Sloped or Level Top Tubes?

Albert Lawrence has asked a very interesting question about frame design and which is more popular with professional racing cyclists. There is an easy answer which is; that they have to ride what they are given, we explain this and look at how many frames slope and how many are horizontal

Question: which top tube is preferred in pro. racing straight or sloped or which is more popular.

Hi Albert,

Good question, but most professional riders don’t have any choice in the frame they ride, they know the correct position to give the best power output, but they need to adapt the available frame to fit by choosing the correct length of stem to go with the length of the top tube. So basically your question should be “which is the most popular frame design for frame manufacturers who supply Pro teams?” The answer to that is; sloping as they only need to manufacture five different sizes that should fit everyone. All these frames are “off the peg” and are available in the shops and the teams frames are nothing more special than the one you can buy. The teams get them to ride before they are in the shops, but that is the only difference.

Level Tube

Now that is carbon frames, because the mould is so very expensive and so one off frames are not a viable option. Alloy and titanium frames are made by hand, individually, and can be made to suit the rider, instead of the other way round. If you are a star rider then the frame manufacturer can make a special frame just for you, if the regular frame doesn’t suit, as Specialized has done for Belgian ex-World Champion, Tom Boonen, if you are a team leader and you win lots of races then you might get a frame made just for you.

Sloping Tube

Most of the team bikes now have a sloping top tube; Trek used to have a level tube, but now with the new Madone that is sloping, Specialized, Cannondale, Scott, Orbea, Giant, Cervelo, Ridley and Pinarello are all sloping. Rabobank and Milram ride Colnago, which are not sloping and I have seen Bianchi with and without sloping top tube.

So there you go, the answer is the riders don’t have a choice, but more riders are on sloping top tube designed bikes than horizontal, does that answer your question enough?

Slightly Sloping