Originally Posted by
lifanus
Our local riding group just posted a picture of a crash, it doesn't matter what kind of bike. High end bikes are designed to shave weight as much as possible to squeeze extra power during a race, they are not designed to take on a beating and last forever if you know what I mean... Afterall they are designed to win races, pros gets them for free, us consumers gets them because pros ride them and win races on them... Marketing effect.
High end bikes are usually designed to shave weight, when it comes to durability, one crash maybe all it needs to get a new one.
Not sure the point of the picture. If a manufacturer was able to make a sub-600-gram titanium frame that was rideable I am sure it would not have faired much better. Virtually all places where strength to weight are important the trend is away from titanium especially Aerospace, that is the reason titanium prices have been on a fairly steep price decline since 2006, the demand is just not there. The big benefit of titanium is its ability for small builders with limited tooling to build custom bikes and they are seen as pretty by some. Considering ride quality can be configured any way you like with a carbon bike layup that urban myth has passed a long time ago.