Mountain Bikes Frame Material

Today aluminium is the go to material for most frames and it totally makes sense.

Mountain bikes frame material. Carbon fiber had its early stage durability flaws but the sheer lightness of the material has driven the weight conscious mountain bike industry to invest massively into its development. Best mountain bikes you can buy for under 2 000. Mountain as a mountain biker you actively seek out challenges and obstacles. Let s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each material.

With different camps exalting or denouncing the fabled smooth ride characteristics of steel and titanium the harshness of aluminium and the stiffness of carbon fibre. There s a lot of myths marketing hype and dubious engineering talk surrounding frame materials. Many different frame options exist these days including steel aluminum titanium and carbon fiber. Steel is the most commonly used material in bike frames.

Here is an attempt to define the most common frame materials available to you. Every trek mountain bike is loaded with features and details that will make any ride on any trail better. Trek is the world leader in mountain bike technology. While aluminum was going through its developmental paces in the 1980s so was the exceptionally light and strong carbon fiber.

Here innovations are not limited to only the highest end mtb models. 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. When mountain bikes first started being mass produced after their invention in marin county in the 1970s steel frames were all that was available. Not all of these materials are created equal.

It does not corrode and is less dense than steel which makes it lighter when using the same amount of material. By far the most commonly used frame material for higher end mountain and road bikes including virtually every bike being raced at the professional level carbon fiber is a composite of carbon. In fact many mtbs nowadays still sport this classic material in their build. Most of the bikes ridden at world cup enduro world series level will be carbon although it isn t ubiquitous but it would be simplistic and maybe even wrong to say that carbon is objectively better.

But because your frame is the backbone of your mountain bike it is important to know the difference between them. Today aluminum is an industry leading mountain bike frame material. No surprise that our mountain bikes are the most technologically advanced on the market. Here is a small guide to help you choose the best structure for your mountain bike complete with suggestions.

And then there is another big player carbon fibre.