Titanium

forgot to reply to this. sorry. they gave me the quote for just the one frame (shipping of US£150) so i take it there is no min order requirement

Do you have the contact info? PM me!

Corny directed me towards this thread today. The Ghisallo is very, very light for a titanium frame and only really suits a lightweight, sub 65 kg, rider. Does it have the flared cups on the headtube? If so, then avoid it as Litespeed had a production problem that meant these cracked with alarming regularity. The frame is a write off if that happens. They've subsequently gone back to a non-integrated headset design.

I love my titanium frame and am about to take delivery of a new one. If you can afford it then it's the ideal frame material, light, strong and it doesn't corrode.

Someone posted a link to a titanium bianchi track frame, built for a team liquigas rider's attempt at the hour derny record. One of a kind frame for £600. I nearly wee'd and poo'd myself, tried to justify spending the last of my savings, then flushed my laptop down the toilet in order to stop myself buying it.

...here it is:

titanium is sort of nice in theory and I was a big fan of it but the only bike things that
failed on me after short road use were titanium. I had a frame crack at a weld and
then a USE alien seatpost snapped after less than a year road use from new.
I still have a 14 year old Litespeed Mtb thats fine. So I would only buy a very cheap one
as a beater. This whole "will last a lifetime" is a myth.

a nice 'turgidity' when mashing pedals

I think this is the perfect description, in that there's a definite flex under stress, but the energy, rather than being lost, causes the frame to snap back into alignment.

Having said that, the Ti bikes that I've borrowed and ridden lead me to believe that in order to have one that can deal with the explosive forces I like to intermittently generate (in the manner I like them dealt with), Ti would either be too expensive, or (nearly) affordable but too heavy.

If I had a budget like that, I'm pretty sure I'd go for high-end Scandium. But that's just me.

titanium is sort of nice in theory and I was a big fan of it but the only bike things that
failed on me after short road use were titanium. I had a frame crack at a weld and
then a USE alien seatpost snapped after less than a year road use from new.
I still have a 14 year old Litespeed Mtb thats fine. So I would only buy a very cheap one
as a beater. This whole "will last a lifetime" is a myth.

Titanium is immensely difficult to work and only the most highly skilled welder can join ti tubes properly. A lot of cheap ti frames and components fail because the welds are poor. It will last a lifetime if it's properly done.

If I had a budget like that, I'm pretty sure I'd go for high-end Scandium. But that's just me.

I always thought that scandium was just a variation on 7005 alloy, no?

can any roadies shed light on this? (I have a scandium bike and it's fantastic but I've no idea why)

Yes - it alters the grain structure or something. With small amounts of scandium added to the aluminium (I think it's 0.4% for Easton's tubing) you can build a frame as strong as 'normal' aluminium, but with significantly thinner walls and tube diameters - therefore lighter, and you could build in some of that compliancy synonymous with steel to varying degrees, based on intended usage.

aha - thanks...

a friend-of-a-friend ordered a titanium bike from here. this is the factory that builds the van nicholas frames, so possibly the same as corny's bike. you can specify your exact geometry and they build to order. they're very inexpensive.

the frame that the friend-of-a-friend had developed a fault in the welding after a few weeks. he contacted them, and they sent him a new frame right away.