What Big Four? Four-leaf clovers are lucky, but bicycles aren\’t clover.

The commonest materials used in building bicycle frames are aluminum, steel, titanium, and carbon fiber. Which is best? Per Lon Haldeman, a frame\’s design as much as its material is what makes the quality of your ride.  (See The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling, p. 61).There\’s also the practicality of, What can I afford?

Aluminum frames are comparatively inexpensive. My hybrid has an aluminum frame (with a stainless steel front fork). Aluminum also has a reputation for making a light, lively frame.

\”Steel is real\”  seems to have been around for a long time. A steel frame has a certain amount of \”give\”, thus a springiness. Unfortunately steel is prone to rusting. I\’d be worried about a steel frame getting rusty even if it hadn\’t rained in two weeks, because I live in a humid climate. On top of that, I\’m relatively close to the Gulf of Mexico, and there\’s always salt haze. Might that saltiness in the air contribute to corrosion?

Titanium is supposed to all but indestructible. It doesn\’t rust. It\’s lightweight. Unfortunately \”ti\” bikes are very expensive, as the material is hard to cut and weld.

Then there\’s carbon fiber, which consists of thin strands of carbon with a resin coating. This leads to carbon fiber bicycles being called \”plastic bikes\”, which I find a bit insulting. It makes the bicycle sound like a cheap, shoddy toy; ironic, as a \”CF\” bike is not cheap (I should know; my road bike is CF).

So there you have it. Get Fast! includes a brief discussion of the big four frame materials in Chapter 15. At the time I bought my road bike I knew little or nothing about these things. If I buy another one in the future, I should be able to make a more informed choice. But really, the most important thing is: how good does this bike feel?