OK Now Titanium vs: Steel

[gregrams]

Same question: 6'4", 230lbs. Steel or Ti?

[jblande]

seriously? Bamboo is far superior to all three!

[pbjbike]

Time for a Cannondale. :beer:

[gregrams]

Bamboo is for smoking, dude

[TimD]

Is 'gre' short for 104,420? (Nerd humor) :banana:

Certainly Serotta can build you an OS Ti frame which will readily handle your 230 lbs; my Legend was built for someone weighing 250 and is Really Stiff, especially when little old 6'4", 190-lb me is riding it.

You might want to ask about wheels instead, unless you already know the answer...

[gearguywb]

Either, depending on the build. Go custom, explain what you want the bike to do, your size, etc. and then be prepared to wait. I am not far off from you weight, have both ti and steel, and they are both great....otoh, I have ridden both that were noodles. Right tool for the job and all that.

[Tobias]

If many manufacturers can design and build tandems in carbon, aluminum, steel, and titanium that are stiff and strong enough for two riders, then material must not be the limitation. And the same goes for wheels. If wheels can be built to stand up to the demands of tandems, then 230 pounds is not much of an issue.

IMHO everything comes down to not compromising the design to save a little weight. Given no weight limitations, any material can work fine regardless of how large or heavy the rider is.

I prefer titanium, and at your size would ask about SOS (super over size :rolleyes: ).

[veloduffer]

Either would be fine - the correct fit will have more importance than anything else. I highly recommend custom, particularly with your size. It's a bit more expensive at first, but cheaper than buuing a second bike to replace the first one that you dislike.

I have both materials in custom bikes (Seven - ti, Sachs - steel) and enjoy them equally.

A good builder will make a great bike in either material. It's more of trade-off between the two: ti (corrosion resistant, lighter, blander look, more expensive) vs. steel (slightly heavier, cheaper, but prettier if you get lugs).

[sg8357]

Same question: 6'4", 230lbs. Steel or Ti?

Stop reading Buycycling magazine.

[Ahneida Ride]

It ain't the material .... it's the builder .... :beer:

I've ridden all of Serotta's offerings + a few Kelly Bedfords ..

It's the builder .... seek a builder first

My bike is a Legend Ti.

[palincss]

Same question: 6'4", 230lbs. Steel or Ti?

Same answer as before. What do you want from a frame?

If you're starting with the material you are starting in the wrong place.

[Pete Serotta]

Either will do it for you (ti or steel) as well as tig, filet, or lugged.

ti typically will be most costly, somewhat lighter, and a more "mellow" ride if comparing a ti vs steel from the same builder/designer.


I ride either and both put a smile on my face. It is not the material ;)

[Charles M]

damn.

[dancinkozmo]

seriously? Bamboo is far superior to all three!

i like paper mache....its a real bitch in the rain though.

[dd74]

I ride both Ti and steel. The point isn't really the material, as has been said, but the fit and geometry. I would go as far as to say it really isn't even as much about the geometry, but 90-percent the fit.

Now, in your case, with half-back-type weight, I'm not certain I would trust an off the shelf frame, particularly if you're an aggressive cyclist. You should talk to some builders. Your weight could be the...ur...breaking point.

[David Kirk]

Yeah but what is steel fought Ti in a cage match?

Dave

[palincss]

Your weight could be the...ur...breaking point.

Come on - he's 230, not 320.

[slowandsteady]

...the correct fit will have more importance than anything else. I highly recommend custom, particularly with your size. It's a bit more expensive at first, but cheaper than buuing a second bike to replace the first one that you dislike.

+1,000
No matter what material you finally decide on...

[dd74]

Come on - he's 230, not 320.
Maybe on Pandora. :D

[torquer]

Bamboo is for smoking, dude
Just the hemp cloth used at the (ahem) joints.

[RPS]

I ride both Ti and steel. The point isn't really the material, as has been said, but the fit and geometry. I would go as far as to say it really isn't even as much about the geometry, but 90-percent the fit.

Unless you have two custom bikes as I do that are very close to identical. One is steel with steel fork and the other titanium with carbon fork. The biggest physical difference other than material is a little weight.

[Blue Jays]

Currently riding steel, carbon fiber, titanium, and aluminum bikes.
All but the aluminum are custom. All feel great. All would work perfectly fine for a person who weighs significantly more than me.
Don't worry about the material, just determine with which builder you're going to work if you're selecting the custom route.

Lots of great information by using the search (http://forums.thepaceline.net/search.php?) feature, too.

