Show us your Titanium! - Ti and Stainless bikes

there are many Ti builders who will make such assertions

as i understand it the cost of butting tubes is very high

Serotta offer double or triple butted framesets and the prices escalate accordingly

my Serotta is double butted, my Mather is plain guage

Mather is probably a tad heavier, but is stiffer around the BB

in reality does it make any difference to me? probably not

so probably look to spend money on a good fit over the extra pennies on butting

but if you really want the best and most bespoke frame then the builders who can and will butt tubes and design the profile to your needs will be making the nicest most dialled in frames for the individual rider

I find these difficult to accept as the words of an engineer.

Well the man's been in the titanium business for a good few years .. Founder of Moots and then leaving to start again as Eriksen Cycles so he has some opinion ..

I don't doubt his experience but is that experience backed by science? Even if he didn't want to do the math, you can't blind-test your own frames.

Finally up(down)graded and got cantis for the Merlin. Not as strong as the trp mini v's, but the control of speed is real nice, plus the frame was designed for cantis, which is err nice. Just whacked the Kenda small blocks on there for next weekend in the mud.

And a recent-ish pic of the Burls. Though has Romin and Enve on there atm, quite like it with the swallow Ti.

I would quite enjoy an evening in that basement of yours...

Re: Ti tube butting.

Steel is butted because the wall thickness required for a good weild is greater than that needed for a stiff tube.

Is the same true of Ti?

My Ti frame will be plain guage. Cant say that bothers me.

Sorry, I asked the question a couple of days ago and neglected to post a response. The opinions proffered seem to suggest that plain gauge ti will be perfect for my needs. Further opinions most welcome. Thanks to all those who responded.

Just to confirm B.

I'll have the Eddy, then Merlin and finally Burls.
When can I expect the first delivery?

Recieved my Ti stem yesterday. It has the same hand brushed finish that my frmae will have. So its being used as a test subject for further polishing.

Spent a few minutes polishinhing it with rubbing paste last night. Came out nice and shiney. But still looking finely brushed. It would take a lot to reach mirror polish I reckon. The equivalent degree of polish on the frame would take an hour or so. Which is about all I'll be able to give it before the desire to build it up will take hold I guess.

Pics?

Got to say I do love the look of highly polished ti on my 3t stem, but it does show up marks and I can imagine a whole frame would look very grubby.

Pics?

Got to say I do love the look of highly polished ti on my 3t stem, but it does show up marks and I can imagine a whole frame would look very grubby.

I agree.

Which is why I'm happy with the brushed-polished look of the stem, and wont try and take it any further. It should'nt really show up light scratching from winter road grit, and will be easy to maintain.

I'll live with grease marks.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5187

Awesome read.

Fugly bike.

The pearl and light blue of the frame is so nice.
Doing the same to the seatpost and stem push it fully into bike porn.

The bars, comedy nokons, and assorted red bits. Damn near push it through to anti.

At least he didnt put the red CK on it.

Doing the same to the seatpost and stem push it fully into bike porn.

Dear lord!

That's exactly where it takes a step too far.

shakes head

One thing I thought which was interesting and never realised was that the butting is done by grinding down the outside of the tubes.

One thing I thought which was interesting and never realised was that the butting is done by grinding down the outside of the tubes.

The other way is to take a sheet and thin the center (by drawing perhaps), then roll, then wield. AFAIK this is the most cost effective. Leaves a seam though.

Saying that the 6/4 tubing wasnt seamless, and they did'nt seem all that bothered about that. I always thought seamless was the real deal. No reasoning behind that though.

I remember when looking into XCAD options for a road frame. A lot of internet experts (or scobles) were pretty down on seamed tubing. It was assumed any butting preformed by XCAD would be via sheets.

Dear lord!

That's exactly where it takes a step too far.

shakes head

I imagine filtering the porn thread for Furry posts would make for interesting viewing.

I always thought seamless was the real deal.

Me too. Again no real reason though. Thinking about it, it sounds along par with wanting caste lugs because they're stronger than cut.

Either way I now want a Lynskey audax-style frame.

i love my 2 lynskeys

A Ti disk braked audax would be nice.

Its a bit of a waffer thin gap in my cycling needs though. So wont be put together any time soon.

i feel the commuto x bike sort of fits the bill for an audax bike, mudguards, rack etc

SF pretty much helped/picked my parts for my audax build. I can't see myself wanting another bike for a while yet.

i feel the commuto x bike sort of fits the bill for an audax bike, mudguards, rack etc

Exactly that.

b'jammin - your Burls looks amazing. I am going to have resist hard not to copy that look.

dj - can u remind us what the commuto x looks like?