Comments on: A design competition and other links

By: James Thomas

James Thomas — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:33:26 +0000

Toe overlap with the front wheel is fairly common with road bikes, especially with older criterium racing frames. As Geoff points out, that clearance issue is not usually a problem since the rider does not turn the wheel far enough to make contact during the course of a normal ride.

By: Geoff Apps

Geoff Apps — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:20:48 +0000

AventuraTT: Well, the pedal doesn’t quite hit the fender, but my toes do. But, in practice, they don’t. I can’t explain why they never seem to come into contact. In any event, so what if they do? It’s only a mudguard (fender) extension which is very flexible and thus contact doesn’t affect anything, but the extension performs a very important function very effectively, principally keeping gunge from spraying onto the chain.

As with most of the compromises within the design, all of which have been agonised over repeatedly: the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Question: How does ‘clearance’ help you avoid rocks? There is clearance between the fenders and tyres, there is clearance underneath; hanger height is nearly 15″, How much more clearance do you want, and where would you put it?

You really need to bone up on spinal health; you’ll learn that the spine is at its strongest and most flexible with the correct lordosis; which is impossible to achieve on a ‘conventional’ mountain bike, and most other bikes as well; do you crush your discs when walking, jogging or running?

Having made these comments, I thank you for the last one.

By: Geoff Apps

Geoff Apps — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:56:10 +0000

That’s excellent news ~ people designing bicycles for themselves. The AventuraTT is certainly unusual, but I’m glad to hear it’s by no means unique. Quite a few people like it, but the vast majority think it’s a stupid design. Possibly because they don’t or can’t think for themselves; thus unable to design a bike for themselves.

By: gildas

gildas — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:10:38 +0000

(remplace the PS by EPS, and it should open…)

By: gildas

gildas — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:09:22 +0000

About the Cleland AventuraTT,
Good luck turning, the pedal hits the fender, and if you have feet, so do they… With a bike made for offroad “travelling”, you need clearance, for avoiding rocks and stuff. You might also need a good doctor with that near vertical position crushing the disks in your back.
The rest of the design is pretty good, lots of great ideas.

By: Murray

Murray — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:18:52 +0000

The above mentioned bike competion download ‘eps file’ is incorrect. the file ends in ps instead of eps (does not open)

By: Will

Will — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:28:09 +0000

About the Cleland AventuraTT,
My dad’s hybrid with fat cyclocross tires, his preferred do-it-all bike, looks like this. He even has a short-travel fork and suspension seatpost with spring saddle and “handlebars above the saddle.” This may have been a unique bike bake in the late 70s or early 80s, but I see these bikes frequently on gravel paths and rail-trails. I’m talking about tire tread, tire size, rider position, fenders, even saddle.

I completely understand not finding what you want in XC race bikes, or downhill bikes, but the trail bikes popular is the Southeast feature chain retention devices (great for sliding over those logs he mentions), reliable components, an upright riding position, and tires more suited to the observed motorcycle trials style riding than even his preferred machine. Also look at bikes popular in British Columbia that have similar conditions, but steeper terrain than what you’ll find in the English countryside.

While he mentions the trails in California looking very different from his home trails, muddy trail riding is strongly discouraged in the U.S. That leaves mud performance mainly the domain of, you guessed it, race-type events on race-type machines. Otherwise, riding when it’s wet enough to rut the trails around here and you’ll come back to your car/truck and find someone has let all the air out of your tires.