FranckCisco

I've been in the market for some Ti frames but so far no luck. In particular, aluminum, aluminum-carbon, steel, and esp. full carbon frames have all gone down in price since the past years...except for Ti. I'm wondering why the same companies that build those cheap Bikesdirect alum or pedal force frames don't focus their attention to some Ti loving? BD icon for no reason.

Patriot

How cheap do you want it?

You can regularly find Ti frames on Ebay around $600.

Even the TST bikes can be had new for $700 or so.

WheresWaldo

Simple answer, no!

Patriot I think he's looking for a Ti bike that has a $200-300 frame, as he mentioned BD in the OP.

FranckCisco

sub 500 USD, from companies that offer Ti frames in various sizes not just 60cms.

Patriot

Sub $500?

Well used on Ebay. That's it. And don't expect it to get cheaper. Even the Chinese Ti frames cost more than that.

FranckCisco

Yeah, maybe I'll continue to wait for the next few years to see what happens. It's a pity used Litespeed frames go for so high on ebay.

Machka 

Nope. The prices will start to rise as the demand for titanium increases, and the supply decreases.

mtnwalker

I noticed the same thing too. I went bike shopping 4 days ago and looked at some Merlin's and Guru's. Every complete Ti bike they had went from $4500 all the way up to $9000. And if you look at Litespeed's web site it looks like Litespeed has phased out some of their bikes like the Teramo, Firenze, and Blue Ridge. If you're lucky you can still get an '06 Teramo for like a thousand off the MSRP.

theshoemaker

What! Are you serious?
I thought that ti was one of the cheapest most readily available materials around. Oh, wait I think you're right. Something about the manufacturing of it is what drives up the price I believe.

Machka 

I was talking to someone who had worked in mining, metalurgy, smelting, and that sort of thing all his life (he was recently retired) on a bicycle tour a few weeks ago. I made some comment that my next bicycle will be titanium and his response was basically, "buy it now", and he went on to tell me that about titanium.

DrPete 

I was always under the impression that the raw materials costs for titanium are pretty negligible, and the real cost comes in because it's a hard material to work with. Is that not the case?

ericgu

Titanium is very difficult to machine and weld, and takes special designs to get the most out of. And there are few companies using it, so there's not a lot of downward pressure on price.

SSRI

ti is supposingly harder to work with and a lot harder weld. May be thats why you dont see much china/taiwain Ti frames.
I dont think the price for a ti frame will go the way of a generic al frame in the 100-200 range.

jschen

Titanium itself isn't that expensive. Titanium dioxide is used in paint and costs something like $1.10/pound. Dirt cheap, even after a recent price increase. But we don't ride titanium dioxide powder. We don't even ride titanium ingots. We ride titanium frames. The cost of the raw material has essentially no bearing on the cost of the frame.

7rider

Refining titanium, making nice tubes out of it, and the skill and experience to weld it well all add up.

group105

https://cgi.ebay.com/TITANIUM-TRIATHL...QQcmdZViewItem

FranckCisco

I was thinking of a traditional frame, not TT frame, with 700cc wheels. Maybe i'm just picky. Oh...and a 54 cm frame would be nice too.

Ti-tillIdie

That ebay auction looks suspicious. That's not to say it might not be legit, but I can't say that I've ever seen a new Ti frame on ebay that's got a buy-it-now price that low. Maybe its the 650 wheels that are killing the sale price? 650's don't get much love anymore.

Nessism

Ti tubesets are VERY expensive. Go to the UBI web side and price the cost of tubing if you don't believe me.

As far as building the frame goes, Ti is not THAT hard to weld in fact, I've read posts by people like Carl Strong that claim that it's no more difficult to weld than high end super thin steel.

And raw materials have gone way up. Not sure but the aerospace industry is sucking up lots of Ti these days so prices are not going to drop any time soon. Yes the raw materials are available but it takes tons of energy to refine the stuff and we all know what's been happening to energy prices these days.

andrew.wetdog

Used to be most Ti tubing was military specs. Maybe our current arms race is keeping consumer prices ski high--as in jets and so forth.

mtnwalker

I did a quick search and it looks like the newest F-22 fighter is 39% titanium. And the concept planes like the F-35 is also going to rely heavily on the same material and the manufacturers are setting steps in place to make sure they don't run out of titanium for the newer F-35 planes.

It looks like titanium is getting scarce and raw materials are at a premium. I just hope the feds don't come knocking at cyclists doors and asking for titanium "donations".

johnny99

Good quality Ti bikes are expensive more because of the labor involved in producing a good quality Ti bike. The metal itself is not that expensive. Cheaper Ti bikes are available, but these are made from heavier tubing that can be welded more cheaply and the resulting bikes have no real advantages over comparably priced steel or aluminum bikes.

Dick Rhee

Last I checked, a new Moots frame is already $200 more than what I paid for mine just two years ago. Anyway, the other posters are right, the high cost of a well made Ti bike is in the manufacturing costs.

FranckCisco

Is this even legal in the US? They will probably do this to guns before they do it to bicycles. Hopefully, neither will happen anytime soon.

ElJamoquio

...Just like steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber frames.

Bamboo I'm not too sure about.