# The New Lemond Spline Test Rides?



## iamandy (Jun 20, 2003)

Hey. has anyone ridden the new aluminum/carbon spine bikes? I'm thinking about getting one as my race bike next year but the steel/carbon was so noodly. Wondering if its stiff enough. I heard they're lighter then the ti/carbon. Looks like a great frame.

Thanks. Andy


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## waterloo (Nov 8, 2005)

Spine!


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## iamandy (Jun 20, 2003)

spline  noun, verb, splined, splin‧ing.
–noun
1.	a long, narrow, thin strip of wood, metal, etc.; slat.
2.	a long, flexible strip of wood or the like, used in drawing curves.

---
Yeah. that really doesn't fit, does it!


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## VaughnA (Jun 3, 2003)

Spine: The accepted term for the Lemond Carbon/Steel and Carbon/Ti bikes. 

Not Spline...


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## iamandy (Jun 20, 2003)

yeah.. uh. 
waterloo already pointed that one out. thanks for adding to the conversation.


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## stevecaz (Feb 25, 2005)

Being that the new aluminum/carbon spine bikes are new for 2007, it will take a little while for new owners to be out there. 

Everyone who has a spine bike, including myself, love them. I wouldn't doubt it if the Al spine is lighter than my Ti spine frame. I was still able to make a 16.25 lb bike, but its about 300 grams heavier than the new triomphe carbon series. The Al bike, if lighter than Ti, might only be 200 grams heavier than full carbon, so not much. 

It should be stiff enough but only a test ride will tell you. My Ti spine is slightly stiffer than my old Cannondale, so based on that I would guess the Al version is plenty stiff. Then again I would have though the steel would have been similar to my Ti, but I don't know how the steel was shaped and butted. 

Spine frames sized 55 and up have relatively small trail (in the low 50s), so the steering especially when standing is more responsive. How you like this is a personnal preference. But it may be possible the dealer could have the 45mm rake fork swapped for a 40mm to increase trail for more steering dampening. Bontrager does make different rake forks although perhaps not in the Lemond style.


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## whateveronfire (Sep 27, 2005)

I'm interested in the answer to this question, too. Especially if someone rides the al/carbon spine and compares it to Cannondale's SystemSix. Guess we'll just have to wait.

Meanwhile, a nice day to spend time with my Zurich...


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## iamandy (Jun 20, 2003)

stevecaz said:


> Being that the new aluminum/carbon spine bikes are new for 2007, it will take a little while for new owners to be out there.


I was hoping a dealer or someone that rode one at interbike might be hanging around and give us all some feedback. Looks like we'll have to wait though.



stevecaz said:


> Everyone who has a spine bike, including myself, love them.


I wouldn't say I love my steel/carbon frame. It works for a 100 mile comfort ride but sprinting feels like a wet noodle compared to my Airborne. I wouldn't race on it. But the aluminum/spine seems like a good race combo. The stiff bb and cheap build of aluminum with some comfort/lightness added from the carbon.


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## stevecaz (Feb 25, 2005)

> I wouldn't say I love my steel/carbon frame. It works for a 100 mile comfort ride but sprinting feels like a wet noodle compared to my Airborne. I wouldn't race on it.



Interesting. Well I guess I haven' t heard from someone with a steel spine bike who used it for competition. All I know is that my Lemond Ti spine was used by Saturn to stomp almost every race in the US, including winning the Tour of Georgia and Mount Washington Hill Climb. Too bad Saturn had to make such ugly crap cars and couldn't afford the team anymore (but new Sky roadster is hot), leaving Lemond without a team to race its bikes. In my densely populated area the only Saturn dealer even went out of business.


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## whateveronfire (Sep 27, 2005)

I guess liking the same bike, doesn't mean liking the same cars. 

My spine LeMond and I were carried to and fro today by a Saturn Vue. Everyone seemed happy.


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## WhiskeyNovember (May 31, 2003)

The aluminum spine frames are the same weight as a titanium spine frame - 2.66 lbs for a 55cm frame. To put it into perspective, that's 3/4 lbs lighter than the steel spine frames.

In terms of stiffness, the aluminum frames are 15% stiffer than steel spine frames, and 18% stiffer than titanium spine frames.


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## iamandy (Jun 20, 2003)

WhiskeyNovember said:


> In terms of stiffness, the aluminum frames are 15% stiffer than steel spine frames, and 18% stiffer than titanium spine frames.


wait. so are you saying the steel frame was stiffer then the titanium? Do you have any info on stiffness of the all carbon frame compared to these? where did you get this info? url?


Stevecaz,
Mine's a 61 cm so that probably has a lot to do with it also. I'm sure in the smaller sizes it's a lot stiffer.


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## vanjr (Sep 15, 2005)

Is it just me, or do others wonder why lemond doesn't offer the AL-carbon spine bikes in higher end groups/components/wheels???


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## stevecaz (Feb 25, 2005)

vanjr said:


> Is it just me, or do others wonder why lemond doesn't offer the AL-carbon spine bikes in higher end groups/components/wheels???


Because they want you to move up to the Triomphe series at that point. Its all marketing, just like any company. What they should do then is offer the AL spine as a frame only option at a reasonable price. 



> In terms of stiffness, the aluminum frames are 15% stiffer than steel spine frames, and 18% stiffer than titanium spine frames.


Yes, where did you get these figures and on what test machine were they performed. Are they EFBe test numbers, or more likely Trek's own test machine numbers? 
And yes, steel can test slightly higher than Ti. But again it does depend on how each material was shaped and worked. For the Lemond its not unlikley. 



> Mine's a 61 cm so that probably has a lot to do with it also. I'm sure in the smaller sizes it's a lot stiffer.


Good point. Mine is a 55cm and I'm sure that makes a difference. Since I think mine is slightly stiffer than my CAAD5 Cannondale, that says alot for the AL Spine frame.


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## WhiskeyNovember (May 31, 2003)

iamandy said:


> wait. so are you saying the steel frame was stiffer then the titanium?


Yes.



iamandy said:


> Do you have any info on stiffness of the all carbon frame compared to these?


Sorry...I don't have the stiffness info on the full carbon frames. 



iamandy said:


> where did you get this info? url?


The numbers originated from Trek's own tests. As far as I know, it's not available online.


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