I don't see any bows the last few years with solid limbs. My Impulse seems to be the last one! Are they just obsolete now? What is the advantage of split limbs? is there one? must be, because everyone has them now.. do tell, Im curious.
I’ve heard a few answers looking into it. From an engineering standpoint it may distribute weight more evenly and splitting them gives a larger area to distribute the weight. Possibly the ability to put more weight on them as well.
Can only flex a solid limb so much before it has delamination issues and cracking. To keep up with the trend of "Speed kills" companies had to resort to split-limb designs in order to get more flex and shorter Axle-to-axle which in turn produces higher speed numbers.
Possibly, wouldn't guess it would lighten them by much but every ounce adds up. I'm sure the engineers have very scientific reasoning behind it. It basically comes down to how much stored energy the different style limbs can hold without failure.
Sota hit on one of the big reasons - bigger cam systems require more clearance and single limb designs just don't work anymore. Additionally, when you look at limb failures I would venture to say the vast majority of them happen on single limb bows, usually in the crotch of the "Y" that holds the cams. Get rid of that point of failure and you have a lot less to worry about. The final thing is that most bows these days have much shorter and wider limbs on them. Not only would a single, wide limb be difficult to manufacture, it would be ugly as sin and add weight to the bow. And the Internet weight weenies would be all over those couple extra ounces. I personally see zero disadvantage to a split limb design and have grown quite fond of how they look.
I'm not sold on this. There were plenty of solid limb bows in the 330-350 fps range 10 years ago, which is where the majority of flagship bows still fall today. The speed of compound bows has made zero significant changes in the last decade.
Where do you believe the major hold-up is to get anymore speed out of these things? Seems like they keep trying new things but are stuck at the same IBO speed ratings. Maybe they've just hit the limit.
We are at the point where it's all just smoke a mirrors now with bow advancements. We peaked about 15 years ago and since then its been all marketing. Until some new advancements in materials come along we are were we are.
I think the biggest benefit is strength. Slightly more material over a larger area. When you draw back the weight isn’t hitting one spot of the riser, it’s pulling down evenly across the whole thing. It also grants more support for the cam. They don’t have the cutout for the cam so they retain their full structural integrity. Only downside I can see is “alignment”. SxS limbs have to be in sync or problems will show up. This is all a personal guess just from looking at how they’re designed and how they function. Think of how hard life would be if we only had one arm? Two makes it so much easier! I personally like the look of split limb bows.
Many companies have pushed the speed boundaries of compound bows - only to find out that people don't like them. Speed bows have generally been more difficult to tune, harder to shoot, have a much harsher draw cycle, shorter brace height, almost no valley and tend to have long-term durability issues. It's not that they can't build them - it's that they can't build them so they're easy or fun to shoot for the average archer. In order to push an arrow out of a bow you need to generate energy first. That energy is generated through the draw cycle by the person shooting it. If you want to get a faster arrow, you need to put more energy into it. Cam design, bow design and materials used do control some of this, but the amount of force you can muster up during the draw cycle controls most of it. So until we're willing to draw 100 lbs or more and deal with all of the problems that are created, I believe 350 fps is going to be near the top end of what compounds are going to shoot. Keep in mind that today's bows are as mechanically efficient as they've ever been. Meaning more of the energy generated during the draw cycle is being pumped into the arrow than ever before. When you look at crossbows that are spitting out 450+ fps arrows it's solely due to draw weight - usually 150 lbs or more - and draw length. But they also take a crank with gearing to get drawn back.
I think that's questionable. While on paper today's bows look very similar to ones from a decade ago, when you shoot them side by side there is a significant difference in how they draw, shoot and feel. They've also made some good headway in how easy they are to set up, adjust, tune, etc.
I am lucky that I get to shoot most new bows side by side, for example the three 2019 bows I owned this year and I still think there are bows from 10 plus years ago that are just as good.
A 2010.5 Elite z28 was like butter, you couldn't not shoot that bow bad if you tried. 06 BT Alliance Hoyt CS Spyder was better then any of their carbons since then. I would argue that e32 and maybe even an answer is better then any of their current models. Chill R is still one best they made. Not a single one of them can't be tuned as good and model today.
