Rust never sleeps. And that's why there's stainless steel bike frames. New Starling Roost build in the que.
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Rust never sleeps (Starling)
Aquaholic
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SS is the single most promising yet underutilized material in frame building. The properties of some of these SS alloys are incredible. I wish more would use it in lieu of, or in addition to, titanium. Of course SS fabrication requires some specialized welding techniques, but worth it IMO.
That particular frame design is a bit odd. The stay design appears to be more artistic expression than functional design. I don't mind it tough.
That particular frame design is a bit odd. The stay design appears to be more artistic expression than functional design. I don't mind it tough.
The owner of Starling is an engineer. He has a reason for it. I honestly can't figure it out just looking at it. He has some interesting ideas on bikes. In fact he's quite controversial as I see it. Read his tech blogs. I agree with him about 90% of the time, then sometimes he loses me. And sometimes although he has something technically correct, he may just be putting his own spin of BS on it - which frankly isn't uncommon amongst engineers. That is to say it's true what he says, but it's not easy to prove whether or not it has a significant effect.
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Well.... Made in taiwain out of "high quality stainless steel tubing"
Hmmm. Being a man of excessive stainless experience I get a bit of old man rage that they dont state the grade of stainless!....
By not stating the grade one can only presume it is not infact "high quality" otherwise they would be screaming from the rafters what it is.
On the contrary this a taiwanese bargan basement stainless material frame sold at a premium price!
I'm sure it will be fit for purpose. But dont bs us with marketing crap without even telling us what grades we are buying.
PS Not all stainlesses are created equal and stainless can rust, particularly the lower grade stainless's.
Rant over.
Hmmm. Being a man of excessive stainless experience I get a bit of old man rage that they dont state the grade of stainless!....
By not stating the grade one can only presume it is not infact "high quality" otherwise they would be screaming from the rafters what it is.
On the contrary this a taiwanese bargan basement stainless material frame sold at a premium price!
I'm sure it will be fit for purpose. But dont bs us with marketing crap without even telling us what grades we are buying.
PS Not all stainlesses are created equal and stainless can rust, particularly the lower grade stainless's.
Rant over.
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1,265 Posts
I found this on the Frame manufactures(ORA) site. this is not to say the Starling IS the same material but its far more likely.
630 Stainless Steel Tubes
ora-engineering.com
630 Stainless Steel Tubes
Stainless Steel Mountain Bike Frame 25-S6M303
• 650B MTB Bike Frame• 630 Stainless Steel Tubes :T/T OD34.9*0.9/0.6/0.9mm D/T OD38.1*1.1/0.9/0.6/0.85mm S/T OD34.9*0.95mmS/S OD16*0.8mm Taper To 12.5mmC/S OD22.2*0.8mm Taper To 16mm C05• Head Tube ID44mm• UDH Slider Dropout B09BS6197A• x-12/10mm With Disc/Flat/Post Mount Hanger• C/S Yoke...
ora-engineering.com
Better known as 17-4, which is incredibly common.I found this on the Frame manufactures(ORA) site. this is not to say the Starling IS the same material but its far more likely.
630 Stainless Steel Tubes
Stainless Steel Mountain Bike Frame 25-S6M303
• 650B MTB Bike Frame• 630 Stainless Steel Tubes :T/T OD34.9*0.9/0.6/0.9mm D/T OD38.1*1.1/0.9/0.6/0.85mm S/T OD34.9*0.95mmS/S OD16*0.8mm Taper To 12.5mmC/S OD22.2*0.8mm Taper To 16mm C05• Head Tube ID44mm• UDH Slider Dropout B09BS6197A• x-12/10mm With Disc/Flat/Post Mount Hanger• C/S Yoke...
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1,265 Posts
Maybe in America, Here in Aus, most metals are listed in a Euro/Metric fashion
It depends on the age of the person having the discussion as many of the older trade people tend to mix metric and Imperial, US/Euro
Most of us are multi-lingual re: grade designations, even if we only speak English. It’s a small world metallurgically speaking.
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Here the young Trades and engineers are far more metric-orientated, it's a real problem when most of the old infrastructure was built in UK imperial 😅 its making for some ..... Interesting moments
as for the Stainless the biggest issue that used to crop up was frame fatigue. It's a good looking frame and I hope it lasts long.
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7,636 Posts
I'm wanting to be educated, too, to differentiate this stainless from the not-so-impressive standard stainless I'm more familiar with.
I personally can't help but compare a lot of Starling's offerings to Pipedream's.
For comparison, Reynolds "931" would probably be closest to what it is. Although that's still a guess...
I watched the video on the bike and he didn't mention the alloy either but said it had the same tensile strength as 853, so that likely points to a 17-4. I don't think it's a Reynolds tube set though.
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3,567 Posts
Looks like identical properties to Reynolds 853, which is seriously good stuff. Just without the oxidation tendencies.
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7,636 Posts
I knew of maraging steel, but not maraging stainless. Interesting. I thought maraging steel was advanced enough to be a NATO countries-only tech.
Stainless steels have chromium added to the mix (typically 11-13%), which compromises strength to weight, since it is mostly for corrosion resistance.
Stainless steels have chromium added to the mix (typically 11-13%), which compromises strength to weight, since it is mostly for corrosion resistance.
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