A Sirrus case of déjà vu

Specialized's radical new bike isn't the first to try to break free of the diamond-frame template and it won't be the last, 

- Simon Smythe

Is the radical new Specialized Sirrus hybrid bike, which has a hole – officially a ‘compliance junction’ – where the lower part of the seat tube should be, about to usher in a new era of imaginative, creative bike design? Has it finally released us from the bonds of the traditional diamond frame? In a word, no.

Of course, we admire Specialized’s ambition and willingness to innovate, but there have been many brave attempts to break out of the 138-year-old template of JK Starley’s Rover Safety Bicycle, not to mention the triangular gospel according to Sheldon Brown (“the diamond frame is one of most nearly perfect pieces of design known”). Most recently we’ve had the UCI’s Lugano Charter, which came into force in 2000 with “the objective of preserving the culture and image of the bicycle as an historical fact”.

Is it surprising that we always end up back at the two triangles?

Let’s have a look at some of the bikes that have tried to escape from three-cornered tyranny but – usually heroically – failed.

DURSLEY PEDERSEN 

Mikael Pedersen was a Dane who unleashed his invention from the town of Dursley in Gloucestershire in 1894.

Pedersen actually introduced even more triangles, many more tubes and a perineum-punishing hammock seat that goes against everything Specialized’s Body Geometry has since taught us. The design was inspired by cantilever bridge engineering. Victorians loved bridges.