You are reading a single comment by @gbj_tester and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@gbj_tester
If you use the same tube diameters and aim for the same stiffness, it is indeed true that steel and aluminium end up weighing almost exactly the same. With more oversized tubes available in aluminium without running into the critical diameter:thickness ratio which makes tube buckling a big problem, aluminium frames can be built as stiff as steel at a lower weight. A 531C road race frame in a medium size can be built at around 1.8kg, which is about where the cheap Taiwanese 6000 series aluminium frames are. At the top end, frames made in Dedacciai U2 or Easton Scandium doped 7000 alloy can be built under 1kg, at the cost of some durability. So, a cheap aluminium frame might actually weigh a bit more than a 531C frame, but a high quality one should be about 500g less.