Touring - my 520!! i am doomed

ok heres the deal, i have a 2003 trek 520
i check the specs of the 2004, the frame of the 04 is triple butted
and my frame is double butted!! what is the difference? butted steal means that it gets thicker at the lugs right? hellppppp. will this afect my future touring? arggggg thanks

I think you're in trouble. When butted tubing first appeared on the scene, all of the straight gauge frames exploded. All at once. Unbelievable but true. Then when double-butted tubes showed up, all the single-butted frames started to melt. You better go out and get that triple-butted frame right now! Don't even think about riding your double-butted frame as it will most likely disappear into some sort of time-space discontinuity. :D

Seriously, the butting will shave a bit of weight and maybe change the ride characteristics slightly but I think your frame is fine. Single-butted tubes are thicker at one end and then taper down for the rest of the length. Double-butting usually means it changes thickness in the middle and returns to the same thickness at the other end. Triple-butting just means that it changes thickness twice with the end thickness not necessarily the same as the beginning.

http://www.desperadocycles.com/ButtingDiagram.gif

Could there be a marketing idea for a new model non butted bike here.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Butted".

That is kind of catchy

My touring bike is so butted, I can't see the middle of my top tube. In fact, I have accidentally tripped over my top tube because I forgot where the tube was. Very embarrasing!

Jay
:)

Single butted: one end of the tube is thickened for strength.
Double butted: two ends of the tube are thickened for strength.
Tripple butted: three ends of the tube are thickend for strength.

I think that the butts are doing the posting.

:)

Don't worry about it. Triple butting is only useful for folding bikes.

RichC

thanks people! i feel much better! but the 04 pedals are shimano m520 and i have m515!! ohh no i am STILL DOOMED!!!! just kidding about the pedals, they don't matter That much.

Originally posted by MrEWorm
Could there be a marketing idea for a new model non butted bike here.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Butted".

That is kind of catchy

Good one.

:beer:

Oh my god, planned obsolesence! Where could Trek get such an idea? Ah, let me scatch my head here, GM, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Dell, IBM, Gateway, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, EA Sports, Dunkin Donuts... Just to name a few!

I put more miles on my 96 520, but I swear my 88 520 is a better bike. And there are no buts about it.

Originally posted by tom cotter
Oh my god, planned obsolesence! Where could Trek get such an idea?

I don't think of triple and quadruple and quintuple and... well whatever butted tubing as planned obsolesence. I mean, it's not like you won't be able to find compatible parts in the future because of the butting of your frame tubing. It's an internal design (literally) that has no interface to the other components.

Just my opinion, but I would think that the double butted tubing would be stiffer and therefore less wobbly when heavily loaded than the thinner (in the middle) tripple butted.

I would guess that Trek got a deal on some of this tubing and that's why they went with the tripple butted stuff for '04.

Ride safe,

John

If it makes you feel better, I think that the PD-M515 pedals are lighter. They are one of the lighter pedals Shimano makes, I have them on all my bikes and am very happy with them.

An '03? has it got over 10,000 miles on it? If not then its not broken in, and if it does then you ride enough not to sweat the small stuff :beer:

Tripple butted: three ends of the tube are thickend for strength.
Um, how do I brake this to you? There is only two ends in a :roflmao: tube

The flex added by going triple butted may be offseted with the stronger steel used to make the tube?

Therefore they can afford to make it lighter now... than... then...