Carbon Vs Aluminium Vs Titanium Vs Steel: Which Bike Frame Material Is Best?
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the choice of frame materials for bikes, comparing titanium, aluminum, steel, and carbon options from Ribble's CGR lineup. The script delves into the attributes, strengths, and costs of each material, highlighting their impact on ride quality, weight, and durability. The crew tests the bikes on various terrains, discussing their performance and personal preferences, ultimately emphasizing the importance of material choice in meeting individual cycling needs and preferences.
Takeaways
- 🚲 The video discusses the choice of bike frame materials, comparing titanium, aluminum, steel, and carbon fiber options.
- 🏭 Ribble, a bike manufacturer based in the north of England since 1897, offers a variety of frame materials with the same geometry but different material properties.
- 🌐 Aluminum is the most popular frame material in sales, accounting for 56%, possibly due to its affordability compared to other materials.
- 🔨 Aluminum frames have evolved from being harsh and flexible in the 70s and 80s to now offering varied stiffness properties through advanced construction techniques like hydroforming.
- 💎 Titanium is a luxurious and rare material known for its strength and corrosion resistance, but it requires significant skill and is more expensive to work with compared to aluminum.
- 🎖 Steel is traditional and robust, offering a balance of strength and comfort, with modern advancements like triple butting and heat treatment enhancing its performance.
- 🔬 Carbon fiber is lightweight, strong, and can be molded into various shapes for improved aerodynamics and comfort, making it the choice for professional cyclists.
- ⚖️ Weight is an important factor for many cyclists, with the carbon frame being the lightest and the steel frame being the heaviest among the options discussed.
- 💰 The cost varies significantly between materials, with aluminum being the most affordable and titanium being the most expensive.
- 🛣 The choice of frame material can affect the ride quality, with each material offering different levels of comfort, responsiveness, and durability.
- 🤔 The final decision on frame material is subjective and depends on personal preferences, intended use, and budget considerations.
Q & A
What is the main topic discussed in the video script?
-The main topic discussed in the video script is the comparison of different bicycle frame materials: titanium, aluminium, steel, and carbon, and their respective attributes and strengths.
Which brand of bicycles is featured in the video script?
-The brand featured in the video script is Ribble, a manufacturer based in the north of England with a history dating back to 1897.
What makes Ribble unique according to the script?
-Ribble is unique because it offers a choice of components, custom color and paint options, and a choice of frame materials on their bikes, which is not commonly found in other brands.
What is the CGR in the context of the video script?
-In the context of the video script, CGR stands for 'Cross Gravel Road', which is the platform of the bikes being discussed and tested.
What are the four frame materials of the bikes tested in the video?
-The four frame materials of the bikes tested are titanium, aluminium, steel, and carbon.
Which frame material is the most popular according to sales statistics mentioned in the script?
-According to the sales statistics mentioned in the script, aluminium is the most popular frame material, accounting for 56 percent of sales.
What is hydroforming and how does it relate to aluminium bike frames?
-Hydroforming is a manufacturing process where tubes are manipulated into various shapes, allowing for different stiffness properties in different dimensions. It is used in the construction of aluminium bike frames to improve their performance and comfort.
Why is titanium considered a luxury material for bike frames?
-Titanium is considered a luxury material for bike frames because it is rare, corrosion-resistant, ultra-strong, and requires a high level of skill and expertise to work with, making it more expensive and desirable.
What are the main characteristics of steel as a bike frame material?
-Steel as a bike frame material is known for its tradition, strength, and ease of manufacturing. It is also appreciated for its ride quality, which is often described as having a 'zing' or a certain liveliness.
How does carbon as a frame material differ from the other materials discussed in the script?
-Carbon as a frame material differs because it is lightweight, strong, and can be tuned and molded into various shapes. It also has the ability to be engineered for specific levels of compliance and comfort, making it a popular choice for performance-oriented cyclists.
What is the significance of the bike's weight in terms of performance and how does it affect the riding experience?
-The bike's weight is significant in terms of performance as lighter bikes are generally easier to maneuver and accelerate, especially when climbing. However, heavier bikes may offer more stability and inertia, helping to maintain speed on rough terrains or when loaded with additional gear.
