This is the same conclusion that a feature in the mid 80s Bicycling also came to if my memory serves me right. I think their research suggested that the largest amount of energy lost by a powerful sprinter on a flexible frame might amount to 1.5% - and that the differences between different frames energy loss wise was insignificant.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
Mike Kone wrote:
> I just went riding with my engineering/physicist friend that works at NIST
> (National Institute of Standards - the research facility that had a Nobel
> Prize winner last year) and he was incredulous when I told him what folks
> have been e-mailing to me. He said of COURSE there is ENTROPY - but it is
> less than one percent and perhaps closer to one tenth of a percent. The
> key is that the entropy energy loss is INSIGNIFICANT to the benefits of
> having SOME flex in a frame. This is why, for years, every engineer I've
> met has been quick to point out that frames DON'T to a SIGNIFICANT extent
> abosorb energy.