Originally Posted by
DorkDisk
It's been the material of the future for 40 years now and little has changed save for forming. Modern fat Al never delivered on ride quality and the potential of carbon is just being explored. Steel and Ti can be fabricated without heat treatment facilities so there is a large number of small fabricators pushing that medium, not so for Al.
I would say that a whole lot more than just “forming” has changed in 40 years for aluminum. The metallurgy for all metals have changed significantly over the last 4 decades. Quality of construction has improve significantly over the last 40 years as well.
As for “never deliver[ing] on ride quality”, it depends on what you are looking for. I currently own titanium and aluminum bikes. I don’t find the ride quality to be that much different. I’ve owned steel in the past and, frankly, found the ride quality to be rather poor. I owned a steel touring bike for 25 years and it had lots of issues with stiffness. I could never ride out of the saddle while loaded without pedaling straight up and down. If I tried to throw the bike from side-to-side like I would on an unloaded bike, the bike would wander over 7 counties with each pedal stroke.
I traded up to a Cannondale T800 in 2003 and the difference between the rides was astounding. With a load, the T800 provides a great ride and is stiff enough to climb out of the saddle just as if the bike were unloaded.
I have a titanium hardtail mountain bike which I like but it’s not that much different from the aluminum hardtails it replaced.