[Closed] Talk to me about TI bolts

Question 3 - in real world terms, is their anything else that would make any more difference weight wise for a similar amount of cash?

Pull them all out and weigh them maybe? It'll give you a good excuse to fettle with your bike for a bit! 😉

They won't rust, they look shiny and will save little in weight. They will cost a fortune. My bike's covered in them because I'm a tart. No other reason. You will probably save more weight by carrying a lightweight spare tube rather than a standard one - that will cost about a fiver.

"You will probably save more weight by carrying a lightweight spare tube rather than a standard one - that will cost about a fiver. "

Almost certainly will in fact, takes a heck of a lot of titanium to save the 100-150 grams between a light tube and an average one.

One way to look at it is that though it's a really ineffective way of saving weight,they ought to last and the standard sizes will transfer between bikes so it's not like, say, a lightweight cassette. Every bike you're likely to own for the forseeable future will have a home for some M6 x18mm or 20mm bolts frinstance.

For the brake and gear levers, I use alu bolts. Ti bolts for everything else.
Got mine from [url= http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Graceo-Lightweight-Products__W0QQ_armrsZ1 ]this guy[/url] on ebay. If you buy in bulk and pay directly through paypal, he usually does them cheaper too.
I wouldn't recommend buying them from Tibolts.co.uk, the quality is inferior in comparison.
Hope this helps...

Exactly what Skoolshoes said including buying from Tibolts.co.uk - they sell junk.

Some of the tibolts stuff is fine but some is, well, illconceived lets say, or impractical. The adjuster screws for mechs frinstance, the weight difference is bugger all and they're ridiculously delicate because of the small size. Lots of stuff with very small bolt heads or shallow allen head cups. But I've got a couple of their M5 and M6 bolts IIRC and they're pretty much interchangable with my HRC bolts, which are top end. The machining feels slacker in the caps but not enough to cause any problems with decent tools.

£1 per gram?

Are tibolts.co.uk not the same company as superstar?

In other words they'll catch fire and you'll die?...

Expensive way to save weight.

Pro-Bolt do excellent bolts, both alu and ti.

As Skoolshoes, alu on the brake/gear levers and all bolts in the mechs, including cable clamp bolt, alu headset top cap bolt too, ti everywhere else.

Just bought a load of red anodised bolts from cj accessories on the net. No real weight saving but extremely tarty

What is the general consensus with regaurds to the issue(perhaps a non issue) of rounding of titanium bolts?

I have rounded one myself recently on a brake caliper and its lead to a very fiddly dismantle with a dremel/flat head screwdriver.

You're ham fisted 😉

I've never had any problem with any ti or alu bolts.

njee20, may well be the answer:). Certainly not dismissing it as a cause:P.

I know i wouldnt trust myself not to round Alu bolts. If i had a torque wrench maybe, but not by feel alone.

Ti bolts = cheese. Don't use them anywhere where you'd be sad if they broke. My road bike had a Ti stem from XACD (China), set up with two Ti bolts clamping the bars. I was sad when one sheared when I hit a pot hole, and I went over the bars.

Do you not think that may be quality related, or just pure bad luck?

Plenty of stems out there come with full ti bolts to start with! Admittedly 4 bolt is going to be tougher though.

"Ti bolts = cheese."

What a load of balls 😛

Could be either, but I'm not going experiment to find out. Nice Ti stem now has nice strong steel bolts!

If you're rounding fasteners of any type you're doing something wrong, whether that be using bad tools, over-tightening things or not using anti-seize or threadlock compounds to aid disassembly . . .

Almost everybody over-tightens fasteners unless they have the experience to know not to 😉 . . . it's human nature, use a torque wrench or generally use no more than 1/2 the length of a tool to tighten something if you don't have a torque wrench or a good feel for these things . . . only use a couple of fingers to tighten small fasteners, always use a closed ring spanner where possible, even better a 6 sided one . . . always use the best quality tools especially for hex head (allen type) fasteners, cheap ones are soft and cause many problems . . . always ensure the tools are properly fitted/inserted before trying to tighten or loosen . . . I'd also say for any fastener in aluminium use a light threadlock to ensure it comes apart again once it's been wet . . . stainless steel in aluminium suffers from bad dissimilar metals corrosion despite what you may think about stainless steel.

