Originally Posted by
seymour1910
I think he was asking if there is a difference in the aluminum used to build the two bikes. I know the current CAAD10 usses 6069 aluminum and the Synapse uses 6061. I will not pretend to know how much difference there is in the two.
anyone??
There's really 3 types of aluminum alloys used in bikes.
6061, 6069 and 7005
6xxx series alloys are aluminum with primarily mangesium and silicon
7xxx series alloys are aluminum with primarily zinc
6061 aluminum is generally 96% or more aluminum with the next highest elemental ingredient being magnesium at up to 1.2%
6069 aluminum is generally 96% or more aluminum with the next highest elemental ingredient being magnesium at up to 1.6%
figure the main difference is a slight decrease in weight, and slight increase in stiffness and hardness with no major change to ductility.
7005 uses zinc.
without getting into a ton of specifics, 7005 is stiffer and harder but more brittle.