On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 12:44 AM, frank theriault <knarftheria...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 9:52 PM, Adam Maas <a...@mawz.ca> wrote: > >> >> Nice shot, cute girl, nice bike even if I am somewhat biased against >> Aluminum. > > There are some very nice alumimium bikes out there. It's not as sexy > as carbon fibre, not as familiar as steel, but for the price, > aluminium is a nice combination of stiffness and lightness. Aluminium > has a bad reputation for harshness, but (like anything else), if > designed properly, aluminium frames can work very well. > > That's not to say that it's superior to steel or carbon; it's all > what the designer/framebuilder does with it, isn't it? I love my > aluminium Fondriest trackbike! >
Yes, Aluminum does do well for certain applications. But there's a couple things I don't like about it, most due to my overall dislike of stiff rides (as opposed to harsh rides, stiff is not harsh) and longevity issues. Aluminum frames wear out as aluminum has a limited fatigue life (unlike steel) and a compliant aluminum frame is more susceptible to this than a stiff one. This is an issue for me as I tend to keep my bikes long-term (My main ride is 12 years old and it will still be in use after the Honky Tonk arrives) That said, for a track bike or race bike where stiffness is a major win and limited lifespan is not an issue, Aluminum does very well and provides a lower-cost high performance alternative to Carbon (and without some of the risks of Carbon) >> >> Just ordered a new bike myself. Duke's was nice enough to call up Kona >> and check if they had any leftover 2009 Honky Tonk's in my size as I >> don't like the 2010 versions (A nice steel road bike should not have >> cheapo brifters, Dura-Ace DT shifters are the better choice). Got >> lucky and they did, so I plunked down my cash and I should have my new >> bike next weekend. > > Kona make some very nice bikes and Dura Ace is pretty damned nice > stuff. Congrats on your new bike; the weather's looking pretty good > for some good riding! > > cheers, > frank > I do wish that there was more DA on the bike than just the shifters (the drivetrain is 9 speed Tiagra with a 105 RD), and yeah, the weather is great, today's my 3rd day in a row on the bike and I'm looking at a solid week of nice commuting weather. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