Last thing I'd say . . . be very careful replacing safety critical fasteners with anything other than the same material as originally specified . . . for stems, brakes, cranks, bars I'd stick with good old steel unless the fasteners were Ti or Al or Stainless Steel to start with . . . saving 3g on your bike is not worth ending up in hospital . . .

Fd, i tend to agree with what you've said.

As a fairly burly bloke, im certain i overtighten - as you say its human nature, i always have to tweak it that little bit further.

One question though - I dont usually bother with Threadlock, i cant see how it helps aids disassembly? Surely its only use is to stop screws loosening?

be very careful replacing safety critical fasteners with anything other than the same material as originally specified

Do you really think they 'design' a stem around ti hardware? Be realistic! There's plenty of people on Weight Weenies running alu bolts in rotors and what not which I certainly wouldn't do, but unless you're a complete oaf ti stem bolts won't cause you problems!

Good enough for Steve Peat et al after all!

Threadlock hermetically seals threads, it stops any moisture getting into a thread thus stopping corrosion thus aids disassembly . . . it's a common misconception that threadlock's sole purpose is to stop things coming undone . . . in truth it's used to stop corrosion as much as anything else . . .

As for people designing things around TI or Steel or Al or whatever . . . yes, some people will understand what they are doing and make design decisions on the differing properties of these materials . . . some, like you perhaps, don't . . . 😉 . . . I guess you assume everybody is as ignorant as yourself, lowest common denominator, etc . . . you're wrong.

Fd

Calm down dear! Why am I ignorant, in this example at least?!

Can you show me evidence of a stem designed around ti hardware?

The only real example I can think of is the Rotor stem with the strange threaded clamping arrangement, but even then it's certainly not material specific.

Well I have a Syntace F-99 stem - it comes with steel bolts as standard, but ti bolts are an option supplied by Syntace (and what I have in mine - got a good deal on them when they did the recall a few years ago). So is that designed for steel or ti, or does a German company renowned for its engineering standards not actually think it makes that much difference?

Ti Bolts sell M3.5 bolts - ODI lock-on size (ODI originals are cheese FACT).

When you've gone to XTR, Stans etc etc, Ti bolts are next.

Even if you just buy a couple a week (price of a pint or two), in a couple of months you've a bike full.

Not yet trusted replacing my stem bolts though, yet...

As per njee probolt are fantastic, brilliant quality bolts and great service.

Oh and fd, you're talking crap.

I must admit ti bolts is a pretty long way down the list of things I'd change.

You'd likely save more weight replacing what you can with alu than doing everything with ti, and that'll only cost a few pence.

I spent around £90 on ti bolts (including chainring bolts).
My main reason for choosing ti was because they don't rust like many of the old bolts had. Any weight saving is just a bonus!
I've only had issues with 2 bolts rounding off. They were ODI lock on bolts from tibolts.
Yeah ti is costly, but it'll outlive most other parts on your bike!

I must admit ti bolts is a pretty long way down the list of things I'd change.

Absolutely, but they are nice. 😉

FD is talking complete bollocks, why the hell would a company design a component around using a certain type of bolt? they would choose a specific material which is ideal for the component itself.
I dont think youd get much of a weight saving by buying ti bolts but would be a cool thing to have i suppose.

Titanium screws, they are for holding teeth implants in arn't they?

"Titanium screws, they are for holding teeth implants in arn't they?"

I have them too 🙂 I had crowns fitted when I knocked my front 2 teeth out.

I'm sure that some bits of my bike came with instructions specifically warning you not to replace the steel bolts with Ti bolts. Since I can't remember exactly what, i'm not sure how useful this is.

Isn't titanium wonderful?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5140090.stm

Perhaps use aluminium if you wanna lose some weight? 🙄

Why the eye rolling? XTR comes with alu chain ring bolts, ti is twice as heavy, and about 5 times as expensive, alu is a sensible choice in certain places IMO!

What about nylon or polyprop?
http://www.nylonalloys.co.uk/

njee20 - The eye rolling was at my own crap joke! I was referring to the use of alu for limbs etc, hence the "lose weight" bit.
Taxi for me...