Eric F 

Willful ignorance is a tough nut to crack.

Schlafen

Ti ride quality stems from the 1" tubing days. Compared to similar bikes of their times they were more flexible and that belief seems to have been carried over the years. This was applicable up to the 1 1/8 headtubes after which the design changed to improve stiffness. Ti compliance is directly linked to rider weight as well.
I have owned and ridden quite a few Ti bikes over the years, but ride quality is simply not there anymore because the new breed is stiffer with oversized tubes, oversized tapered headtubes, oversized seat posts, carbon forks and wheels, also reinforcements for disc brakes.
Best ride quality was a Look Ti 1" standard tubing size 54, I was in my early 20's and around 64-69 kg at the time, the bike had steel forks and tubulars, boy that was a weapon, not my weapon though, I had borrowed it over the summer. Would have gladly bought it off at retail price from my mate if he was willing to part with it, sadly he wasn't. Couldn't find another at the time.

However they are not made from 1" tubing / 1" headtube anymore and unless you know exactly what you want, to go custom, it's a piss in the dark, I wouldn't waste my money. Old Ti is bad news, I would stay away from it.

If you still want to go for a Ti bike, my advice is to try it first on long rides or over a few days. If the ride feel is not what you expect, don't pay the premium for it, especially that you like your carbon bike. Don't be fooled by wider tyres, gas pipe gravel bikes take wide tyres as well, but if you want compliance on the road, test it with 25mm's.

If I was in the market for a metal frame, I would go stainless steel instead xCR / 953, corrosion resistance and bragging rights.

rebel1916

Nobody calls it that, except on Bike Forums. It is so weird.

MinnMan

I'm jumping in on this thread way too late - it's already doing that vortex thing that leads to the great underground.

Two points:

1. The "metals soften" guy really has taken that "on the internet, anybody's opinion outweighs all actual expertise" to its limit. I counsel him to learn to listen a little better. I'm guessing it's too late for that, though.

2. As to the point of the OP, I'm sure Ti frames are hella durable, but not so long ago I upgraded my carbon road bike to a new carbon road bike. It had nothing to do with the frame being worn out, but rather, I wanted to run deep section wheels without rim brakes, so I needed a disk brake bike. And I wanted DI2. And most of all, I wanted a new bike. Just because. So buy Ti if you really like having a Ti bike, but buying it because it's going to "last" is silly. Let's say that you can select from 2 different frame types, one will last much longer but the other suits your riding needs (speed, comfort, whatever). Are you really going to buy the one that lasts longer?

GhostRider62

Telling someone they are silly is silly.

Personally, I prefer magnesium or carbon over titanium but size customization of a Ti bike can be a benefit to some.

Sy Reene

I think there was a time however where the idea of longevity was more of a factor, and the current sentiment that may exist stems from that. Going back to 2000 or shortly thereafter, when I bought the bike I mostly still currently ride, the 4 available materials were (as is still the case really) steel, alu/alloy, CF, Ti. Steel is real, but also typically painted which chips, and subject to corrosion without taking care. Alu back then was labelled as very harsh. CF was still quite exotic, very expensive, and was I believe likely more brittle back then. That left Ti.

Fast forward to today, if I go on a group or club ride, I will never see anyone running an early 2000 era CF bike. I'm sure a number of people have them, but I am much more likely to see a late 90s or early 2000 Ti or Steel bike than a CF one. And, for whatever reason, a visit to eg Craigslist can yield a good number of finds for ~20yr old Ti frames and bikes, still selling at a still respectable price. Difficult to find anything of that age in CF for similar, even though new, they sold for comparable prices back then. Quite rarely also seen from that era is an Alloy/Alu bike -- I think these became viewed as more disposable and just haven't been held on to.

So, for whatever it's worth, I did buy a bike made out of a material that I believed would last, but of course also rides nicely, and don't think it was a silly decision.

BillyD

No offense, but actually the bridge doesn't go to NJ. It connects Westchester, NY with Rockland, NY. From the Rockland side of the bridge you'd still need to go a few miles south to get to the northernmost NJ border.

And real NYers still call it the Tappan Zee bridge.

himespau 

I had a steel bike that I thought would be my forever bike until I got hit while riding it 2 months back. I found a used Ti frame that I thought seemed cool, had the geometry I wanted and room to fit tires I liked, so I bought it. If I ever get it built up (I couldn't get the BB out - probably why I was able to get it for what seemed like a great deal at the time - and it's been at the bike shop for over a month), I'll probably ride it exclusively indoors (one advantage of Ti is I don't have to worry about corrosion from dripping sweat on it like my steel bike but I'll probably keep the sweat protector on it to protect the components as 10 speed Campagnolo is getting harder to come by) for a while at least because I'm a bit nervous after getting hit, so it theoretically could last forever, but I'm sure I'll want something different at some point.

MinnMan

Yes, and it will always be 6th Avenue.

But it's been many years since I lived in NY, so tell me, do New Yorkers still routinely refer to the BMT, IRT, and IND, or have those fallen by the wayside?

PeteHski

I would have thought it’s just a numbers game. CF frames were pretty rare in the early days and therefore it follows that they would be even more rare today. My first carbon frame (1997 Cadex) was still going strong when I sold it in the late 2000s. Now CF bikes are relatively commonplace I am sure there will be plenty of old ones still going in 20 years time. Not that I have any personal interest in vintage bikes.

Ti frames seem quite popular at the moment. I rode in a big Sportive event last weekend and saw quite a few. But most guys were riding carbon.