THE ultimate Ti build

[Yidaki]

Thanks guys!

So I was testing the titanium rotors and I think the
pads are not good for them as they literally spit fire!
So I put the Hope saw rotord on, they look ace too

Everything else is just fine. Unfortunately I had a flat
in the front, a little rock turned inward and cut a 1cm
whole in the sidewall of the tire. This happened on a
bike marathon after the first 13km uphill from 250m to
approx. 700m, after 500m down the hill It was over
instantly .. I had to push the bike 15km to the finish
line (2hrs.)

 

[syncrosfan]

"So I was testing the titanium rotors and I think the
pads are not good for them as they literally spit fire!"
That's going to look cool in a night-time video! I guess you can try organic pads instead of sintered ones... you might still experience overheating problems though.

 

[Yidaki]

This was with the regular Hope pads, not
the sintered ones! The rotors didn't get too
hot, it was the piston rather .. too mich friction!
Need different pads. Will sort it out in the future
though

 

[Rob1]

Re:

That's a cracking build- congratulations!

I've been trying to build a similar all-ti machine over about 10 years and am slowly reaching the finishing line. Very impressed with how quickly you've managed to put yours together.

I'm about to have some ti forks built by DeKerf, need my ti hubs built onto some carbon rims and am waiting on some lovely looking Groovy Cycleworks ti HotRods.

I'm hoping that a BOTM titanium edition doesn't come and go before I've built mine up!

 

[Dare]

Yeah this is one awsome bike! Must have cost you a fortune but in any case good job resourcing all those rare ti components this fast.

 

[Muddy paw]

Well flat tyres are never funny but when you've got one as flat as that and can't fix it now that's really frustrating ..

 

[videojetman]

this would win the current BOTM titanium special.
i would vote for this.

 

[Yidaki]

Maybe I'll find some time soon
thanks!

 

[bishopdante]

Re:

My word. Lovely.

___

Titanium is very interesting stuff. The issue is making it metallic, not that it is a rare element. It is as common as iron as an oxide.

Problem is that it is immensely reactive, which is why it is so strong - the atoms are very sticky/charged.

Titanium is so reactive that refining it from oxide is incredibly difficult, and has to be done by hand in small quantities, rather than industrially. It can also explode violently in a liquid state. Refining is the expense.

It is also very demanding to weld, and is also tricky to machine. It is sticky, work hardens very easily, and the chips / dust can catch fire or explode. Similar issues to aluminium except 20x as bad.

Titanium oxide is cheap, and everywhere. White paint, as used on most houses is titanium oxide.

In the future metallic titanium might become industrially avaliable, and be used in architecture and drinks cans, like aluminium or steel. It will never become easy, and has to be processed in an inert or vacuum environment, but there may be a future where all-ti bikes are affordable.

Titanium interestingly responds well to 3d printing, selective laser melting/sintering from dust in an oxygen-free chamber may well be the ideal way to work with the stuff. I have a few aerospace samples of miniature space frame parts built that way which are truly inspiring. Just don't ask about the cost.

In terms of what the ideal exotic metallic material would be desirable for a disk rotor, would suggest that tungsten might be the ideal.

Titanium rotors being ground by an abrasive pad in an oxygen rich atmosphere (ie not space) will throw highly flammable metal dust, would expect white sparks and a lot of heat.

 

[Yidaki]

Got some new black db (1.6->1. steel spokes!