Originally Posted by 2_i

My central titanium experience:

At some point when you got glasses at an optician the only metal choice for frames started to be titanium. Naively thinking that those who provide the frames know what they were doing I ended up with a titanium frame. That frame could not hold shape whatsoever. It constantly was going out of shape and I had to readjust it time and time again. The reason was simple. Titanium is a more feeble material than steel, so to give it the same strength you would need to make the frame thicker that would apparently not look elegant and it would eliminate much of the weight advantage. Well eventually my frame broke due to the constant readjustment. At this point I was in Japan. No problem, I thought, as the detective work revealed that the frame was manufactured in Japan. At a local optician in Japan they said that nobody is going to touch it. I have to send the frame to the US to my optician. Then the optician will send it to the manufacturer in Japan for repair. Then they will send it back to my optician in the US and he will send it back to me in Japan

The last time I cracked a steel frame, it got repaired while I was waiting for half an hour and it was at an optician in France during a weekend. Heck, when pressed I will solder a steel glass frame - it won't be pretty but it will work. Now when I need a new glass frame I demand stainless steel causing a stir at an optician. I usually have to wait a month or so for them to get one I want. I.e. they usually have a few in stock but there is not much choice there.

With the frame experience I stay as far away from titanium as possible. One niche place where I use it are bottom bracket spindles where you basically replace one bulk material by another.