At the end of November of the previous year, when we send out the test invitations, many road bike designers around the world get excited. The TOUR frame test is the ultimate showcase for the road bike industry: no other magazine in the world puts in a comparable amount of effort, tests as many models - this year 26 frames, each in small, medium and large sizes - and publishes all the results afterwards. This raises exciting questions for manufacturers and road bike fans: Is the new frame really as good as expected? What progress has the competition made? How do we compare? Benchmarking", the comparative analysis of all important measurable characteristics, is particularly important for engineers in order to categorise their own work. Even while the test is still running, some manufacturers enquire how their frames are performing - in vain. The results will not be published until this issue is published. prominent failures In principle, any manufacturer can take part in the TOURTest. This time, 67 companies were invited - a good third of them accepted.
The test results for carbon frames can be found below as a PDF download:
Aelus Zeus
Beone Pearl Pro Raw
BMC Racemachine RM 01
Bulls Night Hawk Team
Cannondale Super Six Hi Mod
Canyon Ultimate CF SLX EVO
Cube Litening Super HPC Blackline
Fuji Altamira 1.0
Ghost Race Lector SL
Giant TCR Advanced SL
Haibike Affair RX
Koga Kimera Road
Merida Reacto 909
Müsing Onroad Race
Neil Pryde Diablo
Pearl Grace SL
Poison Hydrogen
Principia RS C40T
Radon Spire
Rose Carbon X-Lite
Schikore Sprint
Scott Addict RC Di2 only
Simplon Serum
Specialised S-Works Tarmac SL 3 Race
Storck Fascenario 0.7
Trek Madone 6 SSL
The Simplon Serum was not rated in the top frame test in the March issue of TOUR. Here is the statement from Simplon.
The Simplon Serum was not rated in the top frame test because the seat dome could not be attached to the seat tube without twisting. We are publishing Simplon's statement below without comment in order to give the manufacturer the opportunity to share its view on the matter. The TOUR editorial team is currently in close contact with Simplon in order to gain further insights into the functionality and reliability of the special clamp design. We will report on this in a future issue of TOUR.
The Simplon statement in full
The trade magazine TOUR invited 67 manufacturers to take part in the big frame test 2011. 26 manufacturers accepted the invitation and took part in the comparison test. A lapse in judgement prevented the SIMPLON SERUM from achieving a top position.
What is the reason?
On two of the four framesets sent in, the seat dome cannot be fixed 100% securely against twisting. For this reason, the SERUM frameset does not receive a final rating instead of a place on the winner's podium, despite its excellent individual scores.
What has happened?
Bikes and frames normally undergo a precisely defined quality control and assembly procedure at the manufacturer SIMPLON in Austria before delivery. Small tolerances in the outer diameter of the seat tube are unavoidable, as the thickness of the paint applied to the frame can vary by 1/10 mm. In addition, the clamping gap in the seat dome of the Serum is very narrow for visual reasons. It is therefore essential that a seat dome with a suitable internal diameter is selected for each frame. This allocation is carried out by our assembly staff. As test frames, the frame sets sent to TOUR did not receive a sales order and therefore did not undergo the usual inspection procedure. As a result, the test frames did not undergo the usual adjustment of the seat dome and frame due to an internal omission. For this reason, the clamping is not standardised and the seat dome cannot be secured against twisting in some cases.
How does SIMPLON react?
It is important to note that although a lack of anti-twist safety is annoying for the customer and should be rectified quickly, it is not a safety-relevant fault. This problem practically never occurred in the 2010 season. We have also not experienced any loosening due to possible settling processes. If there are cases in which a seat dome does not clamp securely against twisting, we can rework it in Hard and thus guarantee a secure hold against twisting. In order to generally minimise the tolerance problem in future and to optimise internal processes, we are looking into the possibility of further reducing the permissible tolerances of the frame and seat dome and will possibly make the clamping gap of the seat dome 0.5 mm wider in future.
Addendum from April 2011: Simplon reacts
The Austrian manufacturer Simplon has responded to the problems with the Monolink saddle clamp attachment on the Serum frame. In the frame test in TOUR 3/11, several of these attachments could not be reliably clamped onto the frame's integrated seatpost. The Serum therefore received no marks. Simplon subsequently admitted a lapse in quality control. As Frank Proksch, Product Manager for the Serum, explained during a visit to the TOUR editorial office, the fault was a tolerance problem. As a first step, the clamping gap has now been manually widened from two to three millimetres on all attachments already produced. A modified attachment presented to TOUR could already be clamped without twisting. The design of the attachment has also been revised. The problem has now been solved by using a different carbon fibre and a modified laminate structure. A universal clamping attachment, with which the Serum was still supplied in 2010, is also still available. According to Proksch, the problem never existed with this attachment.
PICTURE GALLERY
The TOUR lab test is unique in the world - no other bike magazine in the world tests as many models. As promised, we offer additional photos of the tested frames on the Internet:
Downloads:
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