What's The Deal with Titanium Chain Locks?

Hi, All:

It occurred to me that a chain and lock made out of titanium would be
the lightest and strongest of all...but I don't seem to see any purely
titanium chain locks for sale, only "titanium reinforced" steel chain
locks.

What's up with that? Surely there are those who would pay premium
dollar for a lightweight but extremely strong chain lock made of
titanium. If I understand things correctly, titanium should be
unbreakable, right? I mean, it's the stuff tank armor is made of! But
I read instead that ti locks aren't as strong as steel, actually!

WTF?!


TIA!

NYC XYZ wrote:
Hi, All:

It occurred to me that a chain and lock made out of titanium would be
the lightest and strongest of all...but I don't seem to see any purely
titanium chain locks for sale, only "titanium reinforced" steel chain
locks.

What's up with that? Surely there are those who would pay premium
dollar for a lightweight but extremely strong chain lock made of
titanium. If I understand things correctly, titanium should be
unbreakable, right? I mean, it's the stuff tank armor is made of! But
I read instead that ti locks aren't as strong as steel, actually!

WTF?!

Ti cuts like Alum, not near as strong as steel, and just damn expensive!

-n

--

Llatikcuf-at-gmail-dot-com

Eat the meek!

"NYC XYZ" wrote:

What's up with that? Surely there are those who would pay premium
dollar for a lightweight but extremely strong chain lock made of
titanium. If I understand things correctly, titanium should be
unbreakable, right? I mean, it's the stuff tank armor is made of! But
I read instead that ti locks aren't as strong as steel, actually!

What's Up With Cross-Posting Each Of Your Queries to Four
Different Newsgroups?

Please restrict them to one at a time.
rec.bicycles.tech or .misc would have been the appropriate
venue for this question.

And titanium is awkward to machine yet not as strong as
steel per volume, so it would make for a very bulky bike lock.

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 07:38:09 -0700, NYC XYZ wrote:

It occurred to me that a chain and lock made out of titanium would be
the lightest and strongest of all...but I don't seem to see any purely
titanium chain locks for sale, only "titanium reinforced" steel chain
locks.

And that "reinforcement" is marketing. Titanium is not magic. It is
neither stronger than steel nor lighter than aluminum. It is, however,
stronger than aluminum and lighter than steel.

What's up with that? Surely there are those who would pay premium
dollar for a lightweight but extremely strong chain lock made of
titanium. If I understand things correctly, titanium should be
unbreakable, right? I mean, it's the stuff tank armor is made of!

Not really. Though there seems to be interest in titanium-alloy armor,
your basic tank uses steel. Steels can be much harder than titanium, and
for a bike chain, that is vital -- as long as it doesn't become brittle.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
_`\(,_ | -- Paul Erdos
(_)/ (_) |

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 11:18:23 -0400, "David L. Johnson"
wrote:

Not really. Though there seems to be interest in titanium-alloy armor,
your basic tank uses steel. Steels can be much harder than titanium, and
for a bike chain, that is vital -- as long as it doesn't become brittle.

Well, older tanks use steel. Nowadays you get all the fancy stuff with
composites and kevlar and **** as well. And of course 'reactive' armour,
which is basically explosives slapped all over the outside, though I don't
believe that's in actual use yet, just research.


Jasper

"Jasper Janssen" wrote: (clip)And of course 'reactive' armour, which is
basically explosives slapped all over the outside, though I don't believe
that's in actual use yet, just research.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now we're getting somewhere. When do you think we will be able to get chain
with this "reactive" stuff on it? I can just picture the look on the guy's
face as it blows the jaws off his bolt cutters.

Leo Lichtman wrote:
"Jasper Janssen" wrote: (clip)And of course 'reactive' armour, which is
basically explosives slapped all over the outside, though I don't believe
that's in actual use yet, just research.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now we're getting somewhere. When do you think we will be able to get chain
with this "reactive" stuff on it? I can just picture the look on the guy's
face as it blows the jaws off his bolt cutters.



ROTFLMAO!

Thing is, it's illegal to booby-trap your property. Seriously, there
was some case in the Midwest where some guy booby-trapped his house and
permanently disabled a burglar...the guy had to pay money and got sent
to prison -- despite warning signs about deadly traps!

On 8 Sep 2005 13:33:51 -0700, "NYC XYZ" wrote:

Thing is, it's illegal to booby-trap your property. Seriously, there
was some case in the Midwest where some guy booby-trapped his house and
permanently disabled a burglar...the guy had to pay money and got sent
to prison -- despite warning signs about deadly traps!

Hell, you get sent to prison and fined for the entire productive working
life's worth of earnings if some drunk kid climbs over your fence marked
"warning, empty pool!" and uses your dive board to dive into 6 feet deep
air.

Jasper

In article ,
says...
On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 07:38:09 -0700, NYC XYZ wrote:

It occurred to me that a chain and lock made out of titanium would be
the lightest and strongest of all...but I don't seem to see any purely
titanium chain locks for sale, only "titanium reinforced" steel chain
locks.

And that "reinforcement" is marketing. Titanium is not magic. It is
neither stronger than steel nor lighter than aluminum. It is, however,
stronger than aluminum and lighter than steel.

What's up with that? Surely there are those who would pay premium
dollar for a lightweight but extremely strong chain lock made of
titanium. If I understand things correctly, titanium should be
unbreakable, right? I mean, it's the stuff tank armor is made of!

Not really. Though there seems to be interest in titanium-alloy armor,
your basic tank uses steel. Steels can be much harder than titanium, and
for a bike chain, that is vital -- as long as it doesn't become brittle.

The main military applications for Ti are where weight is vital and they
can put up with the cost, such as certain pieces of aircraft structures.
Most of an aircraft structure, though, is made of aluminum. The
Russians use it for some submarine pressure hulls, because the weight
savings means they can put more stuff in a physically smaller hull.
They also have about 90% of the world's Ti reserves, so it's a lot
cheaper for them than for the rest of the world.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

David Kerber wrote:

The main military applications for Ti are where weight is vital and they
can put up with the cost, such as certain pieces of aircraft structures.
Most of an aircraft structure, though, is made of aluminum. The
Russians use it for some submarine pressure hulls, because the weight
savings means they can put more stuff in a physically smaller hull.
They also have about 90% of the world's Ti reserves, so it's a lot
cheaper for them than for the rest of the world.



Dumbass -

Actually, it's not "a lot" cheaper for them. It's perhaps a tiny bit
cheaper.

Titanium is a very abundant element, the 4th most abundant on earth.
Since the Russians have so much of it, they may have a slight refining
advantage, but not much of one since there's so much of it worldwide.

Most of the cost of refining titanium ore is in the form of energy.
Energy is a commodity. The Soviet Communists were able to spend
outrageous amounts of energy developing titanium hulled subs, but the
Russians are in a free market economy now and they can't afford it.

thanks,

K. Gringioni.