What factors contribute to the cost of different bike frame materials?
-The cost of different bike frame materials is influenced by the cost of raw materials, the manufacturing process, and the complexity of working with each material. For example, carbon frames are more expensive due to the cost of molds and the labor-intensive process of laying up carbon fibers.
How does the choice of frame material affect the overall ride quality and comfort of a bike?
-The choice of frame material affects the ride quality and comfort by influencing the bike's compliance, stiffness, and responsiveness. For instance, carbon frames can be engineered for specific levels of comfort and performance, while titanium offers a unique ride feel that some riders prefer.
What is the final decision made by each of the riders in the script regarding their preferred bike frame material, and why?
-The final decisions made by the riders are as follows: one rider chooses titanium for its luxury feel and rarity, another prefers carbon for its performance and light weight, and the third rider would choose aluminium for its affordability and then invest in higher-end components.
Outlines
🚲 Exploring Bike Frame Material Choices
The script begins with a philosophical reflection on choices in life, using the metaphor of different paths leading to the same destination. It then transitions into a practical scenario of choosing between four bikes, each with a different frame material: titanium, aluminum, steel, and carbon. The bikes are from Ribble, a manufacturer with a long history dating back to 1897. The script introduces a visit to Ribble's concept store and an exploration of the attributes and strengths of each frame material, as well as the personal preferences of the riders involved in the video.
🔍 Deep Dive into Bike Frame Materials
This paragraph delves into the technical specifications and popularity of the different bike frame materials. Aluminum is revealed as the most popular choice, accounting for 56% of sales, possibly due to its cost-effectiveness. The discussion highlights the engineering and design considerations for each material, aiming to maintain comfort and feel without sacrificing the unique properties of titanium, steel, and carbon. The paragraph also touches on the historical development of aluminum bikes and the advancements in construction techniques that have improved their ride quality.
🌟 The Luxurious Appeal of Titanium and Steel
The script contrasts the luxurious and rare nature of titanium with the traditional and robust appeal of steel. Titanium is described as strong, corrosion-resistant, and requiring high skill to work with, making it a material of choice for lightweight, high-stress applications. Steel, on the other hand, is portrayed as a traditional material with a reputation for adventure, resilience, and reliability. The script also discusses the historical use of steel in bike manufacturing and its evolution over time.
🚴♂️ The Performance and Aesthetics of Carbon Bikes
This section focuses on the performance and aesthetics of carbon fiber bikes, which have become the choice of professional cyclists due to their lightweight, strong, and stiff properties. Carbon frames are discussed in terms of their tunability, allowing for the creation of unique shapes and the introduction of compliance and comfort into the design. The script dispels myths about carbon bikes lacking 'soul' and emphasizes the skill and labor-intensive process involved in crafting a carbon frame.
📊 Comparing Frame Weights and Material Robustness
The script presents a comparison of the weight of the different bike frames, with the carbon frame being the lightest and the steel frame being the heaviest. It discusses the implications of weight on performance, particularly on climbs and rough terrain. The paragraph also addresses myths about material strength and robustness, explaining that all materials are engineered to withstand stress and that carbon frames, while not dented like metal ones, are repairable and have a potentially longer lifespan.
🛣️ Ride Quality and the Impact of Frame Material
The final paragraph discusses the subjective experience of ride quality, which is influenced by the frame material but also by other components such as the seat post and tires. It highlights the comfort provided by carbon components on an aluminum frame and the stiffness felt in the bottom bracket of the titanium frame. The script also touches on the traditional 'zing' associated with steel bikes and the plush feel of carbon bikes, emphasizing the importance of personal preference in choosing a bike.
💰 The Cost Implications of Frame Material Choices
The script concludes with a discussion on the cost of the different frame materials, starting with the most affordable aluminum frame and moving up to the more expensive titanium. It explains that the cost differences are due to the raw materials and manufacturing processes involved. The paragraph ends with personal reflections from the riders on their preferred material based on performance, aesthetics, and budget considerations, inviting viewers to share their preferences in the comments.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Bike Frame Materials
💡Ribble
💡Endurance Road Bikes
💡Gravel Bikes
💡Customization
💡Weight
💡Robustness
💡Ride Quality
💡Cost
💡Performance
Highlights
Multiple paths can lead to the same goal, such as different bikes with various frame materials.
