We’ve spent a happy day at the Bespoked handmade bicycle show on our home turf of Bristol, and the first thing we want to tell you about is this baroque masterpiece of adjustable bike design from local outfit Robin Mather Cycles.
Unofficially called 'The Beast', its most arresting feature is what looks like a seismograph built into its belly. It’s actually a 'three-channel analogue data recorder', creator Robin Mather tells us, designed to measure the rider’s steering direction, steering torque and lean angle.
The head angle can also be adjusted from 64.5 to 90 degrees in four positions (so 8.5-degree increments), the fork trail is adjustable from 95mm to negative 32mm, and those two adjustments are completely independent. So once you’ve tweaked the head angle and trail, you can take measurements of how you are changing your control of the bike.
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Improved understanding
This took six weeks of solid work by Robin Mather Cycles
"The bicycle is a highly evolved, mature thing, but I had a feeling that I was designing bikes based on convention rather than proper understanding," said Mather. "I know that for a particular kind of bike a particular head angle works, but that’s only because it’s been done so many times before.
"I don’t think it will throw up any radical answers, but I’m hoping that it will improve my understanding of why things are the way they are."
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You can read more at BikeRadar.com
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