What's your favorite bike/frame material? And why?
Just seeing what the State of Things Are™ in 2008. :smilewinkgrin:
Just seeing what the State of Things Are™ in 2008. :smilewinkgrin:
Damn. I guess riding with sunglasses is mandatory with that bad boy?Creakyknees said:Chrome!
LMAO. Ouch. Ive ridding nothing but steel and aluminium. But I just bought a carbon bike but have yet to ride it and I am deffinately not a metro typeMR_GRUMPY said:Steel makes a statement
Steel says: It's the legs, baby.
Steel also says: I'm not some sort of metrosexual sissy who shaves up to his neck.
I've never seen a manufacturer "caution about the failure modes of CF"Scooper said:Based on the manufacturers' own cautions about the failure modes of CF, and having witnessed instantaneous catastrophic failure of CF frames and forks resulting in serious injury....
Gosh, you're right carbon is crap. That is why they use it at great lengths in F1 race cars.Scooper said:This post will show my prejudices, and since I say that up front I hope I don't get flamed too badly.
I remain unconvinced that the weight advantage of CF overcomes what I perceive to be its disadvantages. Based on the manufacturers' own cautions about the failure modes of CF, and having witnessed instantaneous catastrophic failure of CF frames and forks resulting in serious injury, I'm just not ready to trust it as a frame material for me. I'm chicken.
I've gotten really beat up by aluminum frames on fifty mile rides, and I just don't like the fact that aluminum has no fatigue limit.
I like titanium. I like the corrosion resistance and ride comfort of titanium, but I also like the aesthetics of lugs. As far as I know, there aren't any lugged Ti frames except maybe bonded ones.
I really like steel, particularly lugged steel. Failures of steel frames typically give the rider some warning before failing catastrophically and causing serious injury. I can ride a good steel frame all day without the kind of fatigue I feel after riding an aluminum frame for a few miles, and the new steel tube sets don't have a significant weight penalty over Al or Ti. Finally, while steel does rust, minimal maintenance and the use of Framesaver will prevent rust from damaging a steel frame for a lifetime, and if that's too much effort we now have CXr and 953 stainless tube sets with corrosion resistance.
I know knowledgable people assert that frames using any of the popular materials can be designed to give any kind of ride, and that in blind tests experienced riders couldn't tell the difference between carbon, steel, titanium, and aluminum frames. I won't argue with these assertions, but I know the difference between the way my fanny feels after hours on an aluminum frame compared to hours on a steel frame.
<asbestos suit on>
No flames, but some points:Scooper said:This post will show my prejudices, and since I say that up front I hope I don't get flamed too badly.
I remain unconvinced that the weight advantage of CF overcomes what I perceive to be its disadvantages. Based on the manufacturers' own cautions about the failure modes of CF, and having witnessed instantaneous catastrophic failure of CF frames and forks resulting in serious injury, I'm just not ready to trust it as a frame material for me. I'm chicken.
I've gotten really beat up by aluminum frames on fifty mile rides, and I just don't like the fact that aluminum has no fatigue limit.
I like titanium. I like the corrosion resistance and ride comfort of titanium, but I also like the aesthetics of lugs. As far as I know, there aren't any lugged Ti frames except maybe bonded ones.
I really like steel, particularly lugged steel. Failures of steel frames typically give the rider some warning before failing catastrophically and causing serious injury. I can ride a good steel frame all day without the kind of fatigue I feel after riding an aluminum frame for a few miles, and the new steel tube sets don't have a significant weight penalty over Al or Ti. Finally, while steel does rust, minimal maintenance and the use of Framesaver will prevent rust from damaging a steel frame for a lifetime, and if that's too much effort we now have CXr and 953 stainless tube sets with corrosion resistance.
I know knowledgable people assert that frames using any of the popular materials can be designed to give any kind of ride, and that in blind tests experienced riders couldn't tell the difference between carbon, steel, titanium, and aluminum frames. I won't argue with these assertions, but I know the difference between the way my fanny feels after hours on an aluminum frame compared to hours on a steel frame.
<ASBESTOS on suit>
Last forever seems like a pretty bold statement!rkb said:Carbon fiber, light, strong, when done right will last forever.