Frame any good?
tiredeyes69
Posts: 46
Comments
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What usage?
6061 Alu tubing is the 'lower' end frame material, says nothing about any butting?
Cheap and cheerful component set......
Might be ok for a cheapy throwaway bike....I wouldnt give it much chance with any serious riding though.
There are some good value frames out there, but we really need to know what you want to do with it.Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. ~H.G. Wells
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x42/ ... 3Small.jpg0 -
Its a crap bike basically. Please supply more info with posts.0
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Big n Daft wrote:What usage?
6061 Alu tubing is the 'lower' end frame material,
How did you work out that 6061 is the low end material, because it has a lower number ? There are alot of £2k+ bikes made from 6061 Alu, the number means nothing in terms of how good it is. You need to get your facts straight before making comments like that.___________________________________________________________
My Marin Hawkhill 2007 - http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/1382583/0 -
Not all alu alloys are the same though - the tensile strength and workability differs.0
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Yes i know.
However there are an awful lot of lower end bikes that use it as well.
I would suggest that the higher end bikes that use it are usually made by the manufacturers that make hand built frames (Cannondale, Easton etc), as 6061 is easier to weld than 7005.
Perhaps with a hand built frame, the extra craftsmanship along with the extra heat treatment stage 6061 needs goes a long way to adding toward the extra cost of a premium frame?
Most if not all of the info i have read state that 6061 in its raw state is 10% less strong than 7005, simply due to the fact that 7005 is alloyed with Zinc which adds hardness.
But the fact remains, does that E-bay job look like a 2 grand bike to you? No?
So in this case, it's a lower end frame material isn't it?
2 grand bike = premium frame, premium craftsmanship, premium starting metal ingot, good welds.
£120 bike = all the old shit they picked up off the floor, cobbled together via machine welds.
Which would you in your infinite knowledge and wisdom trust?Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. ~H.G. Wells
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x42/ ... 3Small.jpg0 -
The very first alu frames were all 6061 as it was the easiset to weld. A little later (late 90s) 7005 alu was often seen as the budget frame material - it was chosen for its slight extra strength, so we saw a lot of plain looking, but functional 7005 frames where little manipulation was done to tubing). As 6061 is easy to work, it was more used in mid and high end frames - where the money went into working the material, butting, shaping and losing weighy/adding strength where needed so you saw more 'fancy' and expensive 6061 frames. This is very general though. Nowadays, with hydrofroming and the cost of alu and production falling, fames are built from both at either end of the scale.
We now also have 6069 alu, which is 25% 'stronger' than 6061, scandium alloys and various others.0 -
I forgot to add, a thick walled 7005 tubed frame doesnt always require the last stage of heat treatment. 7005 are the more expensive tubes, bu t 6061 MUST undergo the final heat treatment which makes the overall frame more expensive to produce.0
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also, the company seems to selling a lot of cheap bikes:
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/1484425/
has a bike that sold for less than £30 last week
bargains can be had on ebay, but if nearly all of their bikes are 'bargain' maybe they're just cheap?0 -
The Spec on my marin frame:
6061 Aluminum, Multi Butted Hydro-Edge Top and Down Tubes, New 4-Side Double Butted Seat and Chain Stays..
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Apart from the first number and word, the rest is just marketing spiel ;-). They all do it!0
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And a damn nice frame it sounds too.
How much out of interest?
£lots from the sound of it.......lots of metal forming/working in those ever so sexy sounding 4 sided thingy's. Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia. ~H.G. Wells
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x42/ ... 3Small.jpg0 -
That maybe the case but it used to be that the choice between 6061 and 7005 alloys depended on where the frame was manufactured. 6061 was easier to get hold of in N.America and 7005 in Taiwan!would suggest that the higher end bikes that use it are usually made by the manufacturers that make hand built frames (Cannondale, Easton etc), as 6061 is easier to weld than 7005.
Perhaps with a hand built frame, the extra craftsmanship along with the extra heat treatment stage 6061 needs goes a long way to adding toward the extra cost of a premium frame?
Most if not all of the info i have read state that 6061 in its raw state is 10% less strong than 7005, simply due to the fact that 7005 is alloyed with Zinc which adds hardness.
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