Howdy Y’all,
Just back from a nice spin on the Silk Carbon and I was thinking about how light and responsive the bike is. It’s no slug.

The good news is we’ve got all sizes in stock now, so we can provide you with some average actual weights. We’re starting to get a bunch of feedback on the frames, and we’re going to probably post a wee bit of what others are saying soon. We thought it would be nice from people who are not drinking the Ibis Kook Aid. Well, maybe they’ve had a sip, but as Hans said, “they don’t have it running through their veins like we do”. So watch for some testimonials soon, we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the feedback–unsolicited–we’ve been getting from customers and dealers alike.

Since we’ve got all sizes of production bikes in stock now, so we can provide you with some average actual weights.

50 cm——897 g
53————959
55————1001
58————1028
61————1039

Ok, so that’s pretty light. Although they are coming in a tad heavier than originally planned. However, we’ve been working on the strength of the frame, and the strength is WAY higher than we originally thought. We have some actual results for you here from our testing.
Here is a VERY CRUDE diagram of what we did. We’d capture the rear axle in the case of test 1, apply a force in the direction noted and found that it took a whopping 900 pounds of force to fail the frame.

OK, 900 pounds, what does that mean? Not much on its own. Well, except that you’d have to run into a wall with 900 pounds of force in order to fail the frame. That’s a lot. How do we know? By comparison, we took a few well-respected aluminum mountain bike frames (we’re not saying which ones but you’ve heard of them) and failed them in the same manner. Results? Failure usually occurred around the range of 600 pounds. So you can see that the Silk fares very well in this particular test. We’re not saying this is the ultimate test for strength, but it’s a reasonable indicator that the frame is very strong. It also tests an area of the frame (where the head tube meets the top tube) that is most susceptible to failure.

Test 2
We also applied the force the opposite way, which would give you an indicator of the strength not if you were running into a wall but if you were doing Evel Knievel style jumps over the fountain at Ceasars Palace in Sin City.
Actually, more of a Mike Metzger style jump, did you guys catch this one a few days ago? Insane! Not only did he clean the fountain (2nd person ever to do this) he did a backflip and in the process set a world record for distance while doing a backflip. Watch the video>.
To give you an idea of how hard this is and how much more skilled riders are now, When Evel Knievel tried this in 1967 he crashed and spent 28 days in a coma. And he didn’t even attempt a backflip!

I’m not digressing, am I?

So anyway, if you’re into big jumps on your road bike, here’s a test that would give you a rough idea of where we stand on that.

Once again, beyond expectations at 900 pounds.

A Third Test

Now let’s say you like to get big air on your road bike, but land no feet (and you weigh in around John Candy’s tonnage). Here’s another test for you, and we’re pretty happy with the results. I think you might have a problem with seat rails or the seatpost first, before you have a frame failure in this mode.

Ciao,
Pimpy Blogstocking aka chuck

What a dunce I am! I’ve been over at a friend’s house drinking his Grand Cru Burgundy on this holiest of holy tequila holidays.
As Napoleon* would say

Idiot!!

I should be drinking beer! Or tequila! Instead I’m drinking some French swill (thanks Bill!).
As I said, it’s cinco de mayo, which translated from the native spanish to english means

EAT 5 HELPINGS OF MAYONNAISE

So here you go everyone, a little iconographic tribute to this holiday that they don’t celebrate in Mexico but do celebrate here
in the good old USof mAyo.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Pimpy Blogstocking…

*Dynamite

The phones are ringing off the hook here at the World HQ, with all sorts of folks wondering if they will get their Mojo Carbon before the White House gets theirs.

Seems as though the newish Presidential Chief of Staff Josh Bolten has been spouting off a bit lately about the White House getting its Mojo back. Here’s a link, the headline says

Or you can read it on Yahoo News:

Not to worry, people, the White House’s quest for its Mojo will not affect delivery of your bike. The pres is a Trek man, we hear.
He’d probably want it for free, anyway.

Or maybe Bolten means that the President is going to start drinking again. I was at a race in Boulder yesterday, and there was Mojo IPA from the Boulder Beer Company being served up on the sidelines. Maybe this would be a good thing? ! ?

Of course, while we’re on the subject of the White House and Mojo, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the following. Some of you might remember a certain incident with a certain Vice President and a certain Harry Whittington getting peppered in the face by his “friend” Mr. Cheney…
Here’s a Mojo the white house certainly could have used! Well actually, Harry Whittington could have used it.
Check it out, right here, right now, the Mojo Mallard Decoy!

You can even see the model name there on the little pole.