, 2017

About Di2

  • If wireless Shimano shifting is widely available and ignore the cost factor, would you still like Di2? 
  • Since many cyclists love Di2, we will provide Di2 option on next model. - - Sept. 11, 2017

Weight is very important but not everything

  • Groupset, wheel, tire, tube, etc. are common commodities, generally they are the lighter the more expensive. Few handreds of gram could worth few thousand dollars. 
  • What affects the weight of products we are making? The less material (carbon fibre and resin) the lighter. There is two way to do it. First, reduce the surface area of the frame, fork , handllebar, seatpost and so on, that means narrower/thinner tubes or smaller parts.  Second, to reduce the wall thickness of parts. The other methods can be thinner paint/coating, titanium hardware, etc..
  • For our design, we balance the aero performance, rigidness and light weight with other considerations such as durability, maintainability. Weight is not the only goal.
  • Durability is very important for customers who pay a high price tag for high end bicyclces.  Our bicycle is designed and built to last a long long time, not only a racing season. 
  • Because our bicycle are made-to-order, special requirement on weight can be discussed. 
  • Here is the link to for further information. https://twitter.com/VASTOS_bicycle/status/879334638669496320 -- Aug. 21, 2017 

All of our bottom brackets are threaded-in.

Not press-fit.  - - Aut. 20, 2017

Our thoughts on wheel quick release

 

  • In a racing it is quicker to change a bicycle than to change a wheel.
  • In a weekend ride or training, there is no hurry.
  • VASTOS wheel thru axle is lighter and more reliable than traditional quick release. Because of thru axle the wheel is solidly mounted to the bicycle body. Our thru axle design fully compatible to standard road wheels. 
  • There are more innovative wheel designs are coming in near future. To be lighter and more rigid.  - - Aug. 2017

VASTOS

 

  • vast   - English
  • vasto - Latin
  • Also a hint of vastus muscles, the largest muscle group powers pedaling. - - Aug. 2017

Why we make saddle and seatpost in-house?

  • We have the expertise of making carbon fiber products. 
  • The freedom of finding the best solution for customers. Our design is different and unique. Traditional saddle and seatpost design are formed probably one hundred years ago when carbon fiber technology is not available. 
  • mWe design the bicycle as a integrated one-piece system. So the saddle, seatpost and the frame are connected at the very beginning of the design. The seatpost is designed to absorb vertical  high-frequency vibration caused by road impact meanwhile have the lateral flexibility. The saddle on the rubber cushion device can absorb the vertical low-frequency vibration. Comfort of riding on a aero road bicycle is one of the highlights of our design. 
  • We listen to our customers directly and make products to satisfy our customers directly, without middle man.  -- Aug. 13, 2017

Tips of minimizing pain on saddle

  • Fitting is very important. Saddle should not be set too high or to low. When the saddle is set properly, pelvis will not swing too much left and right, thus to minimize the impact and force which will cause pain. Those pro riders do not have  unnecessary body movement to save energy, to be aerodynamic and to have less pain.
  • Stand up every a while.  Stand up when there is a bump or pothole on road. Even on smooth road surface, stand up every a while to release the pressure on soft tissues and allow the blood circulation. 
  • A suitable saddle. Try different saddle width and shape to find the best fit. The rule of thumb is that the saddle should gives good support on seat bones.
  • Good quality and proper size cycling shorts can help.  The shorts should not be too tight or loose. The cushion pad should have enough thickness and firmness to be supportive. A good cushion pad should have different firmness foam layers and even gel insert. A thick but overly soft pad may also cause pain because the excessive foam squeezes soft tissue.  --Aug. 11, 2017