frame material
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frame material
my mid 90´s fisher wahoo says on one part of the frame "...designed by gary fisher in california Cro-Mo tubing" what materila is that? what can i understand from that... thank you guys in advance
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Cro-Mo is a steel alloyed with Chromium and Molybdenum. Probably the most common additions to steel by tubing manufacturers.
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and how about it? is it good or bad trough fatigue resistance or that stuff? what can you tell me please?
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Cro-Mo = chrome molybdenum steel = chromoly
It's probably the standard 4130 steel alloy used in bicycle tubing. Basically crappy department store bikes are made of ordinary 1020 steel, nicer steel bikes are made of 4130, and I think there are some fancy high-tech steel alloys I don't know much about.
Chromoly steel is stronger to begin with, so tubes can be made lighter and such. This is a good article about steel bicycle frames, https://www2.sjsu.edu/orgs/asmtms/artcle/steel.htm ... and it also explains precisely what the number means.
EDIT: 1020 steel is in fact an alloy. It's mostly iron with .20% carbon. Happy now?
It's probably the standard 4130 steel alloy used in bicycle tubing. Basically crappy department store bikes are made of ordinary 1020 steel, nicer steel bikes are made of 4130, and I think there are some fancy high-tech steel alloys I don't know much about.
Chromoly steel is stronger to begin with, so tubes can be made lighter and such. This is a good article about steel bicycle frames, https://www2.sjsu.edu/orgs/asmtms/artcle/steel.htm ... and it also explains precisely what the number means.
EDIT: 1020 steel is in fact an alloy. It's mostly iron with .20% carbon. Happy now?
Last edited by moxfyre; 11-12-04 at 10:17 AM.
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Originally Posted by igno-mtb
and how about it? is it good or bad trough fatigue resistance or that stuff? what can you tell me please?
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Originally Posted by sydney
All steel,by definition is an alloy.
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You just proved sydney's post- "steel is iron ALLOYED with carbon"
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Okay, this is silly, my bad. Yes, steel is an alloy of iron with carbon, I used the word "alloy" sloppily to mean that nothing was added to the "steel", not to the "iron.
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Originally Posted by keithr
No, steel is the name for iron alloyed with carbon. So, given a steel, if it does not have anything besides carbon and iron, it is non-alloy.
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To answer your question very directly, chromoly is arguably the best material for bicycle frames. It has been eclipsed in popularity by more modern materials primarily for weight reasons.
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Originally Posted by RainmanP
To answer your question very directly, chromoly is arguably the best material for bicycle frames. It has been eclipsed in popularity by more modern materials primarily for weight reasons.
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Approx quantity of alloying elements in 4130 - Chromium 1%, Manganese 0.5%, Silicon 0.25%, Molybdenum 0.2%