Originally Posted by KonAaron Snake (Post 17264162)

........ $1,000 seems awfully high for a dinged 8 year old bike with 105.

Originally Posted by Scot Nicol

Magnesium

Imagine a metal with half the density of aluminum, strength better than 6061, and elongation around 10 to 11 percent. I'm describing a magnesium alloy here, currently being tested by Easton. While magnesium is not normally known for its ductility, Easton says the material looks promising with those 10 to 11 percent elongation numbers. Although the modulus is low, in the range of 6MSI, that really shouldn't be an insurmountable problem. Aluminum has a relatively low modulus, but it doesn't mean an aluminum frame can't be built stiff. The same will hold true for magnesium, in fact a lower modulus would be welcome in the eyes of many.

One issue that needs to be addressed with this metal is the extreme problem with corrosion. Leave a magnesium part out in the rain and it will disappear faster than just about anything except unpainted steel. This problem can be overcome with proper surface treatment, like painting or anodization.

One of the intangible benefits of magnesium is that if you need to start a fire for some reason, just scrape some flakes off your dropouts, and light them up. They'll easily burn. For the mini- Hindenburg effect, just add water. The oxygen and hydrogen in the water disassociate, and party down with help from the magnesium. By the way, titanium does the same thing, but it's a little harder to get it started.

Originally Posted by krobinson103 (Post 17264282)

Ever drop magnesium in water in chemistry class at school? I don't think a bike made of magnesium is a good idea.

Originally Posted by repechage (Post 17265693)

I am impressed that they found a way to weld even a magnesium alloy. It has been done, I know. Mercedes at LeMans comes to mind and the Porsche 917/30 allegedly had a magnesium sub frame which no one would admit to because of the LeMans Crash that had the Mercedes fly into the grand stand to horrific results.

Originally Posted by KonAaron Snake (Post 17264162)

I am not at all knowledgeable about magnesium or the brand, but $1,000 seems awfully high for a dinged 8 year old bike with 105.

Originally Posted by Bianchigirll (Post 17265417)

This is likely the best known of the bikes marketed as a Magnesium frame, but I think lots of bikes were built with some kind of magnesium alloyed tubes. I always assumed Bianchis mangalloy stays had some percentage of magnesium in them.

Originally Posted by Paramount1973 (Post 17272529)

The 'mang' in mangalloy comes from manganese.

Originally Posted by Bianchigirll (Post 17275742)

Not bad considering I am not 'smithy' not trained in the arts of metallurgy!!

Originally Posted by krobinson103 (Post 17264282)

Ever drop magnesium in water in chemistry class at school? I don't think a bike made of magnesium is a good idea.

Originally Posted by miamijim (Post 17267609)

+1. And for a no name bike it makes it even less the deal.

I owned one of the magnesium Pinarello Dogmas and it's an amazing bike. Crazy fast, very smooth riding, top notch in almost every way. Almost, it seemed to have premature BB shell corrosion from water/sweat collecting where the FD cable wrapped around the BB shell...it was heavy. When I bought it has already been ridden heavily by the previous owner, my guesstimate is that it had upwards of 50,000 miles on the clock.

For $1000-1200 there are a lot of nice name brand bikes out there....wait until the weeks before Christmas.