Aluminium frames

Further to my thinking regarding money spent on bikes, are aluminium
frame road bikes pretty much of a muchness? At the lower end of the
scale (sub$2500), I don't imagine that many brands would design a
frame in house, as there would be little to no margin in the sale
after gruppo's and accessories are taken into account. If considering
upgrading a frame, would you need to look at (ballpark) $2k for the
frame and fork before you found a 'better' frame that wasn't just
bought blank and had stickers slapped on it?

Brendo

On Feb 15, 11:43 am, "Brendo" wrote:
Further to my thinking regarding money spent on bikes, are aluminium
frame road bikes pretty much of a muchness?

No. The really cheap ones can be (and some of the expensive ones
too ...), there's a book that comes out of Taiwan or somewhere (I
haven't seen it; but know of its existence) that allows a
'manufacturer' to pick & choose various shapes etc and 'build' bikes
by the numbers from the book, but not all 'manufacturers' use it. The
bigger name brands that I know of don't. Trek & Cannondale I know
don't, they have, at least, their own designers, and all the
Cannondales were, and I think still are, but am not sure about the new
Synapse's, made in the US *except* the CF synapses! Trek's higher end
Al Alloy frames are US made too but the 1x00 series frames are
Taiwanese made. I *think* that Inexa use 'the book', but am not sure,
I don't know enough about other brands to say. 'made in Taiwan'
doesn't necessarily mean thrown together out of the book, although
there's a distinct chance that it is.

At the lower end of the
scale (sub$2500), I don't imagine that many brands would design a
frame in house, as there would be little to no margin in the sale
after gruppo's and accessories are taken into account. If considering
upgrading a frame, would you need to look at (ballpark) $2k for the
frame and fork before you found a 'better' frame that wasn't just
bought blank and had stickers slapped on it?

No. There are good frames at the sub $2k range, and there are
dungers. Go testriding, you'll be able to tell. I have a sub $2k Al
Alloy roady at home that's been very good to me.

Bleve Wrote:

No. There are good frames at the sub $2k range, and there are
dungers. Go testriding, you'll be able to tell. I have a sub $2k Al
Alloy roady at home that's been very good to me.
me too...R2 is an all alloy Columbus Zonal "custom" was heaps under
$2k, (under $1.4K for that matter)... super frame, its big 'cos I am,
but when built up came in under 8.5kilos and its angles, and dimensions
are THE fit... and that's the buzz.


--
rooman

In article . com,
"Bleve" wrote:

On Feb 15, 11:43 am, "Brendo" wrote:
Further to my thinking regarding money spent on bikes, are aluminium
frame road bikes pretty much of a muchness?

No. The really cheap ones can be (and some of the expensive ones
too ...), there's a book that comes out of Taiwan or somewhere (I
haven't seen it; but know of its existence) that allows a
'manufacturer' to pick & choose various shapes etc and 'build' bikes
by the numbers from the book, but not all 'manufacturers' use it. The
bigger name brands that I know of don't. Trek & Cannondale I know
don't, they have, at least, their own designers, and all the
Cannondales were, and I think still are, but am not sure about the new
Synapse's, made in the US *except* the CF synapses! Trek's higher end
Al Alloy frames are US made too but the 1x00 series frames are
Taiwanese made. I *think* that Inexa use 'the book', but am not sure,
I don't know enough about other brands to say. 'made in Taiwan'
doesn't necessarily mean thrown together out of the book, although
there's a distinct chance that it is.

At the lower end of the
scale (sub$2500), I don't imagine that many brands would design a
frame in house, as there would be little to no margin in the sale
after gruppo's and accessories are taken into account. If considering
upgrading a frame, would you need to look at (ballpark) $2k for the
frame and fork before you found a 'better' frame that wasn't just
bought blank and had stickers slapped on it?

No. There are good frames at the sub $2k range, and there are
dungers. Go testriding, you'll be able to tell. I have a sub $2k Al
Alloy roady at home that's been very good to me.


I too have been wondering about aluminium alloy frames because I am just
about to pension off a couple of old 7-speed MTBs and buy another
hardtail.

In another post about the weight of duallies there was a URL to a Scott
bike that has a 7005 frame.

I was in the CBD the other day and saw GT and Norco bikes with 6061
frames.

Any comment on either alloy?

regards,
Darryl

Darryl C wrote:

I too have been wondering about aluminium alloy frames because I am just
about to pension off a couple of old 7-speed MTBs and buy another
hardtail.

In another post about the weight of duallies there was a URL to a Scott
bike that has a 7005 frame.

I was in the CBD the other day and saw GT and Norco bikes with 6061
frames.

Any comment on either alloy?

regards,
Darryl

All I can say is get the fluorescent green ones... they go faster :-)

--
Bean

"I've got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It's got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it" Pink Floyd

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:34:11 +0000, Darryl C wrote:

Any comment on either alloy?

I'd have to double check to be sure, but it's differences in the non-Al
parts of the alloy, and it changes the behaviour of the metal a reasonable
amount.

Off the top of my head 6061 is a touch weaker, but easier to work. This
means you get a slightly heavier bike, but a fair bit cheaper. 7005 needs
heat treating after welding, but is a bit lighter. Then you get into the
funky custom alloys, like Easton.

This is based on some very fuzzy memories, but should give you some
pointers for Googlage.

--
Dave Hughes |
"Until we understand quantum gravity, we're not going to be
running Linux on a black hole" - Seth Lloyd