Ribble offers four types of bikes with different frame materials: titanium, aluminium, steel, and carbon.
Ribble has been manufacturing bike frames since 1897, showcasing a long history in the industry.
The brand provides a choice of components, custom color, and paint options, in addition to frame materials.
Aluminium is the most popular frame material, accounting for 56% of sales, likely due to its cost-effectiveness.
Frame material engineering aims to maintain comfort without sacrificing the unique properties of each material.
Advanced aluminium construction techniques, such as hydroforming and butting, have improved bike performance.
Titanium is a luxury material known for its strength, corrosion resistance, and the skill required to work with it.
Steel is a traditional bike material appreciated for its strength, durability, and ride quality.
Carbon fiber bikes are lightweight, strong, and can be molded into various shapes for improved aerodynamics and comfort.
The manufacturing process of carbon frames is costly due to the need for precise labor and expensive molds.
Weight is an important factor for many cyclists, with the carbon frame being the lightest and the steel the heaviest.
Robustness of a frame depends on material properties and engineering rather than the material itself.
Ride quality is subjective and varies based on individual feel and bike components.
Cost differences among the frames are influenced by raw material costs and the manufacturing process.
Personal preference plays a significant role in choosing a bike frame material, balancing performance, cost, and aesthetics.
Transcripts
in life there are often multiple ways to
get
to the same goal different paths that
lead to the same destination or
variations on a recipe that give you the
same dish
now often those choices are simple like
a comfortable armchair over a wooden
bench
or a cup of coffee over a cup of
bothering
but sometimes those choices are
bewildering they leave us floundering
unsure which way to turn next what if
you're presented with four different
armchairs
just with slightly different fabric or
four cups of coffee
just with a slightly different roast not
so easy then is it
and that is what we're faced with today
really i thought we were here to ride
bikes i've just lugged all four of these
into the middle of nowhere
yeah don't worry alex we are what we
have here
are four bikes that represent a choice
that many of us face
which frame material should you choose
now we've got four bikes here from the
same manufacturer ribble based on their
same do-it-all platform
the cgr the principal difference between
them
is in the frame material we've got
titanium we've got aluminium we've got
steel
and we've got carbon what are their
relative
attributes and strengths is one better
than another
[Music]
ribble got in touch with us to see if we
wanted to travel up
and pay them a visit ride some of their
bikes on their local roads
we said yes please now as a brand
they've been around for a long time
actually they've been based up here in
the north of england
building bike frames since 1897.
yes 1897. now a lot has changed since
then i mean gravel bikes have been
invented for a start
but they are still going from strength
to strength in fact
we're just going to visit them at their
new concept store
which is open in a pretty little town
called clitherow
it's surrounded by some awesome riding
[Applause]
oh we made it yeah check this out
[Music]
ribble is one of a few brands that
offers a choice of components
on your bike as well as custom color and
paint options
and in addition to that they offer a
choice of frame
materials and i can't really think of
another brand that offers
this much choice this is available on
their endurance road bikes as well as
their cross gravel road platform
the cgr and this gives us the perfect
opportunity to explore
the differences that different frame
materials actually makes
so who's riding which bike then easy
carbon
i'm going for that lighter stiffer more
aero
although that titanium one does look
incredible in fact that steel one as
well
oh it's very smart isn't it steel is
real yeah
but have you seen the price of this
aluminium one
absolute bargain i thought that might be
over the street but if do you mind
i'm a big fan of aluminium bikes do you
mind if i take that one i know it's the
most affordable
are we going are you going up any steep
climbs yeah we are actually yeah carmen
shotgun carbon
we've got the carbon all right i've
actually never ridden a titanium bike so
i'm going to go from that
but okay there there's only three of us
and there's four bikes here
um ah got a plan
oh
[Music]
uh anybody want to go for a bike ride
[Music]
but yeah guys no that is no yeah that's
jamie burrows
but back in the day when no british
cyclist really won anything
jamie bought the trend like he was under
23 world cup champion ended up on us
what he was lance armstrong's teammate
yeah
poor guy want to go jamie ready for a
bite right
yes please show us the way we'll do
