Road Cycling - best Alu grade and shifter questions

ok, here is a question, OCVL is the commonly accepted carbon type for most bikes. Renyolds 853 is the best steel, so whats the best grade Alu for bikes? I'm shopping for a time trial frame, i figure I'll need one sometime.

next question how easy is it to switch shifter/brakes, I can buy TT bars for about $150 (i think) so that would be the cheaper way to convert my bike into a TT bike, but i hve no idea how hard it is to convert from one set of shifters to the over. I'm sure tension is a huge issue... what else?

thanks
-Ross

OCLV isn't the most commonly accepted carbon type - it is just the Trek name for their particular brand...

Carbon frames tend to be engineered with unique specifications and are usually made with tubing specifically designed and made.

I'm not sure there is a "best" grade Alu for bikes - large companies tend to have their own prioritory formulation - and who is to say which is superior?

Some companies opt for 7000 series alum - which is harder and requires little if any treatment after welding... while others opt for 6000 because it is softer, easier to shape... altho it requires more complicated treatment after welding..

As long as they are indexed, any decent bike mechanic can run the cables and install the bar end shifters. I think you can get by without buying new brake levers.

I'd say that there is no "best" material in the bike business, even when you take each material by itself. OCLV is certainly not the best out there, just the most commonly seen in the US. Reynolds is kind of in the same boat for steel. Columbus makes a lot of great steel tubesets that US builders don't work with as much. There are so many variants to aluminum these days (see Scandium, etc. for more confusion) that it's really hard to say that one is the best. You're looking for time trial bikes, which need different characteristics than road frames, right? Look at different builders as much as you do different materials. Lemond and Trek both use OCLV carbon for different parts of different bikes, but they come up with very different rides because of the differences in how the tubing is used. You can't just look at materials, and we can all sit here and argue for years about which material is best and which manufacturer of a specific material is best, but we're all right (or wrong, depending on your perspective). The answer: It all depends.

As for your shifter issue, you can find a bar that will take your STi or Ergopower levers and put them on the end of the bullhorns (I use the term for visual reference). I've actually seen some pros hook that up, but it's rare. Otherwise, hooking up the cables and buying bar end shifters is pretty easy.

OCLV is certainly not the best out there

I'd argue very hard that OCLV is the highest quality and most durable carbon used in the bike industry - plus, it's used outside bicycles, something hardly anyone is up to doing. It may not give you the ride you are looking for in the way Trek builds it, but it's much more reliable than almost anyone elses carbon construction. Only Time's new process can really compare.

As for alluminum, good luck - 9,000 people build with 9,000 tubesets and alloys

tubing shape with may have more to do with comfort/performance than the alloy "grade" with aluminum bikes...

vadimivich, I'm actually curious, not bashing you- where else is OCLV used? I was under the impression that it was Trek's proprietary process, but I'm clearly misinformed. I'm also curious to know which other companies use OCLV carbon, outside of the Trek family. Again, not at all bashing, just curious.

Doesn't Nike use it for some of their stiffest carbon soled bike shoes? That's the only other place I have seen it.