What ever happened to Scandium frames?

Scandium frames seem to have disappeared off the face of the planet. Just wondering why these never took off?
Anyone ever own one?
Where they any good?

Think they snapped pretty easy from what i saw..

I have a Niner One9 scandium, it’s rather good 😀

Still see the odd set of scandium handlebars from a few manufacturers.

I’d hazard a guess at carbon being lighter, stronger cheaper?

They all got too close to camp fires and exploded.

Probably.

Just put my Scandium Kona Dawg Supreme on ebay.

Didn’t weigh or feel any different to any other frame TBH. 😆

I’ve got a Voodoo Sobo, the older style one without the carbon bits. Very nice frame, lovely and light and still going strong after several years. Can’t really fault it and if it ever needed replacing I’d probably look around for another one.

My Kona Major Jake has a scandium frame – light, comfortable, great bike to ride but is was the blurb on the Kona site about scandium and Mig fighters that swung it 🙂

My old On One ScandAl, with its scandium main frame and aluminium rear triangle made for a superb bike. Scary light. Felt like almost like a carbon or ti frame.

My wafer thin Kona scandium tubing failed, kona refused to inspect, no warranty replacement.

Kona scandium? A load of recycling waiting to happen

Scandium has become significantly rare in recent years, increasing its cost. I have no idea if this is a factor…

I have a scandium, carbon, Salsa in the shed…it’s wonderful.

My Salsa Juan Solo Scandium SS is still going strong, very light as an overall build and very quick to accelerate.

my kona kula scandium from 2005/2006 is still going strong, used it for all sorts, including xc/cx races, normal trail rides and road. thinking of replacing for next season xc races though but at 3.1 lbs itll probab;y have to be expensive carbon

Soma – nice bike fella 😉

They all dissolved when the owners lubricated the drivetrains with snake oil

Cheers 🙂 , When i needed the cash for my Cove Hummer build last year i had it for sale on here for £400 ono which i thought was fair considering it has Mavic SLR wheels, Fox FX80 fork etc and lightweight kit but there was no takers but i’m rather glad to be honest, it really is rather stupid light for what it is and what it is capable off (rider permitting of course), if i find a suitable carbon rigid fork to suit the frame i may start to ride it again to annoy the fs strava freaks round here 😉

I’ve still got one of those juan solo frames as above and its a great ride
Used mine both ss and with a speed hub , either way it fun and direct in an xc way

my 2008 scandium dawg supreme is still going strong and it’s not had an easy life its about 500g lighter than the ally one or replaced

Sold my Voodoo Limba on earlier this year to fund crosslight pro6

I’ve only had one scandium frame so hardly an extensive survey – but my ’06 Kona Kula Supreme is the Frame That Refused To Die. Just under 3lbs and lovingly abused for 5+ years.

If I find £400 down the back of the sofa I’m giving you a call…!

I’ve recently bought an 8 year old scandium road bike (Salsa Campeon) and although its light and comfy, I would imagine that it is hard to sell a road bike like that competitively at that sort of price point (apart from the scandAl, iirc they were all at the expensive end of alloy frames) these days, when you could just source a carbon one and put your brand on the downtube, or god forbid design it yourself.

I would love a go on a juan solo, I always keep an eye out but haven’t seen one come up for sale for ages.

I had a scandium Air 9, but it broke 🙁

My guess is the trades description people have finally caught up with the manufacturers…. so they probably do still exist but are now called aluminium frames as this is what 99.7% of a “scandium frame” consists of.

No frame is made from pure aluminium – that would be terrible – all are made from alloys of the material. My aluminium frame contains a tiny amount of silicon to improve the material properties – but its not called a “silicon frame” as silicon doesn’t sound as cool as Scandium.

Its all marketing BS

They were all made with the wrong wheel size.

06′ Kona King supreme going stong here 🙂

Paul Sadoff trying to, but not quite, sell scandium at about 2:30 in,

http://www.eastoncycling.com/bike/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/RD-03-Scandium.pdf

“Keep in mind that Easton’s goal was to develop a new frame tube set that offered the light weight of aluminum and the comfort of steel.”
But finally decided to abandon the attempt.

I had a Kona Big Unit
I’ve cracked three frames at the seat tube/top tube area, yet despite the Kona being too small for me, therefore having more seat post showing and more leverage, it didn’t break.
Mrs MTG has got it now and it’s still going well.

I think ndthornton has it closest.

A “scandium” frame is basically and Alu frame with some trace scandium. Alu frames themselves are not especially popular now, especially at the mid to high end where a “scandium frame” becomes marketable so it is inevitable that the amount of “scandium” frames you will see will be tiny. KCNC are one of the few manufacturers I can think of off the top of my head producing “scandium” parts…

I have a Kona One20 scandium frame, love it, it’s light, tough and most importantly fits me perfectly.

As a side note, while I haven’t seen any new scandium frames coming out, there are a couple of scandium rims set to be released soon.

Also, of course you can say a “scandium” frame is mostly aluminium, yet you wouldn’t say that a steel frame is mostly iron. Alloying makes a huge difference to the strengths and weaknesses of a metal, so I don’t see anything wrong with calling it a “scandium” frame, as it differentiates it from a standard aluminium alloy (which I think is justified, as “scandium” does have significant advantages over standard alloys).

I’ve got a voodoo sobo which is going strong

Got a nice Kona Kula Primo from around 07 which after a reliable innings as my only bike is now doing sterling service as my pub bike.
It is a lovely frame and very light, but I’ve no idea if the trace scandium content made it better than a regular aluminium frame.

you wouldn’t say that a steel frame is mostly iron

Thats different – Steel contains traces of Carbon – not traces of steel.
The word Steel is used to describe the Refined Iron/Carbon mix and is a word in its own right.

Calling a frame Scandium implies it is made entirely of Scandium – the equivalent word to “steel” to describe the Aluminium/Scandium mix is Sc7000. As I said – not as marketable 😉

One thing that always felt a bit strange about the Kona Big Unit was that the tubes are closer to being square than round.
I could squeeze the flat sides of the down tube inwards between finger and thumb. 😯

I have to admit I thought scandium meant scandium plus a little of some other stuff!

On another matter, I once spent an unsuccessful half hour trying to ignite a pair of “Magnesium” fork lowers. That was total bloody disappointment I can tell you. 🙁 🙁 🙁

lol – Iv always thought magnesium frames must be very dangerous – also not best suited to our climate since water soluble 🙂