[Music]
so before we take a closer look at the
tech specs of these bikes
which ones are most popular the sales
statistics have aluminium the most
popular
56 percent of sales titanium are still
both the same at 13 and then 18 for
carbon
so that's quite interesting actually
because that shows that aluminium is the
most popular
which could be down to the cost maybe a
bit cheaper than the others
but the other three materials are all
fairly comparable
so we already know that the geometry is
the same across all of the different
material frames
but when you sort of engineer and design
these frames
are you trying to make them feel the
same or you play into the strengths
of each sort of materials properties
yeah yeah obviously you've got to play
to the strength of these
materials properties i mean he's pretty
much just giving
the customer a choice of uh frame
material without sacrificing
uh comfort and feel on the bike yeah so
you can kind of advise them on the
strengths
of different properties and the
materials and then they've got that free
choice
that's right i'm pretty much down to
what kind of riding as well i mean
when we launched the cgi category
obviously as it says as the initial
stand for across gravel road
um you know we've had it for three years
now and initially gravel wasn't really
a big thing in the uk um and initial
sales were pretty much for
i'd say seen across commuting and
winter bikes yeah so ally was obviously
the logical choice
good clearance takes 45 mil tyres 50 mud
guards in there
and i think as gravel's come on yeah
we've seen uh
the other materials come on as well
[Music]
thank you
now whilst we're doing a bit of faffing
around i thought i'd talk you through
this my cgr al as we've just heard from
jamie
it's the most popular frame material in
this bike and for good reason but it
wasn't
always this way with aluminium when it
was first introduced to bikes in the 70s
and the 80s
it was very flexible and it had a
tendency to snap
not that that stopped sean kelly from
winning a bunch of races on it but it
wasn't
until we'd worked out how to weld it and
the benefits of vastly oversizing the
tubing
that it then started to gain popularity
but it still had a bad
rap legend has it was that it was so
harsh to ride and transmitted so much
buzz
that it would take hours after you've
got home for you to regain
feeling in your hands and also your
backside
but not anymore not by a long shot
construction techniques of aluminium
have moved into another
dimension now part of the reason those
early bikes were so harsh
was because the shape of the tubes were
just that they were tubes and so their
stiffness properties were constant
in every direction if you want a bike
that was stiff to pedal it was also
going to be stiff
vertically as well but thanks to heavy
investment in aluminium technology
principally in
asia we've got all sorts of different
construction techniques one of the big
ones is
hydroforming which is where the tubes
can be manipulated into all sorts of
different shapes
so the down tube here is clearly
d-shaped
so you can have stiffness properties
that vary in different dimensions
now add in an advanced knowledge of
butting which
is where the thickness of the tubes
varies along their length
meaning that parts of this bike could be
less than a millimeter thick
whilst others considerably more so now
what this means
is that the material which is naturally
very soft is able to keep this key
character trait
even when it's made into a bike but yet
still giving you a bike
that's stiff both in terms of pedaling
and also steering
if aluminium is the material of the
people then titanium
is very much the opposite a material
that oozes luxury
is rare it's corrosion resistant it's
ultra strong
and it requires an immense level of
skill and expertise to work with
when compared to aluminium titanium is
approximately 60
more dense yet roughly twice as strong
it has a particularly high yield
strength
and there's just no substitute for
titanium when it comes to applications
that require
high stress but also are required to be
lightweight
just 0.63 of the earth's crust
is made up from titanium any more than
that it doesn't occur naturally
and it has to be sort of mined and
processed from other materials and as
such
adds further to the sourcing and
production costs of titanium
and as well as being particularly tricky
to work with it has to be welded in an
oxygen
free environment forming it into tube
shapes is also
particularly tricky and costly and it
just takes a considerable amount of time
to craft a frame such as this what is it
with us humans and our desire and lust
to have such rare exotic and shiny
materials
[Music]
i've just borrowed jamie's bike for a
second to tell you about it
it's steel which is real phrase you're
as likely to have heard
from a grizzled old road rider as a
trendy young hipster
and for good reason because steel is
about as traditional as it gets for bite
materials
as we heard earlier on rebel have been
making bikes out of it since
