Originally Posted by MichaelW
All steel has the same density. Chromoly steel is about twice as strong as hi ten, and heat treated steels are about 4x the tensile strength. With stronger steel, you can use thinner walls, so the tubes are lighter. Hi tensile steel tubes have thick walls, and the thickness can be uneven. Although you could build a decent bike from Hi Ten steel, the lowest grade for any decent construction is probably an un-butted chromoly (or equiv) such as Reynolds 501.
Any quality frame would be made from tubes with a butted profile (thinner in the middle, thicker at the joins)
A lot of the low-end Ti frames do not use butted tubes. They are light, but no lighter than a good steel frame of similar price.
Are you going to tell me the Jamis Satellite is junk because it's 520??
http://www.jamisbikes.com/bikes/04_satellite.html#
Or my Bianchi Volpe with Chromoly 520??
http://www.bianchiusa.com/volpe.html
Or the Surly Crosscheck with 4130??
http://www.surlybikes.com/bikes.html
Come on folks. I would take ANY of these bikes over a hard Alu Trek 1000!!! Any Day....
In fact, the Surly Crosscheck is highly noted because of it's "Steel" feel that comes from it's low level chromoly. Just because a bike has a low chromoly number doesn't mean it's a bad ride. I have a old Chromoly Univega bike that's un-butted but rides like a dream. My other Alu hybrids may just have to go because I found the perfect town bike. It's sad that lightness has become more important than comfort. Why do you think there are loads of Trek 1000s for sale on Ebay?