Originally Posted by TimB
sydney is of course correct.
however there are less saving in double butting Ti and AL frames because the tube sets are alreadt much light than Steel and they can;t be thinned down to much so relatively you'er adding expense without much weight loss.
Better weight savings can be achieved though clever design.
Well, with both Ti and aluminum you need larger diameter to get stiffness, and you can't get around that with design, although special shaping and ovalizing at critical points can help. Strainght gage, large diameter aluminum is pretty heavy. Some of the low end stuff rivals generic butted cromo, so butted aluminum has been aound a long time, and weight saving is worthwhile and the added cost isn't that great. Ti being stiffer than aluminum doesn't bnefit so much, and the grams saved/ $$ spent isn't as favorable.