Arete TiTitanium is pretty cool stuff. It’s strong, light, corrosion resistant, and has a great industrial look. It’s also a bugger to smelt as half the crucible has to be chucked in the bin during the smelting process because it reacts with the crucible.Not that that should deter you if you want a Ti frame – just don’t expect to upgrade next Christmas to something more ‘gee-whiz’, or the environmental Nazis will come-a-knockin’. Now, the Ti market is a pretty interesting, vibrant place. You’ve got a few different options, as you’ve probably noticed. There’s the guy putting his name on some stuff from China, the big conglomerate blandmobiles, the ‘Look at me! I just graduated from UBI!’ builders, and the guys who grew up with Ti in their blood back in the 80’s and have been quietly building frames for those ‘in the know’ ever since. Let’s just say we subscribe to the latter group. What are the advantages? Well, for starters we’re not charging the customers for our extravagant advertising budgets like the conglomerates, and we’re not using “the great unknown’ fabricators in the Orient or Eastern Europe. So what you get is the best of both worlds’, the ‘thinking man’s’ Titanium, if you will. Combined with our core strength of design, The Arete Ti is the smartest, best quality, best-designed Ti frame you can buy for the money. Creature Features at a glance –
Upspecs from the Arete SL– Titanium tubing is corrosion resistant Typically about 150g (5.3oz) lighter than the Arete SL |
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