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Edited Date/Time
8/14/2018 5:33am
The Japanese bikes are getting very good and kind of running out of things to do. Every year they try to add more flex to the aluminum frames, but itll never be the same. What do u think the chances are one of the Japanese manufacturors goes back to a steel frame. It would be a huge change and immediately improve the bike if done right. Ktm is clearly doing very well with theirs. Any chance of this?
I know aluminum frames are cheaper but the bikes are getting very expensive anyways. Id vote yamaha because they keep searching for better steering performance. I almost said Suzuki to set them apart which they badly need plus elec start, etc... but then I thought about how theyre already the best steering and really have no need. Yamaha already has the most unique setup I think a steel frame could put em over the top.
I know aluminum frames are cheaper but the bikes are getting very expensive anyways. Id vote yamaha because they keep searching for better steering performance. I almost said Suzuki to set them apart which they badly need plus elec start, etc... but then I thought about how theyre already the best steering and really have no need. Yamaha already has the most unique setup I think a steel frame could put em over the top.
One things for sure. I sure do like being able to clean my frame with scotch bright and it come out looking new again.!
The Shop
Play bikes can get away with mild steel frames because they are not put through the stress of say a motocross bike.
Standard Mild steel is cheap and easy to work with, Real 4130 Chromoly steel is way more expensive and harder to shape and bend unless you get a softer condition material then heat treat it after being bent and welded.
Aluminum frames are easy to make, cost less and don't stretch.
"XCO and enduro riders carbon fibre - However, for downhill racers, aluminium is a serious alternative"
Steel frame are only used as a cheap alternative !
plenty of people still building in steel.
alloy is used because its cheap and can be made sufficiently strong. steel maintains a weight penalty.
though, those concerned more about feel than weight have kept steel in business.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/the-shan-n5-in-the-making.html
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/production-privee-steel-shan-n5-review.ht…
https://www.stantonbikes.com/
http://forums.mtbr.com/bike-frame-discussion/steel-hardtail-decisions-1…
STEEL IS REAL!!!!
I have a steel cx bike and that’s a smooth riding bike. I’ve had several Niner Sir9 and I wish I kept them. My carbon is nice, but hard to beat steel, especially in a hardtail.
So much money and time in R&D has been put into alloy frames that I don't think they'll switch back. That's nearly admitting 20+ year design flaw and there's too much pride to make that change. There are many other things they can improve upon without a complete frame change to get the desired results. For the consumer, it's almost negligible, but for the serious racer, you can only feel minor differences. Not enough I think to reverse engineer to a new/old frame design for the big 4.
Have you ever counted how many separate parts go into a frame?
On the 96 CR250, (I'm a Honda guy, it's all we work on so I use them for reference) the frame has something like 60 or more separate, individual pieces. Tubes, plates, gusset, threaded inserts, brackets etc. They all have to be stamped/pressed/bent and each part has to have a fixture or jig and then has to be welded.
On an 04 CR250 frame (I had them side by side in the 'shop) I counted less then 30 (I think it was 24) seperate parts.
That's just the main frame, not including the subframes!!
A lot of stuff billed as "inovation" and the newest and greatest isn't at all. It just the factory trying to sell you a cheaper/easier to produce version of last year's product. (Honda's Power-Valve "evolution" is a perfect example of this!)
Alloy frames aren't better, just cheaper.
Pit Row
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