Titanium question

Baybash
Baybash Posts: 136
edited September 2010 in Road beginners
This could be a very stupid question but if titanium is so good and comfortable why do many/most of the ti bikes have carbon forks?
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Comments

  • Scrumple
    Scrumple Posts: 2,665
    comfort

    price
  • Berk Bonebonce
    Berk Bonebonce Posts: 1,245
    Titanium is expensive and difficult to manipulate and weld. Fork blades would have to be swaged and then welded.

    But I guess someone's done it. And at the end of it he might have said: "Too much bloody trouble that, and anyway, the fork turned out too stiff". Note that you also tend not to get forks made out of premium steel, like 853/953. Too stiff for that application.
  • Chris James
    Chris James Posts: 1,040
    Titanium forks have been made, but I seem to recall that they were a bit noodely for that application.

    Incidentally, all steels have equal stiffness and 953 fork blades are available according to road cc

    http://road.cc/content/image/18270-reyn ... ork-blades

    I suppose carbon forks are cheaper and can more easily be dialled into specific performance parameters.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Cost and aesthetics - whilst it is possible to make ti forks - I have a pair - they aren't particularly stiff, require specialist fabrication skills and difficult to make in volume.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • spooky1980
    spooky1980 Posts: 18
    I have these :D but i havent built my Planet x Sportive up yet so i cant give you any info on comfort and stiffness .

    http://www.kocmo.de/en/products/?visit= ... &id=100005
  • Baybash
    Baybash Posts: 136
    So it seems it's a fabrication issue. So is titanium more comfortable than carbon?
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  • Scrumple
    Scrumple Posts: 2,665
    nope, just bombproof and a tiny bit heavier.

    Different feel. Both comfy, ti can just feel a bit more flexi
  • greg roche
    greg roche Posts: 124
    Its not just a fabrication issue, although that is a factor. There are also all sorts of different things happening and required of a fork to whats required of a frame. There's also the issue of end use and practicality - touring bikes with low riders are still 99% steel rather than carbon.

    I mean, if carbon is so great for forks, why rubber for tyres and aluminium for stems?

    I think horses for courses is the best explanation...

    Greg

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