1897 but it doesn't mean that it stood
still in its development now as you
probably know
steel is made almost entirely out of
iron which unlike titanium
is very abundant and it's also easy to
mine so the cost
of the raw material to the end user is
significantly reduced plus
it's also easier to work with i mean
this can be
butted and bent and brazed and welded
to its heart's content and still come
back for more
this bike which is the cgr725 is made
out of reynolds
725 that's right which is a tube set
that's triple butted
and heat treated the heat treatment
makes the steel particularly strong
and the butting means that the tube
thicknesses can vary
so you can get really thin tubes in
areas of low stress
which really draws out the kind of the
ride quality that you get from steel
that's sort of that zing
that it's famous for this tube set can
also be tig welded as well and you have
to look pretty close to see the worlds
on here because they are
super neat now steel might be denser
than titanium
but it is as strong although i suspect
that a lot of people that are buying
steel bikes
do so for more than just the performance
characteristics of all the frame
materials this one has more of a
reputation and a tradition than any of
the others
so it speaks of adventure and resilience
and robustness and reliability
a bike that can handle anything you
throw at it
except for perhaps salt water but of
course while steel might rust
when it's painted and it's treated
inside that's not anything you need to
worry about
[Music]
this is the rebel cgr sl carbon it's got
an absolutely mega spec we've got
zip 303 sram force etap
one by group set on there and the frame
set weighs just
a kilo now carbon right i mean i
probably don't need to tell you much
about carbon it's all the bike
industry's been going on about for the
last 20 years
that's for good reason i mean it's an
incredibly lightweight material it's
very strong
it's very stiff in fact it's well six
times less
dense than steel typically and typically
you know half
the density of aluminium but it's not
all just about being lightweight
carbon can be tunable and moldable and
that allows us
to create shapes that you just can't
create with steel titanium
or aluminium such as this aerodynamic
down tube or this really
really cool aerodynamic profile we've
got on the handlebar
but also by refining and tuning the
carbon layup and the
orientation of the fibres you can
introduce compliance and comfort into a
frame in a way that
you just can't with the other materials
that then combined with special shaping
allows
features such as the seat stays on this
bike to add increased comfort and it's
for these reasons
that carbon fiber bikes have become the
choice
the only choice of pro bike riders and
any performance orientated cyclists
despite this carbon frames do have their
critics with some people claiming they
lack
soul feeling or heart that they're just
cheap
molded and plasticky well this is just
pure ignorance it's a total myth
the number of hours that goes into
producing a carbon frame and the skilled
labor is
immense they all require lots of
individual
precise pieces of carbon fiber to be
intricately cut out and then
painstakingly laid up in a very precise
layer which is then placed into
very expensive molds and then after that
the frames are hand finished
in all the number of human hands-on
hours required to make a frame like this
is far far higher than that of any of
the other materials we have here today
[Music]
now this isn't a competition today or at
least not any more than usual
but it'd be wrong given that we've got
the opportunity not to put these bikes
head to head and we're going to start
with one of the big ones
weight definitely not the be all and end
all when it comes to buying a bike
but it's important to a lot of us
actually right now
it's really important to ask for because
we are dragging ourselves
up the trough of bowline if we ignore
the fork the group set and the component
options that are on these bikes of which
there are a
plethora of options we're left with just
a bare frame
and this is by far the lightest the sl
carbon frame
comes in at just over a kilo and when
you're
riding up a steep gradient like this
that lower weight really is noticeable
especially when you attack
and dance away from your mates of the
climb 450 grams behind carbon
is titanium using the most popular
titanium alloy
3al 2.5 vanadium this frame comes in
at a rather felt 1600 grams
not as light as its carbon brother but
considering its material properties and
its intended use of off-road as well as
on
that's impressive only 80 grams behind
titanium though
is our aluminium frame with a frame
weight of just
1 680 grams
bringing up the rear is the stoic steel
the heaviest of this bunch
this 725 reynolds frame comes in at 2
300 grams
that's twice the weight of the cgr
carbon and sure it takes a bit more to
get going but once you're up to speed
it's just going to keep on rolling plus
is speed necessarily the most
