Titanium ,still not a bike for life?

save us from ‘meaningful riding’ though ffs

Agreed. I would stick with the existential stuff rather than resort to meaningful trails with their artificial nuances and poorly constructed semantic berms… 😉

kcr – Member
What are the options for a Ti road frame with a SEAT stay rear disc mount? I was considering the Lynskey cross frame. I’m looking for a reliable workhorse commuter (previously owned an Airborne Carpe Diem which did daily commuting duty for 9 years until it developed a terminal crack).

A Van Nicholas Amazon like mine.

I think Enigma do something like that. Having dealt personally with Mark Reilly, I’d be happy to buy from Enigma.

Except he doesn’t work for them anymore.

http://www.nervebikes.com/about/%5B/url%5D

Except he doesn’t work for them anymore.
Corrected, thanks! However I’d still hope Enigma are ok to deal with.
😉

Any bike looked after is a bike for ‘life’. Oddly mid priced ones will probably last longer than high end ones, as they probably have bit more metal in them, plus as they are mass produced will have had more testing done on them, than a single guy in a garage could ever do.

If you are talking old planes still flying pre to post the SR-71 then have a look at the B-52, C-130, Nimrod/Comet.

Since no-one else has mentioned it, I think, there’s a piece in a recent – current? – What Mountain Bike about the future of frame-building materials and one point was that metal and titanium in particular, is ideal for use with 3D printing processes, so it may just be less moribund than some would have you believe.

Also interesting was the idea that with 3D printing you could create slightly complex shapes, like head tubes, without introducing potential weaknesses like welds and with more control over profiles, shape, thicknesses etc, so you could, at last create a real ‘bike for life’…

I actually made up that last bit, but I thought it was interesting that new manufacturing technologies could potentially also change the way we use existing materials. And of course 3D-printed ti will be dirt cheap, like paper, which is also printed…

Yawn!

Derived from the Research grant funded, fluff turned out by Empire/Renishaw? There’s more interesting stuff being done bonding Steel and Ti lugs directly to Composite tubes….

That empire Bike, Prohibitively expensive especially when what you get a porous structure with no grain alignment, welded tubes are structurally superior, and prettier… otherwise great stuff…

Realistically Rapityping technology in bike frame manufacture is most cost effective if you are producing plastic (ABS) inserts / “consumable Jigs” to laminate composites and create “Custom geometry”…

So the only difference between a steel and Ti frame is the weight

…and Ti is rustless, which is a big plus for an everyday commuter. Every steel frame I’ve owned started rusting after a few winters of normal wear and tear.
VN Amazon looks OK, but it’s a chain stay disc mount (my original message was wrong; meant to say I was looking for a seat stay mount).

Realistically Rapityping technology in bike frame manufacture is most cost effective if you are producing plastic (ABS) inserts / “consumable Jigs” to laminate composites and create “Custom geometry”…

And in English for us non-geeks?

Nimrod should have been phased out years ago.

Derived from the Research grant funded, fluff turned out by Empire/Renishaw? There’s more interesting stuff being done bonding Steel and Ti lugs directly to Composite tubes….

I used to do that clever stuff figuring out how not to get ti and carbon to seperate when folks think you just scratch it up and glue it this was in the days flexures were Ti and not carbon ,even figuring out how to make bladders cores and things to get pressure in hard to reach places inside monocoques ,no one really gives a shit how its done more that it doesnt end up in two bits

3d printing great for headbadges

in fact is still think (read its been done before) more and more now that I could build a steel frame as light as a carbon one but the true cleverness if you could get folks on side and some way to accepting it, is that you can have a different material in a different place to do different jobs ,thats a composite ,but then your costs go up no one wants an F1 car to do the family shopping in

kcr – my Amazon is seatstay mount. Depending on your height, we could arrange something? 😉

Ok so if we turn it on its head and wanted a steel frame based on some of the advice here

It begs the question as there’s so many good off the peg frames,seems pointless going custom ,that and the good builders seem to be road not mtb specialists.

Which frame for pootling round on?

The advantage of going custom is getting the geometry and/or features you are after.

…and Ti is rustless, which is a big plus for an everyday commuter. Every steel frame I’ve owned started rusting after a few winters of normal wear and tear.

I have three steel bikes, which are 22, 21 and 18 years old. One is a year-round commuter, another is my winter road bike.

No rust.

Except he doesn’t work for them anymore.

http://www.nervebikes.com/about/

Interesting brand name You’ve got a nerve!

Is Enigma a bit of a spent force, don’t seem to hear about them so much nowadays, maybe it’s just I don’t do road anymore?

Enigma fixed my Soda- they were very busy at the time, I reckon maybe they’re just in the “as big as we can be and getting on with things” state of mind

Ti rails of course.

The only seat rails I’ve broken were both Ti. Steel rails on my long-distance / away in the sticks bike.

It’s not though, is it – it’s slightly oversized usually in comparison to steel. Which given the cube property of stiffness…

Varies, some of the (imo) better ti frames use quite notably oversized tubes in comparison to steel. But agreed, and that’s why a lot of ti’s ‘magic ride’ rep is simply flex combined with low weight. There’s a relatively small range of tubes available in ti as it’s all stuff made for hydraulics or other engineering applications whereas steel is actually drawn for bikes in a whole range of dimensions.

@scotroutes All the good builders are darn sarf it seems ,Roberts is an itch I would like to scratch ,Yorkshire seems to be a bit dull, maybe its because of the weather.

I have both a custom steel and ti. Love both of them but if I were to get another bike it would be steel. Mainly because of the long term fix-ability and using a British Builder.

I have had the steel for 8 years and the Ti for 4.

The only Ti bike I owned, an On One Ti 456-Lynskey made, broke. My thought would be that they had made it down to 3 1/2 lbs. Had they kept it nearer 4 lbs, it probably would have stood a better chance.

And while it was love initially, the relationship didn’t last that long- I never really jelled with it

I recently picked up a Saracen Kili Flyer Ti on here and so far I am loving it. It seems to have the compliance of steel so takes away some buzz and if you work it you can use the natural spring and flex to good effect. Added to this it has the bonus of weighing in at the same as aluminum and some carbon. Win win of you ask me.

Oh and also the raw finish is great. As for bike for life, I don’t know, but I certainly won’t be looking to change it anytime soon and would like to justify buying a ti road/cx/gravel bike now.