Quote:
Originally Posted by zmalwo
honesty if colnago can crimp their tubes on masters, i don't see why the tubes can't be hydro-formed and make an aero steel bike.
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The issue is one of material hardness. Back when Colnago made those tube shapes the material was only slightly harder than warm butter. So they could draw a round tube, put it in a die and squeeze it and get the shape they wanted.
If someone wanted to hydro form a modern high strength steel such as 853 or 953 they would have a very tough time of it. This means that to draw steel into a shape similar to what we see on carbon aero bikes that they would need to use a lower strength material and then use a thicker wall to compensate.
I don't see any of this as impossible and at the same time I see very little market for such a bike.
dave