ZR ti fork quick shot

This is how look the Zero Rake Ti fork.
Please note that the frame has been designed for this fork geometry, it is not a standard frame.

No rake is not straight fork!

No rake fork means 0 mm offset!
The wheel axle is in the same straight line as the head tube.

It is a straight fork, yes! but with no offset!

The steering feeling is different than traditional bicycle forks with offset (tradiotional forks: "straight" or curved forks, they have offset)

No offset fork with adapted frame geometry offer a more accurate steering.
Why?
Because the Zero Rake fork wheel axle is not offset, when steering, the wheel stay on the same axle. There is no lateral forces.
A simple way to understand this explanation: Take your bicycle, steer to the left (or the right) and you will see the bike geometry changing as the wheel axis is "offset", the natural thing happening is the bike has to lean toward the opposite side of the wheel direction.

The offset style fork is the current "norm" for two wheelers, but a no rake (no offset) fork with adapted geometry is much more eficient on a bicycle.

The rider has less needs to counter balance his bike when steering it.
Anybody who have climbed a hill road on his bike will know this:

While standing on the pedals, at each stroke of the pedals, the bike is leaned to the left and to the right, the steering mouvement is a suit of zigzags to keep the bike balanced (read: standing)

The Zero Rake concept eliminate the "zigzagging" of the front wheel, which translate as less meters or kilometers depending of the ride! (the shortest road is always straight, right?)
Less distance = more energy saved for faster riding!

Yes!

I really needs to find a name for this new bike, ZR ti is not that much hugly though I would like something a little bit more poetic

New homepage preview

It took long time to make the new homepage but it is finally coming up!
Here is the new DMCX homepage preview:

DMCX

Tell me what you think of it, it is still time to change things

What size is 26" by the way ?

Looking through tire maker catalogs it can be confusing to see that there are 26" road tubular and 26" mtb tires but they will not fit each other rims, why?

The so called 26" road tubular tires are indeed 650c size. This means the rim diameter is 571mm

The 26" mtb size has 559mm rim diameter.

It is a 6mm difference between both size and tires will not fit on different type like a 26" mtb tire on a 650c rim, etc...

Keep moving

The ZR Ti (I really need to find a nicer name for it) concept bike is moving along.

Wheel size, has been decided to be 26" instead of 650c for more practicality.

The brakes will be cantilever type.


Road caliper are made to be light and aerodynamic somehow, but the braking power is not as powerful as Cantilever (or V-brakes)
Cantilever have a kind of "out of date" image since the arrival of MTB as mass market which was fitted with V-brakes and their "more powerful braking"
V-brake are powerful to block the wheel which is pratical for technical off-road riding

Blocking the wheels on a road bike is not practical, we don't want to block the wheel, this is when we lose control of the bike and cannot stop it (this is for this reason ABS is now standard on most cars and some motorbikes)

Well, coming bike to my concept bike.
The braking system will be Cantilver type. It offers best braking modulation with road type brake lever.
Why not Disc brake?
Because disc brake are heavier than rim brakes, also with road bike style brake lever, it is possible to mount only mechanical disc brakes, which are much heavy than hydraulic ones and finally, disc brakes will block the wheels too heasily on steep down hill roads.

Cantilvers are also mounted touring bicycles carrying a lot of weight around the world. This confirm their toughness and reliability.

Finally, the weight/cost performance is also great with Cantilevers compared with road caliper style.