Road Cycling - Need affordable frame. Ti or Aluminum?

I'm building a new bike and am looking for an affordable frame. I'm a small rider so I don't care whether I go Ti or aluminum. I currently ride a 1990 3.0 series Cannondale, which is stiff yet bone jarring. I'd like to keep the stiffness of the Cannondale, but get a newer frame with all the new road dampening advances.

I'm looking to stay in the $200-$500 price range. Someone is selling Ti Tommaso frames on Ebay for $499. Is tommaso any good? What aluminum frames would you recommend? Can you purchase a new Cannondale frame only?

Any help or resources you can steer me towards would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Cat

catsweat: Have you considered installing a carbon fork on your current bike instead of swapping the whole frame?

I did a quick search on ebay and found this Tommaso frame (3613007289) and it does look quite good. Does your current bike use 1 1/8 threadless headset? If not you'll need to get the proper fork, headset, and stem to work with a threadless configuration.

Zack

You will have a hard time finding a good frame for what you are looking to spend. I would agree with Zack, get a carbon fork, and a TI seat post. This will help soften the ride.
You said a small rider, a good steel frame will be in the same weight as an ok aluminum. Steel frames can be cheaper than your other two choices
Good luck

Well since you want to buy cheap you will not get a good frame necesary.

Cheap ti frames tend to be too flexy and fail rather quickly.

Cheap Al frames tend to be stragith gauge and as you already seen far too stiff and also fial rather quickly.

Try to find a butted aluminum frame. One especialy with some sort of warranty. Titanium will be more as butted Ti frames are quite expensive.

Tehre are many great delas out there as I sell many frames but bumping your budget to close to $700 will open up lots more choices with better warranties.

I've added a new fork to this bike and it made a huge difference. I'm also building a new bike so I can utilize all the new 9-speed components, STI shifters and the such. I've been told by a few people that my frame will not allow for 9-speed without altering the frame, widening the dropouts and so forth.

I could swing a $700 frame if that would open up some decent options. Any good aluminum frame you would recommend in the $700-$800 price range?

Thanks.

Cat

Specialized Sworks off ebay, with a carbon fork for your kind of money.

http://www.titaniumsports.com/road.html

Don't know how good these are, but the bottom one looks decent.

Al is not a good choice for a small frame. It works much better in large size frames, where the extra stiffness is really needed.
I would look into a good quality steel frame. It is surprising how light they are compared to other materials.
You can get top quality steel frames for $650, such as Marinoni in the small size you need. The quality of these frames will blow away any factory Al frame.

Hi,
get a Surly Crosscheck. It's good, it's cheap, and it won't bounce your fillings out. Both Nashbar and Performance are having sales on wheels, one of them has the Vittoria Courier for $10.99. If you can, I would splurge a bit and go for 105 shifters, but it's not a big deal. Nashbar has a seat with Ti rails for $20.

MichaelW...I hadn't considered a steel frame, but if I can get a steel frame in a 48cm and not loose much rigidity over my aluminum frame now, I would definately consider it. Also, will a steel frame have the same road dampening effect (provided it has curved seat stays) as an Al frame? Can anyone recommend some nice steel frames, other than the one Michael recommended.

Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

Tracy

Total Cycling has DeRosa frames and forks on sale (small sizes only) http://www.totalcycling.com/ go to their blowout section. Great deal if you ride a small frame, includes carbon fork and hiddenset. Another option for you I guess.

Originally posted by LSR
http://www.titaniumsports.com/road.html

Don't know how good these are, but the bottom one looks decent.

I was talking with my friend who also happens to be the owner of the bike shop I normally frequent and he told me that TiSport supplies frames to some very reputed bike companies. For instance, last year's Lemond Ti bikes are TiSport frames. He also mentioned that they were sitting on a bunch of older Ti frames that were originally produced for a company that didn't take delivery and they're trying to offload them for pretty cheap.