Good evening all,

Just wondering if ti bolts on certain parts like lower crown bolts and pinch bolts on dual forks are ok?

I believe they’re the same strength as steel but wanted to check.

They’re being used for rust resistance more than anything else. And definitely not for weight 🙂

Thanks
TomO

Good enough for Russian migs, good enough for specialized demo

How did you know I had a Demo? Stalker warning is at level 10 😉

If it’s not for weight (and frankly there are cheaper and less costly routes) then use stainless steel instead. 1/10th of the cost and rust resistant.

I replaced everything with stainless I could on my bikes, tarts them up no end.

Thread history in your profile:

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-are-these-parts-that-came-with-my-new-s-works-demo

Turn that stalker level up to Def Con 4. 😉

Haha I forgot my previous thread.

I run stainless at the moment on my trail bike and rust seems to appear even with me using bike spray etc.

Feel like giving ti a go, if I have the same issues at least I can say I tried 🙂

Buy better stainless.

^^ this

If they’re rusting they’re not stainless. Clue’s in the name! Ti is a waste of money really.

Swapping out ‘like for like’sized bolts from steel to titanium alloy can cause flexure problems in highly loaded areas like fork crowns and stem clamps.

I experienced this first hand some years ago installing quality titanium bolts into a Thomson x4 stem and going to Woburn Sands. Despite being set at same torque, my Pro Atherton DH bars felt ‘flexible’, and made frightening creaking noises. I installed the original bolts when I got home and never experienced this problem again.

Steel and titanium bolt of same size / cross section; the steel bolt is stiffer (resistance to loading) meaning a titanium bolt may be a bad choice. Often with components fitted stock with titanium bolts, you’ll see a different size of bolt or longer thread depth.

I only use titanium for fixings like shifter / brake lever clamps, or pinch bolts on derailleurs.

Ti is not a waste of money if you have enough of it
It is the king of metals and sets the standard by which all other metals are judged

I run Ti bolts where I can’t or don’t want to run aluminium ones – ie rotor bolts, mech bolts etc. And steel in anything ‘stressed’.

I only use titanium for fixings like shifter / brake lever clamps, or pinch bolts on derailleurs.

Pah, alu in all of those. 1/10 the cost and 1/2 the weight, and pretty colours!

It is the king of metals and sets the standard by which all other metals are judged

Platinum? Not much use for bolts admittedly!

Ndthornton is wrong. Tungsten is the king of metals. Dense strong and high melting point.

Ndthornton is wrong. Tungsten is the king of metals. Dense strong and high melting point.

If this is true why is my shower gel called Titanium? I used to have a razor called Titanium but it became blunt and I threw it away (clearly not really Titanium). David Guetta claims to BE Titanium in his song?? Parts of my Dad really are Titanium!!

Everyone wants to be Titanium…. Not steel, Aluminum, Tungsten, Platinum

TITANIUM!!!!!!!

Good enough for MotoGp, good enough for me. Fitted where ever possible on my bikes since 2004. Stainless steel in it’s lower grades CAN rust. Put a 304 grade bolt in a saline soloution and watch it turn ginger. Don’t buy cheap grade Ti bolts,some of the quality out there is terrible and I speak from experience. The correct bolts will have the threads rolled not machined / die cut. They are much too good for the purpose but hell they look good. Still have some of my origonal bolts fitted too, from 2004

Go on then, I;m biting. Where can I get some good quality Ti bolts…

Pro Bolt are very good. Avoid Superstar, if they even still do them, I had several and they were dreadful – distorted heads and what not.

Superstar

There are two common grades of stainless bolts A2 and A4 – this will be stamped on the head of the bolt.

A2 is roughly comparable to 304 stainless – and is not suitable for saltwater, etc.

A4 is roughly comparable to 316 stainless, and is suitable for saltwater in certain applications.

A4 bolts/fittings are more expensive, but will not corrode like A2.

(we build stuff for Navy Ships/submarines – so I know a bit about this)

Is there any problem with fatigue in ss due to work hardening?

Stainless Steel can rust, even food grade Stainless Steel like 440B can rust under the right/wrong conditions.

I’ve noticed a lot of products that say Titanium are actually Titanium Aluminium Nitride Coated so it keeps the edge for longer. There are better coatings to use, but they won’t because it will make it last 10x longer. 😉

I’ve forgotten the name of it, but there is a coating you can buy from the states that is used by the US Navy to stop things rusting and it works very well. EDIT: Corrosion X

Totally agree with njee20. ProBolt are very good but not very cheap, they are what I use. Buy a few at a time and you don’t notice it as much. Avoid Superstar.

Pro bolt is who I bought the bolts for my Thomson stem from – we used to sell a lot of pro bolt at freeborn as the boss was a motorbike enthusiast.

Swapping out ‘like for like’sized bolts from steel to titanium alloy can cause flexure problems in highly loaded areas like fork crowns and stem clamps.

I would go with this ^

Remember strength and stiffness are two completely different things. You can alter the strength of material by alloying and processing changes but the stiffness (modulus) will stay the same (well slight change with some alloys). A bolt stretches due to it’s modulus so a lower modulus means clamp etc can open up under load and can lead to fretting of surfaces being clamped.

titanium will be about half, aluminium is about 1/3rd compared to steel. So it would be like reducing an M6 bolt to little over M4

Check you’re not using A2 stainless (generally S304). You should use A4 grade stainless (S316) for corrosion resistance.

Just realised freeagent has said much the same but I’ll leave my efforts here for confirmation ?

Tungsten is the king of metals. Dense strong and high melting point.

Which are exactly the characteristics that make it such a splendid conversation-starter and focus of creativity when made into a Tungsten cube…