STOP PICKING ON ALUMINIUM!

In frame material lore, steel is romantic, titanium is magic, and carbon fibre is a super-material. Aluminium, meanwhile, is... what? While aluminium is widely used - from sub-R1000 balance bikes to R10ok e-bikes - it's often cast in a negative light: it's cheap, it's harsh, it's brittle, or it's not durable. And that's not fair, because aluminium is a miracle material that deserves some respect.

All frame materials have their good and their bad points. But even among the common materials used in cycling, aluminium is unique. It's abundant and reasonably priced. When used properly it has a nice feel, and it has a blend of properties well suited to bicycle frames. Aluminium frames have won everything from Tours de France to downhill World Championships.

At one third the density of steel and about half the density of titanium, aluminium is a popular material in any application where weight is important.

Aircraft? Aluminium all day. The Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon? Primarily aluminium. So it's only natural that cyclists who have a teeny obsession with weight - would find it to be an attractive frame material as well.

While aluminium is light, weight is just one property, and aluminium's other metallurgical properties require different

design approaches to steel. You may be surprised to learn that early aluminium frames Alan and Vitus for example were flexible. That's because aluminium is less stiff than titanium or steel, so when builders at the time took knowledge about tubing diameters from steel and substituted aluminium tubes, the resulting frames were soft.

Aluminium's elongation (how far it can bend before it breaks) and endurance limit (how many times it can flex before it breaks) are also lower than those of titanium or steel. But aluminium's low density helps it compensate for deficits in other properties. Because it's less dense, you can use more of it to make up for its lower stiffness and strength without adding much weight.

The next big evolution came when Cannondale and Klein upped the tubing diameters well above steel standards. Aluminium frames became stiffer and stronger. This is when aluminium became famous for stiffness, and infamous for a harsh ride feel.