Please do not answer this if you would not replace alloy or steel with Ti…I recognise that some of you are not a ‘tart’, etc.

Assuming you would not mind paying the premium for Ti, what bolts would you replace alloy of steek with Ti?

Chainring bolts?
Disc rotor bolts?
Stem?
Brake caliper mounts?

I’m not really sure what you’re asking…

Alloy bolts are far lighter (and as they come in pretty colours tartier than ti). Seeing as they’re pretty fragile very few components come with alu bolts, so IMO going from alu to ti is not an upgrade.

I would (and do) put ti bolts in my rotors, stem and brake calipers. I would not bother with ti chainring bolts, and I’d be happy running 3 alu/3 ti on the rotor bolts. Would also happily use alu bolts in my brakes, in fact as I’ve got steel bolts in my current rotors I intend to just use alu.

Guess what I’m really asking…

Mate does some online selling of motorbike and car bolts, etc after engaging with the major factories in Taiwan and China who supply same to some on line folks who sell bike stuff. Steel, Alu and TI.

As he has lower overheads the model is that prices would be lower than is the norm for such stuff.

However, in order to develop an appropriate product range, he is curious about what would be consumed by bike folks.

I’ve got chainring bolts, rotor bolts, caliper mount bolts and stem bolts from him in Ti. But, I may not be representative of the overall consuming population.

Strength of steel but weight of alu? Does not corrode to same extent, etc.

Water bottle, Ahead stem cap, chain ring bolts – ally.

I’d consider all brake bolts, gear train bolts in Ti. But they’d have to be rolled, not cut; with decent well fitting heads; and at a sensible price.

I wouldn’t change stem, seatpost or any frame linkage bolts from stock

Ti chain ring bolts sounds like a recipe for galling, unless you’re very hot on maintenance. Copperslip lasts no time at all once you start riding in crappy conditions.

alloy of steek

Can I have mine medium rare please?

Ti is twice the weight of alu, whilst still being weaker than steel. You’re also not going to compete with the prices of alu bolts at 60p or so.

IMO you’ll save more weight replacing what you can with alu, than you will doing everything with ti.

I wouldn’t want cheap bolts myself, I’d worry about the quality. Superstar ones didn’t impress me, although I’m tempted to try some of their rotor bolts.

market is already flooded with cheap quality titanium bolts with cut threads = no thanks, I value my safety!

you gotta pay good money for high quality titanium bolts with rolled threads

its worth doing if you have pimped your bike out already, want some “finishing touches” and don’t like steel bolts which go rusty when allen keys are used on them

I use good quality (sourced from Ducati motorbike dealer) Ti bolts on my disc brake rotors, disc brake caliper mounts, derailleur cable clamps

I use good quality (Pro Bolt) aluminium alloy bolts on low stress mountings like brake lever bar clamps, stem cap bolt, water bottle bosses, gear shifter bar clamps

my Shimano cranks came with aluminium alloy chainring bolts, which have been just fine

I tried running Titanium bolts on my Thomson X4 stem and got horrible creaking / clicking noises and bar flex (despite using ti prep and torque wrench) so quickly switched back to original steel bolts

Whats the total weight saving by replacing all the bolts with Ti then ?
Anyone ?

There’s an article about it on Weight Weenies, IIRC it’s something like 250g to be saved with alu and ti. As I said above, the thing is that alu is about 20% the price of ti, and half the weight. So if weight saving is the primary aim then replacing select items with alu will probably have a bigger effect than doing everything with ti.

I’d have no qualms at all using alu in mechs, shifers, brake levers, bottle boss, headset and chainring bolts. There are plenty of people using them in brakes and what not, but I’d not recommend it for anything other than light riders on XC bikes.