The titanium weld and detail appreciation thread.
- Thread starter Twozaskars
- Start date
Great thread this. Years ago there was a site called "Ti rides" that for one had actually proper information and not bull crap marketing stuff.
What was clear sadly Ti got a double blow in the MTB world. Changes of taste to more DH brutes out of cheaper AL and stuff like plastic and soot and araldite mixed in a mortise and pestle bowl and then baked at about Gas mark 6 for XC. So sad. Ti then got another set back of daft and silly new norms which never posed a problem for it but Gruppo manufacturers had to go with the wind.
Today I think there's stuff well built out there, and much more targeted what it's actually good for.
Being very cheeky tonight and slipping this one here. Sush ..... keep it tight and please no red flags about this and that. It is all still retro.
https://classicrendezvous.com/country-of-origin/the-british-isles/speedwell-titanium/
Calling on @benjabbi to forgive me for my sins about something with drop-bars and he wades on here with a Bonty Ti loveliness not yet posted to get the thread back on track here.
What was clear sadly Ti got a double blow in the MTB world. Changes of taste to more DH brutes out of cheaper AL and stuff like plastic and soot and araldite mixed in a mortise and pestle bowl and then baked at about Gas mark 6 for XC. So sad. Ti then got another set back of daft and silly new norms which never posed a problem for it but Gruppo manufacturers had to go with the wind.
Today I think there's stuff well built out there, and much more targeted what it's actually good for.
Being very cheeky tonight and slipping this one here. Sush ..... keep it tight and please no red flags about this and that. It is all still retro.
https://classicrendezvous.com/country-of-origin/the-british-isles/speedwell-titanium/
Calling on @benjabbi to forgive me for my sins about something with drop-bars and he wades on here with a Bonty Ti loveliness not yet posted to get the thread back on track here.
benjabbi
Bontrager Fan
Here you go @Woz 
Built by TST with Sandvik tubing. This has been re-blasted at some point in its life which has unfortunately taken some definition out of the welds.
This bike was slightly later in the development of Ti frames and as such is anything but a straight copy of the steel frames in Ti. Keith obviously did his usual and thought about the materials properties before putting pen to paper. The tubes, especially the main tubes are massively oversized to keep the stiffness up. The top of the seat tube has an extremely thick walled piece welded on (27.0mm post, 34.9mm collar) to add strength in an area subject to cracking. Short thick walled pieces welded in at the bb end of the chainstay presumably for strength in the absence of easily (and relatively cheaply) available butted tubing. It's not super light in regards to other Ti frames at 1665g for a medium but was built to last. As much as these things can be anyway.
All that builds into something that rides not unlike a steel one, which I suspect was purposeful, but with that magic Ti feel that you can't really properly explain but is definitely a thing.
Built by TST with Sandvik tubing. This has been re-blasted at some point in its life which has unfortunately taken some definition out of the welds.
This bike was slightly later in the development of Ti frames and as such is anything but a straight copy of the steel frames in Ti. Keith obviously did his usual and thought about the materials properties before putting pen to paper. The tubes, especially the main tubes are massively oversized to keep the stiffness up. The top of the seat tube has an extremely thick walled piece welded on (27.0mm post, 34.9mm collar) to add strength in an area subject to cracking. Short thick walled pieces welded in at the bb end of the chainstay presumably for strength in the absence of easily (and relatively cheaply) available butted tubing. It's not super light in regards to other Ti frames at 1665g for a medium but was built to last. As much as these things can be anyway.
All that builds into something that rides not unlike a steel one, which I suspect was purposeful, but with that magic Ti feel that you can't really properly explain but is definitely a thing.
PanoIgano
Fat Chance Fan
Given the abundance of triangulation in this frame it must have been incredibly hard to build in titanium. Pretty amazing work.
PanoIgano
Fat Chance Fan
I am still processing this one!Here you go @Woz
Built by TST with Sandvik tubing. This has been re-blasted at some point in its life which has unfortunately taken some definition out of the welds.
This bike was slightly later in the development of Ti frames and as such is anything but a straight copy of the steel frames in Ti. Keith obviously did his usual and thought about the materials properties before putting pen to paper. The tubes, especially the main tubes are massively oversized to keep the stiffness up. The top of the seat tube has an extremely thick walled piece welded on (27.0mm post, 34.9mm collar) to add strength in an area subject to cracking. Short thick walled pieces welded in at the bb end of the chainstay presumably for strength in the absence of easily (and relatively cheaply) available butted tubing. It's not super light in regards to other Ti frames at 1665g for a medium but was built to last. As much as these things can be anyway.
All that builds into something that rides not unlike a steel one, which I suspect was purposeful, but with that magic Ti feel that you can't really properly explain but is definitely a thing.
