Paint holds up fine if the metal has been properly prepped and primed. Paint doesn't adhere to Ti like to other metals without the special prep, but is fine if done right. You can't just "rattle can" it and expect a good job.

Funny thing:

* My used Giant TCR Advanced CF (about 1 year old in 2010) cost me $1,000.
* My used Merlin Works CR Ti cost me $1,000 (a few years old just recently).
* Both were listed at about $2,700 new. Not much difference eh?

* My Giant was supposed to weigh in the neighborhood of 900 g according to magazine reviews. It came in at 1,207 g. BUMMER.
* My Merlin was supposed to weight about 1050 g according to the geometry chart. It came in a (drum roll please) 1,207 g. I kid you not. And that is not too bad, considering. Pretty light metal frame.
* Both bike weigh essentially the same thing built up. Funny, huh?

My previous Ti bike rode like crap. The Merlin is wonderful. The Giant is wonderful. How much better than wonderful does anything have to be?

Check the new price tag for one of these :twitchy:
http://i.imgur.com/VXvAPd2.png

Never owned Ti. Surprising since it's hard to remember all the bikes I've owned. Someday I will, probably the Motobecane to be honest.

I had a painted Ti. After close to eight years of riding, chips were minimal. It seemed to hold up better than painted steel.

I had a painted Ti. After close to eight years of riding, chips were minimal. It seemed to hold up better than painted steel.

Harry was my second guess.

That's all he does these days, at least for road bikes. He gave me a tour of the shop. Amazing. He has a different machine for each part of the frame. One of his lathes is from the 50s and was used by the Navy, probably to make artillery shells.

He recently built this for himself and had it on display at the Philly Bike Expo:

Cerakote Coatings: Custom Mix of H-137 Gloss White and H-169 Sky Blue

I am probably going to have my frame coated like his, only in either pink or sea foam green.

Or you could go ceramic. It's lighter than powder coat and stronger.

Cerakote Coatings: Custom Mix of H-137 Gloss White and H-169 Sky Blue

Why should anyone listen to someone who has no experience with the subject and who is too lazy and cheap to buy a second CO2 kit? Just askin'.

You think that bike looks good?

OP, I wouldn't paint Ti or stainless steel for that matter. It is counterproductive. You have the perfect finish, and you can't wait to cock it up? What is that about? Decorate the bike with the hubs, rims, headset, bar tape, cable outers, saddle, etc. My opinion only, of course.

I have seen that bike in the flesh. I think it looks beautiful, though I am personally not a fan of blue. I find an all "silver" finish somewhat boring regardless of how it's dressed up. Mine will be partially coated. Some Ti will be left bare and likely brushed. Red headset and seat tube collar to match my red CK hubs. I have never seen a bad looking Engin. The builder has a great sense of aesthetic.

Of course it is a personal thing. Just pulling your chain for grins.

It's no ordinary ti, it's TITANIO!

Thanks for clearing that up. Vive la difference!

While I can understand all you wax-poetic about ti (I had owned a Seven Axiom, a Merlin Agilis, a Litespeed cycloscross, and my wife still rides a ti Litespeed Tuscany), as a pragmatic cyclist, for the same cost, at this point, there is noting CF doesn't do better than ti with the exception of durability. All these ti frames are quite flexy from my personal experience including the Seven (which was built as a racer). When I got out of the saddle on the Seven, if I am running 25mm ties, the chainstays would actually rub the tires when I swung the bike from side to side. For most of people (myself included), well built ti frames are probably all we need, but the feeling of instant power transfer on a modern CF frame is just night and day better.

I'd imagine Ti is not so good for those of us who prefer stiff frames? I'm sure they could be made stiff...but the weight penalty would be huge...and what would be the point?

I'd think that Ti shines [pun intended] for folks who are into comfort/endurance bikes.

It's durability appeals to me; but it's rep for being noodley; and it's rather boring looks certainly don't.

Would love to hear you say the word "la différence". I bet it sounds really sexy :)

Au contraire, mon frère. ;)

Ti, a perfect equivalent of CF in stiffness, comfort and weight balance? No, not quite. Ti, noodly in 2015? Nope, not that either. If you haven't ridden modern Ti, you can't imagine how good it is. As I said, not the equivalent of the best CF, but better than just about anything else around. Noodly Ti is old news and not at all the current situation despite the low weights. Hanging noodly on Ti in 2015 is like hanging really harsh riding on Al today. It just isn't the current state of the art.

The main advantage, is that it gives upper middle class types, who view themselves as individualists/iconoclasts, an outlet for their discretionary income.

+1

You can say a lot about this plus and minus, but I don't think boring is one of the attributes you would apply.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=437959

Ooooo, that DOES look NICE.....but it's the components, not the frame. You could do the same to any bike. [Darn, that's beautiful though!]

Its gs like any other Ti bike with the yellows added. Tell me why it's not boring?

Because different strokes for different folks?

It doesn't bore me. So show me your version of "not boring".

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=437985

I know that bike. Its actually painted Ti.

I went for a quick spin on a steel forked hardtail Merlin mtb 25 years ago. After an uphill sprint, it was "this as a custom road bike, for this body, is it!" I sat on that knowledge for 15 years; that $4000 being quite out of reach. Things changed 8 years ago and I ordered a steel forked ti bike from TiCycles; a local builder I knew.

I love the bike. OK weight (we never looked at weight and just let it fall where it may), plenty stiff and fun to ride over bad pavement. Not cushy. This is a large tubed frame. Also steep angles. I feel the road for real. But it is still far less jarring than a similar geometry steel frame would be. (In the early days with the bike, I had to restrain myself from seeking out the worst pavement on any road I was on. At Cycle Oregon, a ride this bike is really well suited for, I regularly ride the line of bad pavement so the person I am riding with gets the good stuff. (And like all the ti riders, we have learned to expect the big slowdown every time the ride hits rough chipseal. We don't care, but it seems the CF and alum folk do.) This bike is painted with bare stays. We used a good painter and I have had no issues except a couple of scratches I have retouched. Really, no different than steel except maybe more prep. (I never talked to the painter.)

5 years later I ordered a second ti bike from the same builder. Fix gear, again steel fork, this time bare metal. Custom dropouts that I designed. So much fun and so versatile (as a fix gear) that it is well into my all-time mileage rankings in 3 years. This is again a stiff, even steeper bike. Rides like a custom steel race bike, again fully alive on rough roads, but again, doesn't loosen teeth. Same issue with riders in front hitting chipseal.

One very convenient plus of titanium is the ease of making changes. The rear triangle/dropout design of my fixie is unique, designed around a very long horizontal dropout (that makes the old long Campy dropout look like a toy). We also went with a very steep seat angle so the rear wheel could be very far forward riding a big cog. There, we hit a minor oops. With a 25c tire, fender run down to the chainstay bridge in usual fashion and a 23t cog so the wheel was all the way forward in the dropout, the tire solidly hit the fender hardware. So ... bike went back to the builder, he carved an arc into the bridge, welded in a matching arc'd plate and drilled and countersunk for the fender screw. Now I run the fender in front of the bridge with a flat head screw. Looks like it was designed that way and very clean. Cool, that you can do after the fact changes that are as good as the rest of the bike, look just as good and don't require painting!

Ben

bs