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First time Ti frame owner. Bottle cage bolts came loose on yesterday's ride. Weren't greased so wondered what grease I should use, or whether threadlock might be an option, and if so, which one?
Am sure I read somewhere you need to be careful with grease, as some can react with Ti...
Think I'm already testing the fabled corrosion-resistance of the frame material, given the amount of sweat that dropped onto the top tube yesterday - it was a hot one!
The cage bolts are likely to be riv nuts made of aluminium, mild threadlock or grease should be fine. If they are Titanium use copper slip grease.
Coppaslip for me every time.
Copper slip.
All my titanium frames have welded bottle bosses - maybe a cheapskate P-X has rivnuts? I use stainless steel screws and never had one corrode/stick in over 20 years.
I use copper slip.
I did have a carbon fiber CRecord BB destroy itself in my 6/4 road frame 16 years ago due to galvanic corrosion.
All my titanium frames have welded bottle bosses – maybe a cheapskate P-X has rivnuts? I use stainless steel screws and never had one corrode/stick in over 20 years.
My Titus has welded bottle bosses too, but unsure if the bolts are alu, steel or Ti tbh
Am sure I read somewhere you need to be careful with grease, as some can react with Ti…
The whole point of Titanium is that it doesn't corrode in air, or react with most other chemicals. So no grease that you can buy, will ever be an issue. Some greases can damage the lacquer on Carbon Fibre, but the biggest issue with metals is rust (steel) or galvanic corrosion with aluminium. Grease or copperslip on the threads will help alleviate this. I've had to remove stuck aluminium seatposts from steel bike frames; the corrosion causes the seatpost to 'swell' slightly, if you like, which makes it get stuck. Violence and caustic soda were used, and the steel frames suffered no lasting damage.
A bolt coming loose is better than one getting stuck (on something that you want to remove like a bottle cage at least). Sounds like either the thread on the frame of the bolt itself might be slightly below the required dimension. Threadlock can help, as can a bit of PTFE tape, I've found in the past.
Blue thread lock for me so they don't come loose. Has worked fine for the last 10 years.
Cheers all. I think the bolt worked loose as I'd been experimenting with different bottle positions with a "problem solver" bracket. These bosses are on the seat stay so had been doing some microadjustments to avoid any heel rub, but obviously hadn't tightened them them too far. Seems the consensus may be a little copperslip should help.