Comfort and joy

The worry for many riders is that adding compliance means taking away stiffness – something vital in a frame for efficient energy transfer

Light, stiff, aerodynamic. This is the holy trinity of the racing bicycle industry, with its promise of extra speed for less effort. Compliance, on the other hand, seems to be the opposite of these traits, conjuring visions of flexible frames and slow, comfortable rides. In a sport that idolises suffering, some cyclists will always treat comfort with suspicion.

But comfortable can also be fast. If a bike can reduce the amount of vibration coming from the road, it allows you to ride harder for longer, with less fatigue and less wasted energy. Comfort, it seems, is no longer just the preserve of sportive bikes but is an essential part of modern race bikes, and compliance is the science of smoothing out bumps so it feels like you’re riding on air.

‘Compliance is a term used to try to describe how a bike feels when you’re riding it,’ says Martin Meir, founder and managing director of Reap Bicycles. ‘If it’s