AngryScientist 

can anyone give me the brief run-down on what "true temper" steel is?

AEO

marketing name for "tempering"; heat treatment process which gives the steel a desirable 'toughness' over an untreated steel.

look up 'tempering (alloys/steels)'

dstrong 

This might help a little more.

Barrettscv 

In terms of overall tensile strength, here is the order from strongest to weakest of common bike tubing steels:
1. Heat-treated air hardened steel
(853, Foco, OXPlatinum)*
2. Heat-treated CrMo(Tange Prestige HT, Reynolds 725)
3. Cold-drawn air hardened steel
(Reynolds 631)*
4. Cold-drawn CrMo(Reynolds 525, Tange Infinity)
5. High tensile steel(cheap dept. store bikes)

AngryScientist 

so where does the true temper stuff fall in that list?

canam73

If you are talking "True Temper" as a brand they have made pretty much all types including the OXPlatinum on the above list right down to the Cro-Mo used in vintage Schwinn Xtra-Lite bike frames. As a process, all steels used in bike frames are tempered in some manner.

Feaduin

True Temper is a manufacturer of steel tubing like Tange or Reynolds. As far as that list goes OXPlatinum (in the highest tier) is a grade of tubing manufactured by True Temper. Of course, that is the best tubing they make, so you could get a bike with tubing made by True Temper that is of slightly lower quality, you have to read the stamp on the tubing to know what grade you are getting. Overall, they are a reputable and respected tubing manufacturer.

Metaluna

True Temper is just the name of one of the companies that makes the steel (OX Platinum in this case). Some of the others are Reynolds (853, 631, 953, etc.), Columbus (Foco), Tange, and Dedacciai. Each company has their own trade names for various alloys and manufacturing techniques but they generally fall into the categories given above.

True Temper sells carbon fiber products too. I have a True Temper AlphaQ CS-10 fork on one of my bikes which is carbon with a steel steerer. I think the steerer is made from OX Platinum, and it was a real bear to cut, I might add.

SalsaPodio

Practically all of the steel used in bikes today is tempered. When steel is quenched from above a certain (austenitic) temperature a microstructure called martensite forms if the cooling rate is fast enough. Martensite is a very hard needle like structure, but it is also very brittle. Tempering relieves some of the stress from the quench, which introduces some ductility into the part while retaining the high strength. There are many more aspects which have to do with alloying and a ton of other factors but almost all of the steels used in bikes is going to be tempered. As was said before, the True Temper is more of a brand name thing kind of like Kleenex.

Fat Boy

This.

acorn_user

True Temper is an American tubing manufacturer. Their current range goes - S3, OX Platinum, Verus HT and Verus. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. Lots of Lemonds were built out of OX Platinum

Barrettscv 

True Temper produces OXPlatinum & others.

AngryScientist 

thanks guys, i didnt realize that true temper was a manufacturer, not a type. i have a very early 90's trek that has "true temper" written across the top tube and was wondering. great bike too.

BengeBoy 

True Temper also makes golf shafts. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, but are still operating. As far as I know their golf business is much bigger than their bike business.

Fat Boy

From the info I have, the S3 tubeset is made of the same material as their Platinum OX, just different tube shapes. That may or may not be of interest to someone. I didn't know they were in trouble financially. That's too bad. Both their steel and carbon products are top notch.