Originally Posted by
MEversbergII
Has anyone ever made these out of lighter frame materials, such as titanium or aluminum? Or even higher grade steel that can be butted? Seems like you could still have considerable hauling strength on those for less weight, though I suppose they'd cease to be "bomb proof".
Koga-Miyata used make a lighter weight chromoly model in the form of the
RoadAce (I have one) and there are even years that used their splined and butted FM-1 tubing if I recall correctly.
EDIT: Their 1996-1997 SilverAce had an FM-1 frame, just before they switched to aluminum. This was with a Shimano Nexus 7 and weighed about 17.8kg.
But nowadays your best bet would be to get a
Pashley Guv'nor and outfit that one with fenders and such since they make them out of butted Reynolds 531.