The new Titanium

Harryburgundy

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As you may or may not know, I have been looking at Rourke cycles for a SS frame...and saw the 953 but didn't know much about it....sounds good, very good.
Anyone ride 953?

Back in 1995, Reynolds revolutionized steel bike frames with 853. The alloy took the market by storm, and remained the frontrunner of lightweight steel until the majority of the market abandoned steel for aluminum, titanium and ultimately fell into temptation with the glossy, black devil, carbon fiber. Although few could argue with 853’s supple yet snappy ride quality, most riders couldn’t stand the extra weight and corrosion.

The new 953, however, addresses both of those drawbacks. According to Peter Thompson from Carpenter Specialty Alloys (Reynolds’ material supplier), the new stainless alloy is twice as strong as titanium with a frame weight comparable to high-end aluminum, and won’t corrode. That’s a big deal. Those same qualities are what make carbon fiber such a standout. But carbon fiber isn’t a “tough” material---one good gouge could ruin a frame---where a steel frame can be ripped from a car by a low-overhang, buckle in two and still be easily rebuilt.

So far, only a couple bicycle frames have been produced with the promising new alloy. Independent Fabrications’ vice president, Tyler Evans welded both of them. “It’s extremely hard to work with,” says Evans. “It’s more difficult to weld than titanium, but the results are fantastic.”
 
i may have a 853 rourke frame coming available in the next week or so if you intrested frop me a pm and ill get pics to you asap
 
i read about it a while ago too but i've never seen or riden a bike so can't comment. Think it would be nice to get a custom one made though as it would be ultra rare, especially if they could replicate a Race lite or something similar.
 
Its been out for a couple of years now and only a couple of builders seem to be using it,apparantly it builds into a really nice riding frame but the claims of lightweight seem a bit false to me,all the bikes I've seen,only road bikes so far,have been relatively heavy.
 
Seen some roadbike reveiws but no mtb's as yet.
 
seem only mtb made of this a couple of years back think it was a little heavy on price i think it was at titas frame prices :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: but looks like the perfect frame if the "dont rust" claims are true and it was quite light not carbon light but still lighter than my 853 genesis is :cool: :cool: cool beans :cool:
 
What puts me off all of the more lightweight Reynolds tubes is the alarming way they seem to pick up dents.
531/631/501 for me.
 
google anderson 953 and waterford 953 they are the builders in the US doing the most with it and you'll see some amazing bikes.

I wouldn't go s far as to call it the "new Titanium" after all it's stainless steel so cycle count wise probably can't come near the cycles before failure that Ti can. Very limited tubing selection with it also. In fact the builders using it seem to get varied tubes almost every time they receive orders.... although that may be improving.
 
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