Patent Application
20100096831
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
i. Technical Field
The present invention relates to mountain bike frames.
ii. Background Art
Traditional “diamond” bicycle frames (called the “diamond” frame because when viewed from the side, the top tube, down tube, chain stays, and seat stays enclose a diamond-shaped space) include: a top tube, a relatively short head tube, a seat tube, a down tube, a bottom bracket, a pair of chain stays, a pair of dropouts, and a pair of seat stays. The top tube connects at the front end to the top of the head tube, and extends backward to the top of the seat tube. The down tube connects at the front end to the bottom of the head tube and extends downwardly and rearwardly toward the bottom bracket where the seat tube and the down tube are connected. The pair of chain stays extend rearwardly from the bottom of the seat tube toward the dropouts. The pair of seat stays connect directly or indirectly to the top of the seat tube. The seat stays extend backward from the seat tube to the dropouts. The seat stays generally include two seat stay tubes that converge from the dropouts toward the seat tube. The dropouts support the rear wheel axle. Such frames are used for both road bikes and mountain bikes.
Despite the many developments to bicycles, which have occurred over the past several years, the basic position and/or posture of the rider (and his mass) on top of the bicycle has been changed very little. Typically, the rider stands on the foot pedals, or sits on the seat, and pulls against the handlebars as the pedals are worked. When the bicycle is being ridden uphill, a rider's center of mass is shifted rearward to an extreme, requiring the rider to exaggerate his pedaling causing him to become exhausted quickly. When the bicycle is being ridden downhill, a rider's center of mass is shifted forward to an extreme, again requiring the rider to exaggerate his breaking, which reduces overall bike performance. The present invention has found that by centering the rider's mass on top of the bicycle does not require the rider to exaggerate his movements when riding uphill and downhill resulting in less rider fatigue, greater rider balance, and improved overall bike performance.
iii. Disclosure of Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bicycle frame that obviates or mitigates the above-described disadvantages of prior art.
The principle objects and advantages of the present invention are to, through centering the mass of the rider on top of the bicycle, lower the rotational moment of Inertia, resulting in the riders mass becoming more concentrated where pivoting occurs, which result in greater overall control and optimum performance, not to mention making the bicycle easier to turn, being more maneuverable.
Several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
As will appear in the description following, a person of ordinary skill can by inspection of the drawings ascertain a full description of the invention and of how to make and use it. Preferred embodiments are here described, beginning with a brief description of the drawings.
A preferred embodiment of the CENTER OF MASS TECHNOLOGY FOR MOUNTAIN BIKE FRAMES is illustrated in the accompanying figure (no. 1). The frame is constructed of rigid aluminum tubing welded together and heavily reinforced with open-ended gussets.
