Lightest Bike Frame Material

It is less dense than steel so it results in lighter frames.

Lightest bike frame material.

Aluminum bike frames are perhaps the most common in the modern bicycle industry with the material widely used for various components too. Carbon or high tensile steel is a good strong long lasting steel but it isn t as light as its more high tech brother the steel known as chromoly. Welcome to light bicycle online bike shops. This is because the material is also one third of the rigidity and one third the strength of steel.

It is possible to make an excellent frame with any of the materials mentioned but for a high performance frame the choice will usually come down to be either carbon fibre or aluminium. Aluminum is a lighter weight material that was the first ever alternative to the steel bicycle frame. Very much the material of the boutique custom frame builder the best titanium is lighter and stiffer than steel with a a spring in its step it s comfortable light stiff and longer. There is little doubt that a carbon frame can be made the lightest so it wins assuming you just go by the numbers.

Aluminium as a material isn t very dense so it can be formed into lightweight structures making it perfect for bike frames. The trek emonda slr 8 that we reviewed a while ago weighed in at 6 27kg 13 8lb but trek s emonda slr 9 lops almost a pound off that for a claimed 5 88kg 12 96lb. The frame is said to weigh just 690g. Though it is one third the density of steel you ll notice that aluminum tubes can be larger in diameter than steel tubes.

The most common bicycle frame material aluminum is known for being corrosion resistant fairly light though typically not as light as carbon fiber and having a high strength to weight ratio. Steel is the most commonly used material in bike frames. Introduced as a material for bicycle frames about 30 years ago aluminum is now the most common material. Light bicycle industry co ltd.

Because of its decreased density it requires larger tube diameters to achieve enough strength for a bike frame. With the options available through trek s project one customisation you can lop off a few more grams by replacing the shimano dura ace transmission with sram s wireless red etap.