Ti Frames

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Anonymous's picture
Anonymous

Does anyone know anything about the difference in ride quailty between a 3/2.5 and a 6/4 Ti frame?

Thanks,
Belshi

Anonymous's picture
An anonymous cow! (Christian Edstrom) (not verified)

No. Least of all Seven. The ride of bicycles is determined by design and construction, much more so than material. What alloy of titanium is used in the bike is a function of what looks good in the marketing materials.

Anonymous's picture
Rich Conroy (not verified)
butted

Agreed. Construction makes all the difference.

One important ingredient is whether the tubes are butted (and which tubes? The main triangle? Or the rear triangle also?).

I had a ti cyclocross frame. It did not use butted tubing. It gave a very very harsh ride. I sold it eventually, bought a used Merlin frame, with butted (or double butted, can't remember) and it gave a much much better ride.

There's lots of other stuff that affects the ride, mainly in the manipulation of the tubes: ovalizing near the weld, the shape and diameter of the tubes, etc. etc.
Rich

Rich

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RichardFernandez (not verified)

From what I remember 6/4 has more aluminum in it then 3/2.5.I recently sold two colnago's that I owned both 6/4 but they had a full carbon rear.The 6/4 would be noticably stiffer,lighter and more expensive.Ti gives you a smooth ride and reduces greatly the high frequency vibrations that would occur as an example if you hit a hole or a rough patch on the road as apposed to old aluminum.The reason I say old aluminum is because aluminum frames and bike are more comfortable and stiff these days at the same time due to components and frame construction. I now have an all aluminum frame(carbon fork and components) and I can honestly say that it is very comfortable almost like the Ti bikes I had.Construction matters most.As with any material just make sure it fits you if your gonna spend your loot.Bike fit is most important.I dont care what your bike is made up of you have to be balanced on it to be truly comfy.If you dont stretch you will never be comfotable on your bike,I say this because people go out and spend thousands of dollars on bikes and dont do things like stretching.I recomend Mike Sherry for a bike fit.http://www.performancelabshc.com/

Anonymous's picture
steve tobias (not verified)
3.25 vs 6.4

Just to repeat what was said below it is all about construction and design. However the main difference between the two related to the bike industry is that 3.25 is way more availible because, as an alloy, it's demand is driven by the aerospace industry which alloys a wide variety of sizes to be selected from. There are very limited 6.4 tubes, especially drawn butted tubes for the bike industry to choose from. And this is because the aerospace and defense industry doesn't use it. So when you see a bike claiming seamless 6.4 custom tubes they actually have very few to choose from. Where as the companies that use 3.25, and have the ability to manipulate it in-house, can offer a significantly larger range of butting options for any size frame. Which makes the frame truly custom as they are starting from raw stock. The other advantage of 3.25 over 6.4 is that most 6.4, especially non-round tubes are made from sheets of Ti. They are shaped and then welded which creates a stress point and overall weakens the integrity of the frame, as well resulting in a slightly stiffer ride. (Most of the time.) The main thing you want to look for in a Ti bike is quality. There are a lot of inexpensive Ti frames out there that are not offering the true advantages of quality Ti construction. Hope I didn't go on too long but I bought a Ti frame last year and did a lot of research on Ti. Feel free to ask me any questions about it. Good luck. And lastly if you want a Ti bike go custom and really reep the benefits. I think it's the best.

Anonymous's picture
Pooonga (not verified)

I had a good article I will find and post here.

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Mordecai Silver (not verified)
Here's one
Anonymous's picture
Belshi (not verified)

Thanks for all your input! Definitely very helpful.

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