Every company that manufactures bikes or bike components has a slew of medieval torture devices on hand to make certain that each item that bears the company name meets or exceeds international standards of strength, durability, and safety. Liliana Morgado, head of Lapierre's safety testing, showing off the crowning glory of Lapierre's medieval bike testing devices. This machine has no name, really. It's sole job is to test a frame for strength and durability up to and then beyond the international standards--essentially testing to what is considered "safe" for the public and then to failure to see how much margin of safety there is. Frames are selected at random from each batch to arrive from Lapierre's over seas production facilities and then put to the test on this rack. The test? Slamming a measured force against the frame in imitation of the load a rider would put on thef frame. Rinse and repeat.