Quote:
Originally Posted by XC90Mk1
Thanks for that. I meant really from a cost perspective. I know that now a days a aluminium framed bike at £250 is good. But from a cost perspective a good aluminium framed bike in the 60s or 70s would be a very expensive piece of kit (if it were even available).
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I think the cost was probably down to the cost of actually making the aluminium bike, back then aluminium welding techniques weren't that widely available. Also the welds weren't that reliable until the 80s :
"Since the late 1930s alloy steels have been used for frame and fork tubes in higher quality machines. By the 1980s aluminum welding techniques had improved to the point that aluminum tube could safely be used in place of steel. Since then aluminum alloy frames and other components have become popular due to their light weight, and most mid-range bikes are now principally aluminum alloy of some kind."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle#Frame
I have heard of an older aluminium bike but can't think of the name of it just now. They were in simple terms bolted together but pred-dated the welded aluminium bikes by quite some time.