What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Choice of Bicycle Frame Material?

Bicycle common sense: The soul of a bicycle is the frame. Frames of different materials have different performances, different prices, and different choices of frame materials. First of all, let's understand the types of materials: aluminum, steel, carbon, and titanium.

Frame
The material of the frame is divided into steel, aluminum, titanium alloy, and carbon fiber. Among them, the steel frame is the cheapest. My one is the one, but it is also the heaviest. The paint on the surface will be rusty after peeling off, so it takes more time to maintain it. The more advanced point is the aluminum alloy, which is lighter in weight but requires a thicker pipe diameter to achieve the same strength as the steel pipe, which is used by most mountain bikes. After the surface is polished, the whole car is silver-white, which is very beautiful. The characteristic of the carbon fiber frame is that it can be integrally formed without welding, but each frame requires a special mold to manufacture, and the cost is also high. Titanium alloys are not only light-weight, rust-proof, high-strength, and have the best material characteristics, but the raw materials are expensive and difficult to process, and it can only be purchased at least tens of thousands.

Cushion
The height of the seat cushion has a great influence on riding comfort. The calculation method is to take your stride length * 0.883, which is equal to the distance from the seat cushion to the center of the chainring. There is also a relatively simple method, that is, people sit Go to the seat cushion and step on the pedal farthest from the body. At this time, after the foot is straightened, the heel must be able to step on the pedal exactly, pay attention to the heel. If the heel is not stepped on, the cushion is too high, and the knee is not straight, it is too low. One thing to note is that the height of this cushion is much higher than the riding height that most people are used to. When parking, even the toes of the single footpad are needed to get to the ground. When you first start riding, you will not be used to it. Be careful where there are many traffic lights. However, for long-distance riding, this height allows your legs to provide the best force on the pedals. So if your bicycle is only a few hundred meters in class, for safety, do not adjust the seat cushion so high.

Variable speed
The average person rides a variable speed bike, and when he wants to ride a slow gear, he adjusts to a light gear ratio, and when he wants to ride a fast gear, he adjusts to a heavy gear ratio. The correct method is to maintain a certain pedaling speed, usually 90 revolutions per minute. When riding stably at this rate, if you find that your feet are a bit strenuous and you can’t step on that fast, you should change to a lighter gear ratio, otherwise, change to a heavier gear ratio, so that the legs always maintain the same force This is the correct method of operation for the variable speed system. Therefore, 21, 24, and even the latest 27-stage shifting, not to provide a larger shifting range, but to provide a finer shifting in the same range to maintain the stability of the pedaling speed.

1) Carbon fiber frame

The use of carbon fiber as a high-tech material on bicycles is a matter of the last decade. Strictly speaking, carbon fiber is not a pure carbon element but also a mixture of epoxy resin adhesion and reinforcement. In the early years, due to technical reasons, the epoxy resin used would even decompose in the sun. With the advancement of technology, various shortcomings of this excellent material are gradually overcome.

Generally speaking, carbon fiber as a bicycle material has the following characteristics:
Advantage:
1. Extremely lightweight: Carbon fiber road racks around 1200 grams have been seen everywhere. Since the mass of carbon is only 1.6 grams/cubic centimeter, modern technology can make a carbon rack vehicle easily reach 5kg.
2. Good shock absorption performance Carbon fiber can effectively absorb shock and maintain good rigidity. This feature makes it a good competition-grade material.
3. Strong plasticity can make various shapes of frames, and use aerodynamics to make frames with very little wind resistance.

Disadvantages:
1. The characteristic of carbon fiber is that the tensile strength is strong, but the shear strength is weak, the impact resistance of the surface is quite good, and the puncture resistance is very poor. That is to say, it doesn't matter if you shoot vertically or horizontally. If you are afraid of falling vertically or horizontally, then it can't be solved by welding it.
2. The price is expensive. The top frame may reach the price of TWD 30,000.

2) Aluminum frame

Because of the appearance of carbon fiber, the aluminum frame rarely appears in the modern top road bike competition. Because the metal material needs to be welded, there is no so-called weldless frame. It is just to smooth the weld bead or perform soil repair.
Advantage:
1. Lighter than steel
2. No rust

Disadvantages:
1. The metal fatigue of aluminum is very poor. The more times you ride, the higher the number of stresses and the significant changes in strength. This is why an aluminum frame can only support 2-3 years under professional use strength. the reason.
2. Aluminum has no elasticity and cannot absorb the shock of riding. The frame made of aluminum will transmit most of the road vibration directly to the rider's body, which makes the aluminum frame sit quite bumpy and the ride comfort is very poor.

3) Steel frame

Steel is a material with a long history. From the most common civilian bicycles to high-end competition-grade vehicles, steel is used more or less.
Advantage:
1. Good processing performance, chromium-molybdenum steel is the oldest bicycle material, and it has the longest research time, so its processing technology has developed to a fairly stable level.
2. High strength, the strength of steel is much greater than that of aluminum alloy and titanium alloy, so the strength of a qualified steel frame can be assured.
3. The road feels comfortable. Steel is a metal with good elasticity. The frame made of steel can absorb the vibration brought by the riding process. Therefore, the steel frame is not as uncomfortable as the aluminum frame and is particularly suitable for long-distance use.
4. The metal fatigue of steel is much stronger than aluminum, so under the same conditions of use, the life of the steel frame will be much longer than that of the aluminum frame.

Disadvantages:
1. Rusting will greatly reduce the strength of the steel and reduce the service life, so various measures must be taken to prevent the steel from rusting.
2. Weight It is difficult to reduce the weight of the steel frame to less than 1600 grams, which is why the steel frame is rarely seen in race-level frames.

If it is not the pursuit of competition-level weight, and considering the durability of the frame, the steel frame is the best choice.

4) Titanium frame

Titanium is an emerging metal. This new material has very superior performance and is one of the best materials for making top frames.
Advantage
1. Titanium alloy can make a very light and strong frame. The strength of titanium is similar to steel, but the weight is only a little more than half of that of steel. Therefore, the titanium alloy frame with the same strength will be much lighter than the steel frame.
2. Titanium alloy has very good elasticity, similar to steel.
3. Titanium is a metal with memory, and it has almost unlimited service life within its deformation range, which means that it can be used for a lifetime when buying a titanium alloy frame.
4. Under normal conditions, titanium will hardly corrode

Disadvantages:
​Expensive! !! But it has also become a new toy for the local tyrants. An entry-level titanium frame is at least 1900 or more, and there will be a better carbon frame at the same price.

Of course, the most expensive cannot represent the best, suitable for yourself. Like is the most important. With the advancement of technology, I believe that a better performance frame can be developed.
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Reference: https://twgreatdaily.com/dNyM0mwBJleJMoPM81W_.html