important thing not if you're going to
load this up with bike packing
bags galore
[Music]
right here jamie
no sorry you can't throw rocks just
thought
well i just want to demonstrate the
robustness and and strength and
durability of alex's titanium frame i
mean
definitely be able to take it wouldn't
it i don't know about that but i
definitely don't think you should
try throwing rocks at bikes certainly
not whilst jamie's here
that would be an interesting test
although rather wasteful and they've
been lots of myths in the bike industry
about what materials are
or what materials aren't particularly
strong but the reality of it is the
robustness of a frame
is down to a number of different things
you might hear phrases
such as tensile strength megapascals
weaves
or even yield strength but let's put
this myth to bed because
all of these materials are robust they
quite simply wouldn't make
it into production otherwise that's it
end of
where they differ is how they are
engineered and how this affects
their material properties and how they
respond to different stresses
in the case of steel titanium and
aluminium
alloy bikes they're engineered and
formed into a single consistent material
whereas carbon bikes are made from well
strands of stiff carbon fibers then in a
composite material with a flexible resin
what this means is the metal frames will
dent and
bend when put under undue stress whereas
carbon frames
simply won't and one of the classic weak
points of metal frames
are the areas that are under constant
stress such as where the down tube meets
the bottom bracket for example
and it's a potential area to highlight
that fatigue after many hundreds of
thousands of kilometers carbon fiber
doesn't suffer from the same fatigue
issues that alloys do meaning that well
in theory it has
a longer shelf life it can be more
susceptible
to big heavy impacts though especially
when you're dealing with super
lightweight carbon frames but bear in
mind
it is repairable the most important
thing about
robustness is weight and engineering
super light road bikes for example have
less material
and are far more susceptible to nox and
bangs although they are perfectly strong
enough in their
intended direction and it's the reason
why
do it all bikes like such as this are a
little bit heavier than standard road
bikes because they're
they're designed to withstand all sorts
of different punishments
take the cgr 725 for example that's
tough as old boots
right guys this is where me and my bike
are gonna excel
onto the rough stuff tires maybe mate
mostly the tyres
[Music]
i mean when you think about like the the
ten star strength of steel
versus that of titanium i mean it's kind
of no one i'm sorry guys but you know
nice right image of it i've got to go
now ah you got to go yeah family junior
beckons
okay mate well thank you so much for
showing us your roads and your bikes as
well that's been good
thanks so much yes see you next time
hope you make it back in time thank you
yeah when you consider the x-ray crystal
graphic structure of titanium
cumin lattice that it can actually form
that's you know incredibly wide
[Applause]
[Music]
okay guys we're not far from base now
we haven't talked about ride quality yet
that is one of the big ones it's also
impossible to quantify so this is all on
feel
can i get started my observation on this
one right
the most significant thing on this bike
in terms of comfort
is the carbon seat post okay and the
alloy rails on the saddle you can
visibly
see it flexing and it makes a huge
difference
so even though the frame is alloy the
fact that the fork is carbon and the
seat post is carbon
gives it a lot of comfort i thought that
was really interesting you know
that the frame was less important than i
perhaps thought it would be
well aficionados will tell you that
titanium has a certain zing to it
did you feel it i can't say that i felt
it so far i think that's partly down to
the fact that i've got
the same carbon seat post as you which
has got obviously a lot of compliance
built into it
same fork i've got the same carbon fork
as well and it's also partly down to
these
47 millimeter wide quite chunky tires
i've got here so i think that's
taking partly that away but what i can
say
is that out of the saddle climbing i can
feel the stiffness in the bottom bracket
area which
which is quite nice because it feels
quite good on the climbs yeah
yeah i mean having ridden over the years
like every single
type of frame material in various bikes
i'm just a massive fan of carbon and i
think as we mentioned earlier the
the fact that you can tune carbon you
can tune the layup and how you orientate
the fibres to build in compliance but
also you can
have any tube shape you like within
reason
and that can also massively improve the
comfort
and the ride quality as well so the seat
post great example on this bike
it's different from the round seat post
you have on your bikes we've got a d
shaped cross section this would be
really hard to engineer
into an alloy frame but you can do it
