The LongBow Flex Stay is a proprietary design of Volagi cycles. The goal of the frame was to overcome the issues of road bikes of that time and to create an efficient yet comfortable ride. This is precisely what was achieved.
The hallmark feature of the Longbow Flex Stays is that it completely isolated the rider from road vibrations. The frame also provided 6mm of movement at the saddle, but only allowed a fraction of movement at the bottom bracket.
The result was that the rider was insulated in a seated position but there was no impact on the drivetrain whatsoever. This allowed for quick and efficient acceleration, similar to that of the race bike, without having to contend with the bumpy ride that typically followed.
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The LongBow Flex Stay made energy absorption while standing possible. This was accomplished while ensuring that the rider still maintained power with the pedals. The oversized bottom bracket and tapered chainstays helped with this.
The LongBow Flex Stay was also adapted to various materials. This included carbon fiber, titanium alloy, and cromoly steel. The manufacturers took a different approach for each of the materials. With the carbon frame, they use a slightly shorter headtube. For the titanium frames, the joint was moved slightly forward from the seat tube. The steel frame was designed with wider tires and had a different joint location altogether from the previous frames.
The cherry on the top of this perfect LongBow Flex design was that it resulted in improved handling. It maintained the superior handling capabilities of a short chain stay design, all while improving the ride quality. The stay being connected to the midpoint of the frame improved lateral stiffness even further. This also made for better power displacement, making Volagi bikes more efficient as well as easier to ride.
