Choosing the Best Mountain Bike Framing Materials

You will find the cost of a mountain bike frame to be in direct proportion to the a) material used in the construction and the b) treatment that material has received. As you begin your research for a mountain bike frame you will soon learn there are five types of materials used in the construction - a) high tensile steel, b) chromoly steel, c) aluminum, d) titanium, and e) carbon fiber. In addition, tubing material treatments adding to the increased cost of a frame are a) oversized diameters, b) heat treating, and c) butting.

Lower priced mountain bikes frames are usually constructed with a very durable alloy known as high tensile steel. High tensile steel has a large carbon content so it is less stiff than chromoly steel. Because of this, additional material is necessary to ensure that this frame is stiff enough to be used in bicycle frames. As you can guess, this process makes the bicycle relatively heavy.

Being relatively inexpensive to produce, high tensile steel is used in the manufacture of trail bikes, city bikes, and entry level mountain bikes. You'll find some bikes manufactured with high tensile steel but having a seat tube manufactured with chromoly.

Short for steel alloy, chromoly (chromoly steel) is best described by its major additives - chromium and molybdenum. This is probably the most refined framing material, giving over 100 years of dependable service.

Dependent upon the kind of heat treating and butting, you may see this material contained in bikes from as little as $400 dollars on up through and beyond $1500. The chromoly steel used in the manufacture provides excellent durability and a compliant ride characteristic.

Over the last fifteen years, aluminum continues to be refined essentially in a similar way as has been chromoly. There have been numerous alloys produced along with oversizing, heat treatment, and butting. Used on dual suspension bikes, aluminum is the desired material being the stiffest and most cost effective.

Because of aluminum being stiffer than chromoly, it will tend to crack before chromoly will. This depends of course on your riding style and how much abuse you subject your frame to. One of the major advantages to the use of aluminum in mountain bike frames is that the frame is very light and stiff with oversizing and butting.

Considered to be a bit exotic by some folks, prices for titanium frames have come down in the past few years. Due to the additional time required to weld the tubes to the frame however, titanium frames continue to remain comparatively, rather expensive.

Titanium is considered an alloy, normally mixed with small amounts of vanadium and aluminum to give it better weldability and ride characteristics. More compliant than chromoly, it offers better fatigue and corrosion properties.

Regardless of the frame material you choose for your new mountain bike, a big factor determining its life and longevity is where you ride and your riding style. If you take care of your mountain bike and treat the frame with respect, most frame materials will last for years.

Mountain biking is a wonderful sport and will take you places you've never explored before. Now be sure you return to where you started with a GPS Garmin Watch. The Garmin GPS Watch such as the Garmin Forerunner Watch is going to be sure you don't get eaten up by the wilderness you set out to conquer.

Tags: biking, Cycling, exercise, fitness, Mountain Bikes, Outdoors, recreation, sports