Show us your Titanium! - Ti and Stainless bikes

FFS, Sam, he doesn't need any encouragement!

See, I fucking told you so!

Mingers thread >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

never said it was a looker

That's good, 'cos it isn't.

I've slept with worse

FFS, Sam, he doesn't need any encouragement!

hehe

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.

Those are both very very nice!

Dont think i ever saw a Merlin TR works cross before if that is idd what it is.
Saw that the moots stem a few pages back were still moots blasted finish. You could easily get that to match your frames brushed finish if you wanted to.

the nose of your front mudguard is too hard, adjust it.

needs moar spacers. and a bell. and 5 bottle cages. and a frame pump. and a saddle bag. and a bar bag. and panniers. lots of panniers. and a trailer. and a suspension seatpost. and a big gel saddle cover. and 2 more rolls of bartape.

Those are both very very nice!

Dont think i ever saw a Merlin TR works cross before if that is idd what it is.

It's a Tom Kellogg designed, CR Works. It is a lovely frame, beautifully made and a joy to ride. Swap it for your moots if you like ;)

It's a Tom Kellogg designed, CR Works. It is a lovely frame, beautifully made and a joy to ride. Swap it for your moots if you like ;)

Going to have to pass on that offer but its a very nice bike and prolly very rare bike as this is the first i saw and i tend to go look for ti bikes from time to time :)

I think the CR stands for compact road whilst the TR was traditional road. Your look like it has level toptube and if it was a road modell that would be a TR but perhaps they just named all the cross bike CR or maybe a completely different modell/name?

Damn! One day....ha.

Not too sure? It does have the level TT, which I prefer, but definitely (labelled as) a CR.

Hmm i wonder if those are original decals. Seem strange to call it a compact :) and a road bike. Doesent really matter tho does it. Had the fixed version of the TR (seen below) was a very nice riding frame!

Funny how the large majority of all the bikes i ever owned fit into this thread :)

All but a few of these have unfortunetly been sold over the years or id have a nice collection (and a cramped appartment..) One bike in one bike out sux but so does not beeing able to feed yourself, so the rule has no exceptions.

Tuscany wasent superstiff. but very comfy.

Tiarrow monster cross was a beast with pretty od geo. A great do it all bike with a pretty flexy headtube.

Legend was beautifull but was on the small side.

Tiarrow road was pretty light frame but also on the small side. More comfy than racy.

This Tiarrow was built for dad who likes it but do not ride it enough.

My all time favorite the Moots compact. Stiff enough and a great ride. It deserves 2 photos.

Then perhaps the prettiest of them all the Merlin imo. It had the best looking ti seatsays i ever saw. Took a 28-30mm and was abit of a ti frenzy project.

Latest is a Moots pshyclo-x (currently in the classidieds)

Below were 953 stainless steel bikes. Tbh i prefered the 853 bike i had to these. Perhaps not a direct result of tubing tho. Geo etc prolly played a big part as all were bought used and as such was designed for someone else.

IF SSX used an eccentric bb for hollowtech 2 by forwards components as it was designed for gears.

IF SSR was a very nice purple.

Kirk Jks. had some very nice paint

DJ - fwiw your commuto-x bike actually looks pretty good. Dream winter bike (with campag)

Good god man!!! That's one tasty collection, Bjorn.
The Merlin is beautiful, I would sell a kidney for that... and those IF's, woah!

Bloody heck badboybjorn, how many years do those photos span?

Thanks Bjammin. Yeah the merlin was my fav too, to look at atleast. Dident really take to riding fixed unfortunetly.

hmm i dunno. Most in the last 3-4 years or so. Litespeed was my first ti and i think that was like 2007 but dident really crave bikes back then so most came and went since 09 i think. I like building up bikes as much as riding them. Its a blessing n a curse at the same time :)

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.

Pretty far from a mirror finish. But as I paid for hand brush to allow me to buff out scratches from road grit, and trail fodder. I probably should'nt polish too far. Hope to have a big frame shaped piece of Ti attached to this soon :D

So I've scanned through this thread and it seems that there are a couple of custom titanium framebuilders in London or close by.

I'm not interested in a whole frame, but I am interested in a seatpost and straight bar for my new Brompton.

Do you think that any of the framebuilders would be interested in forging them?

My issue with the titanium option isn't just the cost, it's the aesthetic.
My knowledge of titanium parts is next to nothing. Does anyone know how/why/ease it is to get a specific shade of titanium? I've seen everything ranging from stainless steel in colour to what looks like a metallic blue sheen. That isn't just the photographer, is it?
I'd just go any buy an aftermarket Brompton extended seatpost off ebay (I've seen one just crop up for sale), but I'm concerned it will be too chrome like against the rest of the raw steel look of the bike, rather than the drab grey I would be hoping for.

Be interesting to hear some peoples opinions.

Raw steel look isent very specific either in terms of finish.

Moots frames are blasted. It gives a less shiny surface than a brushed frame. More grey if you will. Moots stems are also blasted but the seatposts are brushed.

Brushed ti parts / frames will be very close in finish to stainless steel frames (unless those are polished in wich case they will be more shiny/silvery) Merlin, litespeed and the tiarrow bikes in my previous posts are brushed.

Polished ti is very very shiny and a pita to keep clean.
The Serotta was polished.

Satin ti seems to vary abit between builders. Id say its close to a moots finish but without the "shine".

Some builders call their finish raw ti. This usually means a darker (for ti) grey.

Most if not all ti surfaces becomes less shiny more grey with time. Easy to fix but perhaps thats more what you are looking for anyways?

Easiest finish to maintain is easily brushed. Wich i would say is also the most common finish.

Also if you go for brushed and you scratch it for any reason you can brush the scratches out easily enough.