what would be the advantage of the 'S' shaped down tube on this bike?

Surely strongest and lightest is a stright tube.

Frame is Specialized carbon fibre.

less chance of the front wheel hitting the s-tube so you could have longer travel suspension maybe?

Could just be an aesthetic thing maybe?

there's a bike just like that at the other end of my office, used I believe to cycle to work on a tarmac pavement…

A lot of it I suspect is just down to styling and being different, rather than correct engineering practice.

Stlying... and also I assume it allows the shock somewhere level to bolt to....

Nice bike

Pictures a bit small, but if it's CF, I imagine it's at least partly to shape it around the lower crown on the fork, go arse over tit just right and you can do a lot of damage to a frame that's not made out of plastic.

Also, looks modern and fast.

i think its just to look cool

for some reason i'm thinking its more important that the top one is straight, but i don't know why i think that... maybe if it is a little less strong, perhaps that extra little flex dampens out any bumps a bit better?

I believe it is the strongest in CF to laminate the main tube all in once, to avoid a less strong joint at the cranks. To do so, I think they came up with this refreshing S-tube.

[Edited on 13/8/09 by maartenromijn]