Titanium vs. aluminium

Robert wrote:
Good question. Which of these rides smoothest on undulating surfaces?

FIETS magazin just published a test they did on road vibrations. They put
loads of electronics on 3 bikes that they rode with the same wheelset.
The bikes were an aluminium bike, a carbon bike and a steel bike if I
remember well.

The carbon bike filtered out road vibrations a bit faster, but it was barely
noticeable.

Their conclusion was: the deciding factor is tyre pression. If you go from 8
to 5 bars they effect is FAR greater then the influence of any frame
material.

Greets, Derk

"Derk" wrote in message
...
Robert wrote:
Good question. Which of these rides smoothest on undulating surfaces?

FIETS magazin just published a test they did on road vibrations. They put
loads of electronics on 3 bikes that they rode with the same wheelset.
The bikes were an aluminium bike, a carbon bike and a steel bike if I
remember well.

The carbon bike filtered out road vibrations a bit faster, but it was
barely
noticeable.

Their conclusion was: the deciding factor is tyre pression. If you go from
8
to 5 bars they effect is FAR greater then the influence of any frame
material.

Greets, Derk

FIETS tested three bikes, which one of them happened to be carbon, the other
aluminium and the last one scandium. From this test you can not draw any
conclusion about the damping abilities of any particular material because
all tubes have different shapes. They just tested three bikes, not three
materials. Fortunately they came to the right conclusion. Material doesn't
matter, it's the tires and tire pressure that counts.

Lou

Derk wrote:
Robert wrote:

Good question. Which of these rides smoothest on undulating surfaces?


FIETS magazin just published a test they did on road vibrations. They put
loads of electronics
---8---cutting results of test

No, no, I don't mean the frames . . . I was referring to the blondes,
brunettes, . . .

/Robert

In article ,
says...


Actually, all things being equal,

If all things are equal, then at least one of the frames is poorly designed.

I would say that ti has some
advantages. First, it is harder to dent. Also, if you have grey
titanium, the bike will look exactly as when your first got it ten
years from now.

That is one advantage.

titanium is more flexible than aluminum so it'll bend
and return to its normal shape. You can toss a ti frame down the
mountain, pick it up at the bottom, polish it, and it'll look new. Do
the same with an aluminum frame, and it'll be dented and scratched.

If you believe this I have a bridge to sell you. The design is much
more important than the material.

I
have some ti eye-glass frames. I can bend them, twist them, play
soccer with them, and do all kinds of things. Unless I break them at
the welds, they are indestructible. also, because they are slightly
more flexible, they absorb the stress that would go into the wleds.
this frames have lsated me for years. In the past I used to change
frames once a year. eye glasses are not the same as bike frames
though.

When they start to make bikes out of the same ti alloy as they do
eyeglass frames, then you might be able to make a comparison.

---------------
Alex

Alex Rodriguez wrote in message ...
In article ,
says...



titanium is more flexible than aluminum so it'll bend
and return to its normal shape. You can toss a ti frame down the
mountain, pick it up at the bottom, polish it, and it'll look new. Do
the same with an aluminum frame, and it'll be dented and scratched.

If you believe this I have a bridge to sell you. The design is much
more important than the material.

Alex: I don't disagree with you about design being very important. My
point is that if you have a properly designed Al and a properly
designed Ti frame for about the same price, and they both fit me, I'll
take the ti. this is a personal choice. I like the idea that grey ti
will look good for a long time. Also, if your hit an Al frame with
something sharp and hard, it'll dent a lot easier than Ti. If you
crash with a Ti frame and with an Al frame, there is a greater chance
that Al will snap. If you throw the properly deisgned Al frame down a
rocky cliff, it'll scratch and dent more than the Ti. frame. This is
not to say that you can have a great Al frame. Don't get me wrong. I
love aluminum. You can get a nice racing aluminum frame that will be
reasonably light for peanuts, sometimes under $100. It was probably
built in a superhuge facility in Korea or taiwan. With a low end
shimano group, you'll end up with a perfecly good racing bike for
nothing. I think that a low cost al frames is more than what anyone
needs in terms of performance. Put a few components and you are ready,
equipmentwise, for anything. So, costwise, i'll take the Al. If I want
something unscratchable and undentable to take abuse at a reasonable
price, I'll take ti.

Andres




---------------
Alex

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 21:50:00 GMT, Robert
wrote:
It depends. Do you prefer to date blondes, brunettes, or redheads?

Good question. Which of these rides smoothest on undulating surfaces?

Or, more importantly, which of these undulates smoothest while
riding?
--
Rick Onanian

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 15:39:39 +0200, Derk
wrote:
I just trashed a Titanium frame that was cheap. It was fabricated in Russia
and the welds showed some discolouring that I discovered a week after I

You _discarded_ a titanium frame because of bad welds? I wish I had
been in your neighborhood on trash day...
--
Rick Onanian

On 10 Aug 2004 17:01:43 -0700, (eflayer2)
wrote:
Get the really expensive cranks so you
don't have to live with all the bending those crummy crank arms always
do. Get triple butted and swaged tubing

Speaking of "cranks" and "triple", don't even consider a triple
crank, especially if you live or ride near any hills. Get a bike
with a 39-52 crank and a 13-22 cassette.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian wrote:

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 15:39:39 +0200, Derk
wrote:
You _discarded_ a titanium frame because of bad welds? I wish I had
been in your neighborhood on trash day...
Not just bad welds: it looks like the welds have rust all over them. Several
people advised me not to continue riding this frame. It was still under
guearantee, so in my case "trashed" means "I stopped using it" (got another
frame on guarantee).

Greets, Derk

Rick Onanian wrote:

: Speaking of "cranks" and "triple", don't even consider a triple
: crank, especially if you live or ride near any hills. Get a bike
: with a 39-52 crank and a 13-22 cassette.

Don't you mean 42-55 and 11-19?

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook