Frame made with Flax. Discuss! While we see these and bamboo, can’t seem to get one to ride … The industry could make frames out of hemp, if they wanted, but how’s it ride? Wooden like carbon?
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And if you’re running short on your Omega-3 fatty acids you can eat your top tube. That’s convenience on a stick.
It took carbon builders 15 years to tune the ride into something that wasn’t wooden — frames are finally stiff and responsive. And they do it with hugongous bottom brackets, massive OS diameters, and patented wrapping techniques. For example, Mark was on his old Bianchi the other day with EL-OS and his top tube is the size of the chainstay on my ti bike.
So, cool renewable and all, but how does it ride — why do the tube shapes look like steel? Is it even remotely stiff or does it ride like an Old Specialized Epic Allez, which defined the term, “Whip Machine.”
What is the carbon to flax ratio on these tubes? I would guess that, like the Museeux flax bikes, it is still 80 or 90 percent carbon fiber with a small amount of flax. I have seen a few other interesting flax frames beside the production ones from Museeux (Brano Meres for one) and I do think the technology will get more attention as carbon prices increase. But yeah, it doesn’t really seem to be ready for prime time yet.
I don’t know for flax/glass fiber frames like this one but I have heard great stuff about flax/carbon fiber frame. As James said Musseuw frames make those http://www.museeuwbikes.be/item.php?lang=EN
The carbon to flax ratio on the Museeuw bikes doesn’t go any lower than 30% and is as high as 80% on the MF-5. Admittedly the lugs are 100% carbon but the tubes have a decent amount of flax in them.