[false_Aest]

1) Lock thread.
2) Find trusted builder.
3) Talk to trusted builder.
4) Trust builder.
5) Do what builder says.
6)Pay $$$.
7)Wait.
a) start thread about carbon vs Al vs steel seatpost
b) start thread about carbon vs Al bars
c) start thread about tubular vs clincher vs tubeless
d) start thread on frame colors
e) start thread on group to buy
f) start thread on which super-light wheels to buy
g) start thread on red vs white/ tequila vs vodka/whiskey vs milk (already done for you)
8) pay rest of $$$
9) receive bike
10) read responses to 7.
11) build bike.
12) send me $50 and Alky Anon. $75 for these 12 steps.

REPEAT IN 356 days. (NOT 365)

[nahtnoj]

Buy whichever one planes.

[AndrewS]

I have yet to hear of a good argument against Ti. It can be made to ride a variety of ways, it doesn't "age" from use or time and requires so much skill and cleanliness to weld that the joint quality is usually as good as it gets.

A custom maker can give you Ti bike that's as stiff as a Cannondale, if you want that. Or you can get one off the shelf that's designed for "racers" and it will probably be plenty rigid for a bigger guy and give you a ride like a lighter ti frame would with a lighter rider. And short of a cataclysmic failure, the frame will never wear out. That isn't true of steel or carbon (though most riders will never wear one of those out, either).

The old argument against ti was cost. But in an age when someone in Italy can ask $2300 for an aluminum frame with toothpaste welds, I'd say that it would be easy to find a "cheap" ti frame for your needs. Less than 2 grand will get you on a Lynskey, for instance.


It is very popular on this forum to make much of the design and professionalism of the builder, and denigrate the material. But road bike geometries these days are really not that different from each other. A quality bike that fits you isn't going to ride incredibly different than anyone else's machine when similar materials in similar amounts are used. And if the frame cost a grand or more, you should get something very unsurprising and useful.

[Peter P.]

Material really doesn't matter. My guess is you're concerned about frame flex under your 230lbs.

If the builder/manufacturer takes into account your concerns and bodyweight, they'll choose the tube diameter which is appropriate.

And it's tube DIAMETER, not the material, which will be the key factor in providing you with the ride quality I think you're seeking.

Due to the differing densities of steel vs. titanium, each will have a different diameter for an equivalent stiffness, so don't compare apples to apples here. Trust the builder.

[palincss]

And it's tube DIAMETER, not the material, which will be the key factor in providing you with the ride quality I think you're seeking.


Thickness has a role, too.

[AndrewS]

"Ride quality" has a lot of meanings, but it is more than just stiffness. No diameter of aluminum is going to make the bike feel "springy". Materials matter, even if there is considerable overlap between them in performance.

Steel and Ti are probably more alike than different in terms of ride quality. But aluminum, especially, will demonstrate the problems of trying to get a bike of one material to ride just like another.

Can you imagine making a pivotless rear suspension mountain bike out of any material aside from Ti?

[ti_boi]

Thickness has a role, too.


That's what she said. :rolleyes:

[sailorboy]

It's pretty biased no matter how you set it up...

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=steel+bicycle+&word2=Titanium+bicycle+

I'm afraid you have no choice but to comply.

[mosca]

Can you imagine making a pivotless rear suspension mountain bike out of any material aside from Ti?fwiw, the Castellano Fango (http://www.castellanodesigns.com/fango.html)

[AndrewS]

Purposely flexing aluminum back and forth. Terrific.

[David Kirk]

Purposely flexing aluminum back and forth. Terrific.

Just like airplane wings. It's not that it flexes, but how much it flexes.

dave

[Louis]

Just like airplane wings. It's not that it flexes, but how much it flexes.


http://bnn.ids.web.boeing.com/admin/bnnimgupload/P8A_wing.jpg

[mosca]

Purposely flexing aluminum back and forth. Terrific.That was my gut reaction as well. After all, aluminum is the only one of the popular frame materials that isn't often used as a spring, right?

But John Castellano is a sharp dude, and you can see how he's designed the chainstay to minimize peak stress by using a thin section and maximizing the flexible length. He's done some other really cool stuff too, worth a little research IMHO.

Anyhoo, as it relates to the OP, more evidence that design trumps material.

[gearguywb]

I rode an Ibis (pre Castellano) with the short travel rear end. Worked great. As Dave said, it is not the fact that it flexes but how much (and in a controlled fashion)