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A...
I've ridden both butted and plain Ti frames and the butted was noticeably nicer to ride. I would go butted if I had the choice... one of the plain gauge frames was noticeably stiffer but lacked something, it was a bit dead... who is making the frame? -
C) Carbon frame
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Depends. How much lighter/heavier, how much cheaper/expensive, how much stiffer/less stiff?
The benefits of butted tubes on titanium frames are far more marginal than on steel frames due to the volume of material required to achieve the necessary levels of stiffness on titanium frames and the fact that the volume of material required generally means that butted tubes aren't really required for decent welds.
In terms of marketing value and saleability, I have two titanium road frames (yes, hi Golf Clubbers) and I've no idea whether they use butted tubes or not. I bought them anyway and I love them both dearly, albeit for different reasons. On balance I'd go for butted tubes, all other things being equal, but the problem is all other things won't be equal. In the great grand scheme of things, I'd say it's a factor pretty far down the list.
I was slightly swayed by the fact my Lynksey R470 disc uses 6/4 ti rather than 3/2.5 tubing though. Even if it does mean fugly weld all down the downtube.
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mattyc
amey
Brommers
@PhilDAS
Opinion poll:
Would you rather
A) Butted Ti frame - Slightly lighter, less stiff, more expensive
B) Straight gauge Ti frame - Slightly heavier, stiffer, cheaper
For a 100% tarmac road bike. On the one hand, stiffness, especially in the bottom bracket and chainstays is what I want, but a hundred or two grams is difficult to ignore and does "double butted" as a marketing term if nothing else, add value/salability?