Monday, February 11, 2013

White Girl Problems: Range Of Tubes For Custom Aluminum Bikes

Here's the question: Are there enough different aluminum tubes to make custom bike frames for the edges of the bell curve?  Can a framebuilder make a light-enough hardtail for a short, 95 pound woman?  Or a reliable and serviceable road frame for someone 5'10" and 260 pounds?  Or a proper frame for someone 6'6" who weighs 310 or 180?  I have no idea, but it sure seems like the selection of Al tubes is a little sparse.  I can remember seeing tiny women back in the day riding really cool custom mountain frames made of Columbus SL (or lighter) skinny road tubing with Koski or Ritchey Logic forks and loving them.  I also saw a pretty wide selection of over-over-over-sized cromoly used on frames welded up for strong riders and serious racers who wanted something a bit sweeter than the $500 GT or Specialized or Diamond Back disposable racing mountain bike.  The steel was out there to make a nice frame for road racing or mountain biking for pretty much anyone of any size who wanted one.  Can we do that with aluminum in 2013?  Do the tubes (still) exist after the death of the top-level road frame in the late '90s?  I'm not talking about the stuff that Cannondale or Knolly use in Taiwan, but instead I wonder about a wide range of tubes available to custom framebuilders who can mix and match like they do with steel to create a perfect frame for an individual rider.  We may never know the answer to these questions, but tune in next time for another episode of Bullshit, or Not?

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