Originally Posted by
McBTC
Aluminum is lighter and hit it big in the burgeoning market for sprung MTB frames in the 80s. It's not the go-to material for custom frame building but apparently, once the investment is made in hydroforming technology, production-made aluminum frames are comparatively cheap given the fact aluminum is >4 times more costly than steel.
Do you mean the ‘90s? I don’t recall there being any quantity of sprung alloy MTBs in the ‘80s, and honestly can’t recall one, though it was such a dynamic time, I’m sure there was!
I remember Cannondale as the guys putting alu on the map in terms of production scale, like around ‘84, followed by Klein. Smaller builders had been in the mix, like American and Cunningham, and by the late 80’s, GTs Zaskar, but we’re
Still talking about rigid frames on all these.
Jar my memory for me, though, if you did mean ‘80s, because I really do love recalling the early MTB era. It was so exciting!