Originally Posted by
Hiro11
The only way I've seen anyone kill a Ti frame is weld failure, which is getting increasingly rare these days.
Ti has a couple of advantages beyond resistance to work hardening and high strength-to-weight ratio:
1. It's really difficult to dent or deform Ti tubing due to the toughness and resilience of the material.
2. It's extremely resistant to oxidation. It will always look new, doesn't need paint and if it's brushed finish you can touch it up with some ScotchPads. Also, it's less prone to seizing BBs and seatpost than other materials.
All frame materials have unique advantages. Steel gets you the majority of Ti's qualities without the cost or availability issues. It's easy to make light and stiff frames out of aluminum and you can hydroform it into cool shapes. Carbon fiber is both lightest and stiffest and allows you to tailor every aspect of the ride. IMO, TI is best if you value ease of maintenance, durability and toughness above other factors.
Not disagreeing with you at all, but I think the resistance to hardening, toughness, resilience are all aspects of the same high flexibility. It is like how difficult it would be to damage a fillet knife - it flexes so much that you really to bend a long ways to kink or break it. On some level, Ti behaves almost like nylon compared to steel. When you are used to brittle, work hardening metals (brass/aluminum) or soft metals, a truly flexible metal is hard to wrap your head around.
Ultimately, steel is the stiffest bike material by volume, even more so than CF.
