What is a bike alloy?

Question

I don't know what a bike alloy is because I don't
deal w/ bikes a lot.Please explain it in regular
kiddy terms cause I might be a little slow with scientific terms!

Answer 1

Good question!

First, lets define an alloy. An alloy is a mixture of 2 or more metals or materials.

In the most extreme terms, bread could be considered an alloy of flour, yeast, and salt... though we don't use that term in baking.

Steel is an alloy made of iron, carbon, plus all different kinds of other metals such as molybdneum, chromium (ever hear of chrome moly?), manganese, and other materials. Regardless of the steel alloy it all weighs the same. When referring to a bicycle part, the weight savings of a steel part comes from being able to change the alloy to make it stronger. Making it stronger reduces the amount of material needed and voila! Lighter part. Steel is identified using a 4 number sequence. 1020 steel, for example, is the typical high carbon steel used for refrigerators and toaster ovens.

Many people make alloy synonymous with aluminum. This is way wrong as we have just learned. Pure aluminum is very soft and weak and could not be used for a bike part if not alloyed with other metals, so the people that make aluminum mix aluminum with things such as magnesium to make it stronger and usable. After the part is made, most aluminum alloys require further treatment such as aging or hardening to make it useful. Like steel, most aluminum alloys also have a 4 digit number to define what is in it. In addition, it has a letter and more numbers. For example, 5052H32 is what the military uses to make lockers that are used on naval vessels.

As a general rule aluminum is 1/2 the weight of steel but is only 1/3 the strength, so in order to make an aluminum part as strong as steel you'd need to use 3 times the material thereby making an aluminum part heavier than a steel one. A good example of this would be the aluminum frames on bikes from Walmart or Target. Very low quality aluminum forces the manufacturer to use very thick tubing.

Answer 2

Alloy is a general term for a metal that is made up of more than one substance. For example, iron is an element, but steel is an alloy since it has carbon, chromium, silicon, or other elements mixed into it.

When talking about bicycles, "alloy" is most often used to indicate aluminum. If an ad only says "alloy frame" then it's probably a cheap Wal-Mart bike and not worth your time anyway. Bikes from a real bike store will actually tell you the exact alloy on the frame, like 6061T6 aluminum or 3AL/2.5V titanium (pure ti with 3% aluminum and 2.5% vanadium).

Bottom line: go to a real bike shop to get anything bicycle related. Ask questions to the staff, and enjoy yourself. They don't make commission, they just love bikes and want to see EVERYONE riding.

Answer 3

Alloy refers to the compound of the material the frame (or component) is built from.

For example, most aluminium frames come from 2 mayor series: 600x and 700x. Although both alloys are aluminium, there is some difference in the characteristics.

Also, for titanium and most other components, there are different alloys or types.

Answer 4

High tensile steel - cheapest material they make bikes out of. Walmart bikes, etc.

CrMo steel - steel alloy with chromium and molybdenum mixed in. Much stronger than HT steel.

Aluminum - most popular on bikes over $200...multiple types varying in strength and practicality....these are all "alloys" too...meaning the material is combined with other elements.

Then you have other materials like titanium, carbon fiber... all these materials are lot limited to bikes of course.

Answer 5

im not sure either. but i think bike comes in various material and alloy metal is one of them. i know there's "composite" and "carbon" materials too.