I havent' been following the Tarmac weight progression. How much weight did they gain when they went semi-aero?Mep wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2019 3:11 pmMy guess is that they'll update the tube shapes for aerodynamics but keep everything else mostly the same, which is not too ground breaking considering we already have the R5 and Tarmac SL6. It's interesting because then Cannondale would lose their place as the lightest widely available frameset, in exchange for an updated but average climbing frameset. It just seems extremely unlikely that they would be able to make the frame +aero/-weight/-price than the SL6. That said, if they can achieve the trifecta, I'd be mighty impressed and would probably go out to buy one.
Otherwise, it would mark the end of an era. At least weight weenies can still look to Focus for hill climb builds.
It doesn't seem like switching from a round downtube, seattube, and headtube to Kamm type truncated airfoils should add much weight, if any, if you do it by cutting off the back portion of the round profile. Improving airflow around the tube junctions and frame/fork junction is a bit of a different story, I suppose, but a more flowing interface actually provides more even stress distribution than the current relatively abrupt transitions from tube to tube, so depending on how much wiggle room they have they may simply be able to drop the wall thickness and spread it over a wider area. There are limits to that obviously, if things are getting so thin as to be intolerant of production variance or normal bumps, surface pressure, and handling.