REAL-LIFE SKILLS 5. Read the instructions and practise the dialogue. You are bicycle designers who have to choose the right material for your last project: a folding bike. Discuss the pros and cons of the different materials you could use and decide which would be the most suitable for your project. Your folding bike requirements are: packs down small and quickly; light enough to be easily carried and stored under an office desk; long-lasting; likely to be folded and unfolded a lot: the components need to be up to the job; target customer: and ; commuters city dwellers medium price. Here is the list of the top materials usually employed to produce bicycles, including their characteristics. Use the prompts to complete the task. : strong; long-lasting but rusts fast; it can take more stress over the long run than aluminium; much denser than aluminium and much stronger; ideal for a dry climate; the cheapest material; it isn’t as light as chromoly. 1. Carbon or high-tensile steel : type of alloy steel that gets its name from a combination of the words “chromium” and “molybdenum,” two of the major alloying elements; light; strong steel; very durable; lasts through years of hard use; good flexibility while maintaining its form; more expensive than high-tensile steel. 2. Chromoly steel : light; strong and stiff; ideal for a wet climate; corrosion resistant; fairly lightweight and easy to form into frame; quite cheap but more expensive than steel. 3. Aluminium : lighter than steel but just as strong; high flexibility; maintains its shape; shock absorber; good for heavy riders because flexes without breaking; quite expensive. 4. Titanium : very tough material; very light; fatigue resistant; tends to be brittle so carbon fibre frames are built even stronger than needed; can be moulded into complex shapes; expensive. 5. Carbon fibre : good stiffness; lightweight; comparable to aluminium; higher tensile strength than steel; four times the shock absorbency of carbon fibre; eco-friendly natural resource; a natural composite material longitudinally reinforced by strong fibres; small production so quite expensive. 6. Bamboo 6. Suppose you are starting the production of your folding bike and you want to advertise it. Prepare a draft of an ad to put in the press. Include the main information, a name, a slogan, a price and a sketch. GLOSSARY : : city dweller abitante in città commuter pendolare
