my 94' explosif

[kikideparis]

my first one, bought as frame in 95 and lovely use until these day...


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96' xtr, tange triple butted fork, turbine and RF bb... 20lbs

 

[Anthony]

Nice frame. As it has the Tange Ultimate Superlight sticker, would I be right in thinking that it doesn't have the fluted down tube that most 94 Explosifs had? I'd be interested to know what this type weighs, so did you measure the weight before you built it up?

 

[kikideparis]

you mean the ultrastrong downtube that it should be done with ? yes, I saw somes pictures where fluting appears in the light, not on mine.
in memory it was around 1750 grams for 18'. not so bad
is there some differents type of this frame for 94 ?

 

[Anthony]

The standard form of 94 Explosif had an Ultrastrong down tube and sticker, as per examples below. I have seen/heard of just a few examples like yours, so it isn't unique, nor is there anything wrong with it, but it is unusual.

I don't know why they tried this variation, but I am surprised that your frame is so much lighter than the standard design, which is c1.9kg for a size 18. They used Ultrastrong because they wanted the frame to be stiff enough for racing, so I had assumed that when they made a variant with a lighter/less stiff down tube, they would have added strength/stiffness elsewhere in the design to compensate.

 

[kikideparis]

thanks for these precisions, I should weight again to be sure, maybe it's not so light and rather around 1800grs (sorry for my bad english)

 

[kikideparis]

weight update

after planning new assembly, awaiting a new ahead p2 (thanks to mr ringo), I decided to verify the real weight of this non-fluting ultimate frame...and


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with heavy steel fsa ahead cups...

 

[Anthony]

That's interesting - 1.91kg including say 70g of headset cups, so would be 1.84kg without. My size 16, with standard downtube, weighs 1.81 - implying it would weigh about 1.91 if it was a size 18 like yours.

Obviously it's a bit rough because either your scales or mine could be slightly out, but it implies that your version with the Superlight sticker is c70g lighter, size for size. In turn, that would imply that they didn't change any other tube in the design to add strength/stiffness to compensate for the lighter down tube.