As with some other sporting industries, the future of cycling is moving away from metals. Continuing advancements in the pace setting aerospace, automotive, and boating industries have nearly assured the role of composites as the structural material of the future.
Other sporting good industries where new materials have supplanted the old, include: tennis, archery, skiing, boating, golf, and fishing. Composites have replaced previous materials and eventually declined in price to widely affordable levels.
New materials replace established ones for many reasons. In sporting goods substitutions occur because a new material out performs an existing one. An example is the tennis racket where wood was once the only material for racket frames. It offered excellent shock absorption, but it swelled and shrank with the weather, warping the frame and changing string tension. Wood that was strong enough to meet the needed criteria was too heavy. Tubular steel and aluminum rackets came into vogue in the early 1970's. They were lighter than wood, were unaffected by the weather, and offered more potential power in the swing. However, the feel of metal didn't suit many players, and many did not like the impact shock these rackets radiated into their hands and arms.
Composite rackets arrived in the late seventies and changed everything. They delivered resiliency and shock damping of wood, and weather immunity of metals. Also, they were light! Within six years, composite rackets became available at all but the lowest price points, and wood virtually disappeared. At present, 95 percent of all tennis rackets are of composite construction.
Composite bicycle frames have been a largely American phenomenon, because the technology emerged from the aircraft and boating industries. Manufacturing of composites requires greater technical expertise and money for product development. Consequently, these products usually must enter the market at the high end. As a result, there have been few high-end American bike companies that have been willing to learn this technology to develop innovative composite framesets.
Many bicycling engineers who have envisioned composite frames haven't enjoyed the proper circumstances to create a widely marketable product. With more people becoming convinced that composites can wring even more performance out of a bicycle, these designs are finally being recognized as a superior choice.