with carbon and these d-shaped
cross-sections they do offer
you know greater compliance and the
other features such as the seat stays as
well you know they can be engineered and
this bike's a great example of it
in a way that can give you much more
comfort and all around
car bikes just feel really plush they're
really nice absorbing that road buzz
they do and so far i
i borrowed your bike briefly and uh it
did feel very responsive admittedly it's
got a different build to this one you've
got zip303s wheels on there
which are very nice but it did it did
feel
like you can feel that reduced weight i
think and you can and you can feel that
stiffness
in the bottom bracket that does make it
just that little bit more
responsive whenever you accelerate on
like especially like a steep climb
it's perceptible isn't it you can feel
the difference with the light yeah a
nice light carbon machine
yeah now jamie was right we are
rabbiting on a lot here
but he's not here to talk about his
steel bike talking about weight
now of course that was the heavier one
and whilst it might have a bit of a
penalty going uphill yeah
as soon as it's going faster
particularly when it's rougher that
extra weight
actually is really good right that extra
inertia helps you maintain
that speed and interestingly i was
chatting to someone at the concept store
earlier one of the members of staff who
owned
that cgr 725 and he was saying he bought
it because
it was slightly less stiff than the
carbon frame he wanted a little bit more
movement a bit more life in that frame
yeah it's really important for us isn't
it yeah but also like
you know compliance like laterally you
know he wanted that extra life and
having an overly stiff bike isn't
necessarily the be on an end
certainly not in fact it's a good point
it's getting dark in it we really have
gone on should we
start coming back to base yeah yeah come
on cycle across
oh i'm gonna ride on the gravel
i can't clip in
he goes
[Laughter]
[Applause]
[Laughter]
cheers guys cheers that was a good ride
i'll come up again
to ride my push bike for sure now we've
ridden our bikes a lot today
there is one inescapable truth that we
haven't touched on yet
cost my aluminium bike
without doubt the winner here most
affordable bike
600 pounds for the frame and fork and
that's the same thought that you guys
have been riding on your more expensive
bikes as well
next comes the steel at 800 quid that's
a steal
that is a steal um and then after that
you got well carbon
at 1300 um and then actually top of the
tree is the titanium
at 1800. but the relative cost of the
different
frames is well it's because
of the cost of the raw materials but
also the manufacturing process
associated with those materials so
although carbon as a raw material is
relatively cheap the cost of
manufacturing it laying it up producing
those expensive molds
that is a very costly process yeah
now all of these bikes clearly they're
as capable as each other we've all gone
on the same ride we've all got big grins
on our faces
but whilst there's no winner here
which one easy tiger oh which one would
you
choose i'm going to stick with what i've
been riding all day i'm going to go with
the titanium
really i know like it's the most
expensive one but
there's something about it when you pick
it up it's got a sort of
just the feel of it is something special
and just knowing that you've got
an item of luxury that is a bit rarer
yeah that's that does it for me yeah
fair enough ollie titanium i agree it
has a nice tactile feel to it
yeah and if i was racing and you know
obsessed with performance like maybe
doing gravel racing whatever then yeah
the carbon definitely
without a doubt but for just all round
use having fun on a bike
adventures exploring an all-rounder
i'd like the titanium too well i wonder
where that's partly because
because it's new because we we're
blessed with riding carbon bikes day to
day
for me if money was an object i'd go for
the carbon bike 100
pure performance lightweight stiffness
compliance
yeah but if i had budget constraints
i'd definitely go with the aluminium one
and then spec
up the components so rather than getting
a carbon frame and then get more
affordable components i'd get an
aluminium frame
and then get more expensive components
you basically want all these wheels on
it
i basically want deep section carbon
wheels so it looks super cool and every
time i get
a garage i'm like yes i am riding that
and that is really important at the end
of day that you've got to love the look
of your bike
yeah i want my wheels on your bike as
well
yeah could have a little play around
later can we just switch them all around
let us know in the comment section down
below which frame material you choose
and why yeah and big thanks to ribble
today for
hosting us and letting us ride these
amazing bikes
yeah right food i think yeah come on
come on
give this video a big thumbs up if you
enjoyed it
that way is it yeah this way
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