There can be too much frame flex. While at a friends house for dinner I tried to ride his wife women's style ten speed starting at the bottom of a small but still a hill. I could not get up. I couldn't believe that has good and strong a rider I was then that with my skill and strength I couldn't somehow finesse and power my way up. After 10 or so tries I believed in too much frame flex is not contusive to good climbing or even climbing a hill. Charles Nighbor Walnut Creek, Ca