hypothetically speccing up a custom frame. I’d always thought I’d go for ti (I’ve got 2 already and love them), but wondering about stainless now it’s becoming more widely available.

So, what are advantages/disadvantages to SS over Ti?

I should imagine it is mainly pub bragging rights although I am sure someone will talk about ‘feel’ and vibration suppression, flexibility and durability etc.

Find the builder you like and trust and ask them

which builder? i have a steel enigma and would defo get them to do me another. difference in weight negligable realistically

How light can steel/ti bikes get these days?

pushing 1kg for a road frame yet?

I think a builder that can listen to what you want and turn that into a bike is more important than the material.
Oh and the color is the most important bit.

I would say if your going to have something custom made id want it to last forever and ive seen a fair few ti frames fail, nothing dangerous but its an awful lot to spend for something with a limited lifespan.

Not thought about a specific builder yet. Possibly a cheap chinese place for the ti, don’t know if they’re knocking out the SS frames yet..

don’t know if they’re knocking out the SS frames yet..

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I’m awaiting a reply to my email enquiry.

Depends on the builder and the tubeset.

I have a 931 road frame built up with a 44 headtube and wide pressfit BB, it’s beautifully stiff and handles brilliantly. It’s far from a sofa though, not bad but most Ti-frames I’ve ridden have been plusher. My priorities are strength and stiffness under power so that suits me just fine.

Obviously any custom builder can spec massive oversized straight gauge tubes for a ti-build and make it as brutally stiff as you fancy but from my experience and gut instinct my preference would be to go Ti for a bike that’s going to be ridden gently over distance and stainless for anything you want to thrash.

Horses for courses.

Brother_Will – Member

I would say if your going to have something custom made id want it to last forever and ive seen a fair few ti frames fail, nothing dangerous but its an awful lot to spend for something with a limited lifespan.

If it’s built to last, it’ll last- ti doesn’t inherently have a bad lifespan, it’s just that some of the big ti manufacturers don’t neccesarily build the most durable frames.

Naming no names 😉 But I reckon if Lynskey made steel frames they’d probably crack too.

http://www.baldwintitanium.co.uk/

Does the ride/feel/weight etc have more to do with the builder and their understanding on the material than thinking about the material in isolation?

My lay understanding is that both materials can be difficult to work with.

I’ve become less and less convinced by steel in their mass produced format but I guess a good builder working in steel wouldn’t have to contend with CEN etc and possible build a frame more akin to the sprightly steel frames of the 90s.

Ted James, brilliant rider and builder, can do you ti also. His welds are so good, Reynolds have him as test welder(cen standard) Not only that but he machines the head tube himself to any spec. Qwerty drop in and see him, he’s only over the hill.

I’m with Guetta…

As far as material properties go and as far as I understand it, Stainless has a higher tensile strength than Ti so they can use thinner tubes for the same strength as ti and thus make a lighter frame. I also think stainless is a fair bit more expensive than Ti and not sure how it rides for mtb. At least neither will rust!

I have an early 90’s 19″ Diamondback mtb frame which looks like titanium (a lot of people think it is) but is made of something called True Temper Lite (steel skinny tubes). When I built it up again 5 years ago, the basic frame weighed 1.7kg which I thought was pretty impressive for an old steel frame. I still use it most days to ride to work and have yet to bend or damage it despite lots of abuse. Don’t really hear about True Temper now, a shame as it’s been great.

http://www.qoroz.com/ are worth a look

Been trying to get hold of a 96 diamond back apex TT lite frame forever. 16 inch blur would be nice! I loved that bike. As you say awesome frame/tubeset.

Been trying to get hold of a 96 diamond back apex TT lite frame forever. 16 inch blur would be nice! I loved that bike. As you say awesome frame/tubeset.

I’ll read over the replies thoroughly later but I’m going to have a similar conundrum when I build my dream commuter in the future.

I suspect the Steel would be better long term. If/when it cracks it’s much more repairable. It could be upgraded with racks/afterthoughts much more readily. Welding S/S isn’t easy, but it has to be a lot more reliable than welding Ti.

Don’t know about that, Enigma did a really tidy job of fixing my Soda… Not cheap, mind.

Aye, if a frame builder is cutting corners to bring the cost down, there will be a less than perfect weld.

Not impossible by any means but we are talking about ir_bandito here. He’ll have a perfect custom bike then decide that it needs modifying to run mudguards/internal cables for Di2/dropper seatpost/kiddie seat/dynamo lights/trailer hitching/belt drive

😀