Frame material makes a difference in stiffness, given you’d have the exact same designs, different materials would feel different. Materials act as some kind of weird black magic though. In Unicycling, we dont feel those differences as much as on bikes since the frame design is fairly simple.
Bigger tube usualy equal stiffer, not only because it’s bigger, but because the surface of contact with the other tube it’s welded to is larger. Then again, weld a gigantic tube to a soda can, it wont be stiff. There’s alot of things to consider when choosing material and design.
My crown design on Aluminium frame has proven a good feel to me and to other riders. It also has a good amount of style points I make steel frames different, because of material availability and the fact that it needs less wall thickness for the same strength. Steel offers more responsive ‘‘spring-back’’ and feel to alloy, I use 4130 Steel, mild steel wouldn’t offer the same feel. Titanium is actually pretty flexy material, but you often see it on bikes that are made for longer distances, where a super stiff frame wouldn’t be comfortable!
So, you can choose to make frames the way you want, material choice will help get to your goal, but it’s not the answer. The wall thickness, size, type, design all play a role.
And the weight question, here’s some stats based on the last 36’’ I made out of 4130 steel. All weights include bearing caps and bolts. It’s heavier, but it’s not a brick, and it feels awesome apparently
4130 Steel frame with intergrated seatclamp, powdercoated: 877g
KH36 aluminium frame: 810g
Nimbus Oracle 36’‘: 765g
Qu-ax RGB 36’': 640g
I somehow have a feeling that this question has been asked before but I’m unable to locate the post. So, I bought a Mad4One frame for my Schlumpf wheel, however either my spokes are too thick or the frame is to narrow:
What are my options? I don’t want to order every possible frame only to notice that I run into the same problem with every frame. Could someone point me to the place where this has been discussed before (if it has…)
@rogeratunicycledotcom pointed out this issue some weeks ago but nobody cared and Florian didn’t consider to increase clearance on side opposite to disc …
The hub is wider than it used to be in previous generations. Whoever has a Flansberrium frame and wanted to fit a new generation Schlumpf had to file down the frame a little bit (at max .5mm deep). It’s not a huge issue on an aluminium frame. I will be machining a little space in futur frame for this to fit as I dont have much space to move the tube on the bearing holder.
If I was you, I would file the frame a little bit with a round file so you dont create sharp corners (weak points). Aluminium tubes are pretty thick, still, you want to file the least possible.
The tubes on my frames are 2mm thick. This is what KH frames were as well (they might still be the same). Really it doesn"t need .5mm off, but I’d be confident filing that much on one of my frames if I had to.
I make steel frames different, because of material availability and the fact that it needs less wall thickness for the same strength. Steel offers more responsive ‘‘spring-back’’ and feel to alloy, I use 4130 Steel, mild steel wouldn’t offer the same feel. Titanium is actually pretty flexy material, but you often see it on bikes that are made for longer distances, where a super stiff frame wouldn’t be comfortable!
