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A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which wheels are fitted. It consists of a head tube, top tube, down tube, seat tube, seat stay and chain stay.
Frame design
The most common frame design is the diamond or double triangle, pictured above. Touring frames tend to be longer, while racing frames are more compact. There are variations on this design, especially on mountain bikes, which require a greater flexibility to absorb shocks from the rough road.
Bike frame materials
These include:
- Aluminum - Very lightweight, but inflexible. If too much flexion is demanded of aluminum, it will fail, i.e. the tube will crack.
- Steel - Flexible, strong but relatively heavy, it is the most common material used in building frames.
- Titanium - Lightweight, flexible, strong. Seems like the perfect material. It is 15 times more expensive than steel, making these frames out of reach of most cyclists.
- Carbon fiber - newcomer, has promise, especially since the fibers can be oriented in such a way as to optimally absorb the anticipated stress. The difficulty is predicting where a stress might be.
Frame size
Frame size was traditionally measured from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat tube. Typical sizes are 21 or 23 inches (approximately 53 or 58 cm) for a European man's road bike or 18.5 inches (about 46 cm) for a man's mountain bike. However, the wider range of frame geometries that are now made have given rise to different ways of measuring frame size; see the discussion by Sheldon Brown in the External Links below.
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