Ti, Ti, and more Ti

[Tmogul]

Since many people like the feel of a Ti frame I had some extra questions about this.

Anybody riding a Ti frame with a ti seatpost and a ti stem? (Moots sells both to match their frames.) Any difference or benefits vs using Aluminum components? Also can a ti stem be as stiff as a thomson?

Okay don't laugh at this one but I always wondered if Ti road bars exist and if anybody built them to custom order. Wouldn't such a bar just last for a darn long time? I guess this would depend on whether it was one continuous tube or sections that are welded together. Just wondering since people argue that aluminum bars fatigue and that carbon cracks. (I may be missing key info about manipulating ti tubes here so be gentle :) )

[victork]

I dumped my Carbon SeatPost for a Chorus Ti one and love it. I am using Finish Line Ti Prep for lubrication and it works great. I made the move when my LBS told me to turn my seat post clamp so my new carbon seat post wouldn't crack. I had already been through one carbon post. I also recommend the Thomson Elite post.

[abqhudson]

I ride a Rercord Ti seat post. Doesn't seem too much different from the Al that I used to ride.

Jim

[Tmogul]

Have you guys tried a ti stem? I'm just thinking the longevity off ti components would be better. Who knows.

[terry]

i ride a legend with record ti post & serotta ti quill stem. not sure if it's any one item but i like the whole package-i'm not looking for I-beam stiffness. then again, i must be a 190# wimp cause unlike other guys on this forum i can't feel flex in my post/stem/bars nor my square taper relic of a bb.

[Brian Smith]

Have you guys tried a ti stem? I'm just thinking the longevity off ti components would be better. Who knows.

Out of the ti stem and seatpost on one of my ti Serottas, the one I saw fit to replace was the stem. I required a longish stem to fit the way I wanted to on the bike, and I also strongly prioritize the way a bike feels under quick accelleration attempts over bike weight.

I replaced it with a more rigid steel stem. If the ti stem had been built to prioritize rigidity instead of "lightness," then the ti stem probably wouldn't have been a problem, but good luck finding a stock ti component made with that prioritization...

Even ti components are intended to be upkept, and I wouldn't think that simply because an item is made in ti that it is especially well suited for the long haul. I've never known a bike with a steel stem (that didn't come from a department store) that failed due to corrosion. On the contrary, I have known some disregarded ti components with steel fasteners to develop threading issues during removal and reinstallation.

just my 2 cents...

what was the story again about the machine which had its components all last the same amount of time, then collapse all at once? sounds like something aspired to by most of my motor vehicles...

[brenick]

http://www.aerolite.ca/ says they make them. I'd be interested to know what you think about them if you decide to buy the bars.

[Bradford]

what was the story again about the machine which had its components all last the same amount of time, then collapse all at once?

I can't belived I beat the Doofus to this answer, but here it is:

The Deacon's Masterpiece
by Oliver Wendell Holmes

or The Wonderful "One-Hoss Shay"

A LOGICAL STORY

HAVE you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then of a sudden, it—ah, but stay,
I 'll tell you what happened without delay,
Scaring the parson into fits,
Frightening people out of their wits,—
Have you ever heard of that, I say?
Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.

Georgius Secundus was then alive,—
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
That was the year when Lisbon-town
Saw the earth open and gulp her down,
And Braddock's army was done so brown,
Left without a scalp to its crown.
It was on the terrible Earthquake-day
That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what,
There is always somewhere a weakest spot,—
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,
In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill,
In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace,—lurking still,
Find it somewhere, you must and will,—
Above or below, or within or without,—
And that's the reason, beyond a doubt,
A chaise breaks down, but doesn't wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do,
With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou,")
He would build one shay to beat the taown
'n' the keounty 'n' all the kentry raoun';
It should be so built that it could n' break daown;
—"Fur," said the Deacon, "'t 's mighty plain
Thut the weakes' place mus' stan' the strain;
'n' the way t' fix it, uz I maintain,
Is only jest
T' make that place uz strong uz the rest."

So the Deacon inquired of the village folk
Where he could find the strongest oak,
That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,—
That was for spokes and floor and sills;
He sent for lancewood to make the thills;
The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees;
The panels of whitewood, that cuts like cheese,
But lasts like iron for things like these;
The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum,"—
Last of its timber,—they couldn't sell 'em,
Never an axe had seen their chips,
And the wedges flew from between their lips,
Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips;
Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw,
Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too,
Steel of the finest, bright and blue;
Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide;
Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide
Found in the pit when the tanner died.
That was the way he "put her through."—
"There!" said the Deacon, "naow she 'll dew!"

Do! I tell you, I rather guess
She was a wonder, and nothing less!
Colts grew horses, beards turned gray,
Deacon and deaconess dropped away,
Children and grandchildren,—where were they?
But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay
As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED;—it came and found
The Deacon's masterpiece strong and sound.
Eighteen hundred increased by ten;—
"Hahnsum kerridge" they called it then.
Eighteen hundred and twenty came;—
Running as usual; much the same.
Thirty and forty at last arrive,
And then came fifty, and FIFTY-FIVE.

Little of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year
Without both feeling and looking queer.
In fact, there 's nothing that keeps its youth,
So far as I know, but a tree and truth.
(This is a moral that runs at large;
Take it.—You 're welcome.—No extra charge.)

FIRST OF NOVEMBER,—the Earthquake-day.—
There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay,
A general flavor of mild decay,
But nothing local as one may say.
There could n't be,—for the Deacon's art
Had made it so like in every part
That there was n't a chance for one to start.
For the wheels were just as strong as the thills,
And the floor was just as strong as the sills,
And the panels just as strong as the floor,
And the whippletree neither less nor more,
And the back-crossbar as strong as the fore,
And spring and axle and hub encore.
And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubt
In another hour it will be worn out!

First of November, 'Fifty-five!
This morning the parson takes a drive.
Now, small boys, get out of the way!
Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,
Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.
"Huddup!" said the parson.—Off went they.
The parson was working his Sunday's text,—
Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed
At what the—Moses—was coming next.
All at once the horse stood still,
Close by the meet'n'-house on the hill.
—First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill,—
And the parson was sitting upon a rock,
At half past nine by the meet'n'-house clock,—
Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!
—What do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!
You see, of course, if you 're not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once,—
All at once, and nothing first,—
Just as bubbles do when they burst.

End of the wonderful one-hoss shay.
Logic is logic. That 's all I say.