Kingdom Bikes introduces the 140mm travel Ti ‘Hex’

Hmmmm Nice

For some reason I don’t think that Ti belongs on a full sus bike. No idea why though!

No idea why though!

As aluminum does a better job for much less money

Titanium and steel are super strong which means you can use less material for a bike frame. thinner tubes mean more flexy tubes which can be nice on a hardtail making it more complaint.

Aluminium is much lighter but also not as strong so more material is required in a frame. This makes the frame stiffer which isnt always ideal for a hardtail (unless you’re racing) but it is just what you want for a full suss. You’re not interested in vertical flex as the suspension takes care of that and any lateral flex you have will be accentuated by all the pivot points. This will make the bike feel noodley and also but strain on your pivot bearings and bushes making them wear out quicker.

The only way to avoid this is to beef up the tubes – but the material is much denser than aluminium so the bike will become heavy.

Ti flexes more than aluminium, and generaly you want a stiffer FS frame. It can be built stiff, but then youre paying a premium for Ti when alu would work. There is a school of thought thar stiff is bad though, think about a bike mid corner, you actualy want it to flex sideways to maintain grip, but be stiff verticaly to resist the centripetal forces.

4k for a bike with x-fusion suspension though? I know theyre better than they used to be, but theyre still a bit………………..budget?

I agree, ti full-sus is a bling waste of money. Aluminium or carbon make more sense.

Now the Brigante hardtail, that makes sense.
I rode the prototype 29er version a couple of years ago. Absolute pig to ride uphill, but was so light that hike-a-bike sections were easy and the downhills, oh the downhills, I’ve never had so much fun. 🙂

The X fusion doesn’t bother me but why buy it just looks like a 650b Ti El Guapo that weighs more.

Liteville 301 looks much more appealing to me!

I agree

Kingdom seem to be quite into making things out of titanium that don’t neccesarily make sense, like stems, more or less so they can sell them to ti-addicts.

But you know what? I don’t care, it looks ace.

They probably do it because getting Ti prototypes from Russia or China is much easier than getting steel or alu ones.

Ti flexes more than aluminium

this isn’t true. Titanium has a higher young’s modulus and hence has a greater specific stiffness.

It can be designed to flex as it doesn’t have a (or has a much higher) fatigue limit. Unlike aluminium. This means if you flex titanium but remain below it’s fatigue limit all thinsg being equal it will not break. Aluminium will eventually. but that again depends on intelligent design, i.e. stay under that fatigue limit.

I agree on the pointlessness of ti sussers, al is cheaper, and more suitable.

ti is shiny though. 🙂

I’ve got two of their HTs. Love them!
Very light, strong, great geometry and Chris is an ace guy.
Would love to try one of these. Only heard great things!

I think what they are doing is really interesting, I’d love to swing a leg over some of their creations.

Despite the silly sized wheels that does look very nice

The only full sus Ti bike I’ve seen and wanted instantly. Other than that i’ll stick with ALU and Carbon

http://kenteriksen.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/

http://theteamrobot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/20-says-this-bike-sucks.html

Just got a pair of the bars through. They are ace.

Had one of these out here the other week. It was a very nice piece of kit.

I don’t get these curved tubes, just looks wrong. 😐