| Author | Message | ||
     Puzzled |
For those of you who know, what is the average weight savings switching to titanium hardware? Lets say you remove ten pounds of standard hardware from the bike, what would the equivalent be in titanium? | ||
| D_adams |
Ballpark, about a 40-44% reduction in weight. Of course, there's an endless variety of Ti materials based on it's actual composition, so the weight can vary slightly. | ||
| Puzzled |
Wow, that much. I wouldn't have thought. Thank you. | ||
| Reducati |
my right hip has titanium..but it doesnt feel any lighter  | ||
| Jdugger |
You only need to use Ti for structural bolts -- sprockets, rotors, etc. You can achieve a decent weight savings replacing a lot of the body work and non critical bolts with Aluminum and Nylon bolts. This saves way more weight than Ti. Ti is *expensive*. That rear axle pinch bolt will set you back close to $50, for example. Rotor bolts are $10 - $12 a pop, etc. (Message edited by jdugger on December 16, 2010) | ||
| Puzzled |
Ahhh I didn't think about Nylon for non structual. Yes the aluminum is reasonably priced in comparison. | ||
| Jdugger |
Al is relatively useless for fasteners, so keep that in mind. But, there's lots of places on the bike it can be used safely. The entire radiator fans and support system is safely converted to Al, for example. When you use Al fasteners, never tighten them more than "a couple of fingers tight", and use loctite blue on them. | ||
| Nillaice |
how much money are you guys spending to loose a few pounds from the bike? | ||
| Johnnys999 |
Its a lot nowadays, titanium prices have gone way up. I remember the two larger swingarm bolts for my 916 cost $32 each and that was 3 years ago. But, titanium is beautiful stuff. | ||
| Stickxb |
Sounds like someone should make a kit... I'd be interested. | ||
| Freight_dog |
I spent about $92 for 50 Al fasteners from Pro Bolt to replace all the bodywork fasteners on my R. Aluminum weighs about 1/3 of the original steel. Pro Bolt says their Ti parts are about 2/3 the weight of steel. The weight difference amounted to only a few ounces, but every little bit helps. As an added benefit, the black anodized aluminum looks WAY better than the painted steel bolts and the finish doesn't rub off the first time you put a wrench on them. | ||
| Court |
$599 per set - they are exquisitely well made.      If you think you adding Ti for anything remotely related to performance I have a bridge here in town I'd like to sell you. Looks great . . . | ||
| Jdugger |
> how much money are you guys spending to loose a few pounds from the bike? Well, after you strip the street gear, replace the battery, put on an exhaust, drop the active cooling and go passive only, Mg wheels and a couple of other bits, saving the couple of lbs by replacing the fasteners starts to become a reasonable investment. The only place I've used Ti is on unsprung weight. Does it make a difference? Eh, who really knows, but I don't have a ton of money in it, either. The nylon bolts in bodywork are awesome though! In my couple of crashes it caused the bodywork to "pop" free instead of being ripped apart by steel fasteners. So, I really like it for that! | ||
| Nillaice |
i forgot about how much all this other stuff costs. mag wheels and such racing is not a poor-man's hobby | ||
| Bott |
^^ bolt porn. The wife was giving me the strangest look as I had those up on the screen  | ||
| Jdugger |
> racing is not a poor-man's hobby It's a crazy expensive sport. What's amazing is how cheap bike racing is compared to cars. I know guys running the spec Boxter class spending $5-$10k a weekend. A weekend in the Ferrari challenge car is $15-$30k. A typical club race weekend for me, all in with fresh tires, bike service costs, travel, racing fees, etc, is about $1,000. | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
For some real Titanium Motorcycle Porn check this out; http://www.ducati-superbikes.com/forum/showthread. php?t=19046 Overkill is underrated. | ||
| Ratsmc |
Man, there are not many things that feel as satisfying to hold as a well-machined Ti fastener. That said, if you were to replace all the fasteners in Ti I cannot imagine anyone would notice any difference except maybe in unsprung weight. The crazy thing about Ti is that the Russians have massive lots of the stuff so the cost isn't a supply thing, it is all about exchange rates and machining costs. Which raises the Chinese-source Ti issue. Ti parts coming out of China should be viewed with some suspicion. As mentioned above, there is a fair amount of variability in composition and coming from China, you rarely have any idea the exact quality of the part you are dealing with. | ||
| Littlebutquick |
its just cost me well over £1000 too loose 4.5 kgs on my winter diet and im still spending .i must be mad well i could always wast it  | ||
| Johnnys999 |
We have an agent in China so I asked her to look around for a nuts and bolts company that made titanium parts, one I could talk to. She found one and we started a conversation, but I knew they wouldn't be happy just doing business with little old me. The price was right but as Ratsmc stated, you really have to question their QC. We have had numerous issues with a couple company's injected mold work. Beware of getting suckered in on price, however if by chance you do find the right manufacturer, I would send them a bolt kit to knock off. (Message edited by JohnnyS999 on December 17, 2010) | ||
| Bettybuell |
There are cheaper better ways to loose weight. The single most important place to loose weight is the tires, followed by wheels. Buy some light wheels. Then the Erik Buell Racing light battery saves more than all the fasteners (probably) and it is high up and out back. Then the Flexiglass body work is very light, getting rid of the heavy passenger seat. The Erik Buell Racing Barracuda triple clamp is light. You can machine a pound or two off the front faring bracket. Then there is the exhaust. | ||
| Littlebutquick |
yes i agree but when you have done all that then you have too move on to other stuff like bolts drilling holes in things etc i be interested on the machining of the fairing bracket a picture please | ||
| Ratbuell |
The titanium in my legs and hip cost a TON. But I apparently got a coupon with them that got me a free helicopter ride... Oh. BIKE titanium. Gotcha. One of my knee screws is on my zipper pull now (Char's got a pic of it somewhere)...does that count?  | ||
| Puzzled |
 | ||
| Jgarner99 |
A shot of Ez-Laz in the morning is WAY cheaper than all those Ti fasteners, magnesium wheels, etc. Or, you could ditch those heavy leathers and just ride in Spandex.... Doing both at the same time might be a bit dangerous, though. | ||
| V74 |
i have replaced all the metric nuts and bolts on my 1999 M2 and a few non-metric bolts(like the rear pulley bolts)with ti,spent a lot and saved about 200g,i got most of mine from probolt,though had the rear axel nut with washer(top hat style)machineed from ti by a friend of a friend,that saved all of 8g,made a front pulley lock plate from ti plate,that saved 32g,if your after every gram like me the its ok,and they look good,but otherwise you can spend less and save more weight in other ways, | ||
| Ratsmc |
In LBQ's case, he already did what will save the most weight by being a fair bit smaller than I. Because of that initial advantage, every gram saved after that has more of an impact than it would for myself. Wearing different boots will have a greater effect than going with Ti fasteners. That said, there is something attractive about trying to cut out all unnecessary weight. I suppose the obsessive part of me gets draw into these sorts of goals. (Message edited by RatsMC on December 19, 2010) | ||
| Bott |
Puzzled: is that YOUR shop? WOW! saaweeet! | ||
| Puzzled |
LOL I wish, that is either Erik Buell Racing or the paddock of Erik Buell Racing | ||
| Littlebutquick |
thanks for the pic puzzled have now done mine but not to that extreme |
