Are Titanium Bikes Worth The Money?
When researching whether titanium bikes are worth the money, it’s worth understanding more about the processes involved in using this magical material to understand why it’s an investment that will maximise your love and enjoyment of cycling.
Much like the classic car of the automobile industry, titanium bikes are much coveted in the bike industry and find themselves on many riders’ bucket lists. Here at Reilly Cycleworks we pioneered the use of titanium in bike design through our unrivalled frame geometries. Titanium is our DNA.
Why Do Titanium Bikes Cost More Money?
Carbon road and gravel bikes have become hugely popular since the earlier titanium development days in cycling, however titanium’s properties can’t be rivalled if you are looking for a lifetime investment in strength, style, lightness and durability.
As self-professed ‘bike nuts’ driven by passion for this unique custom bike build material, you’ve come to the right place to find out more.
Buying a bike is an important decision that should be backed up with information that explains why titanium bikes don’t come cheap, and that your hard-earned cash will be put to good use.
A Lifetime Bike
As a titanium bike specialist with celebrated world class frame geometry, our late founder Mark Reilly pioneered the use of titanium to create our adventure gravel and road bikes, like the Fusion, launched in 2022. The material itself has a reputation across the bike industry as magical, and all our titanium bike frames come with a lifetime warranty. So, on the one hand, you may find the cost quite a high-ticket price, but if you view it as an investment in cycling throughout your life, it really will give you back more than the sum of its parts.
What Makes Titanium So Special?
Titanium has many properties that lend itself to being a lifetime bike. Firstly, it will never corrode or chip, and it is also robust and impact resistant. The next great thing about titanium is that it has an unparalleled strength to weight ratio. It’s the best material because it is a forever frame. It’s also half the weight of steel and twice as strong as aluminium. With a range of bikes designed for wherever your cycling takes you, whether that’s smoothly navigating country lanes, weaving through commuting lanes to full-on endurance, we have the right bike for you.
A Rival for Carbon and Steel Bikes
You might be wondering how titanium stacks up against carbon fiber and steel bike framesets. It is much less brittle than carbon fiber and can withstand impact making it less likely to bend, break and buckle. Compared to steel, it will not corrode when exposed to the elements. Corrosion occurs on steel bike frames often from the inside out, meaning you won’t often realise there is a problem until the paint layer starts to bubble.
Often when cracks appear in carbon, it can indicate a serious problem, due to the brittle nature of the material, compromising the frame’s integrity.
Of course, titanium bikes will last the course of a lifetime if you take good care of them. Care of a titanium bike is very important and we have more information on this on our news pages.
Not only does our lifetime warranty promise a forever bike, but we are also confident in our titanium frame design engineering and manufacturing will provide an incredibly smooth ride thanks to our workmanship, experience and expertise of working with titanium.
Lighter Yet Stronger – The Physics Speaks for Itself
Whether you are looking for customised framesets or full bike builds, there are considerable benefits to purchasing a titanium bike over steel bikes, which make it a lifetime investment. Its strength and weight give it excellent advantages in bike frame construction. In what results in a lighter yet stronger bike frame, it’s also worth noting the manufacture process itself involves a higher level of skill due to its difficulty, hence the higher price tag. For example, when the tubes are welded, they must be in an oxygen-free environment. Add to this our years of experience, you will also be getting a well-made bike that guarantees a lifetime bike.
Expert Titanium Bike Frame Building Experience
We were the first UK bike brand to truly embrace titanium as a material in frame building. We are more than just another brand; we actually are a frame builder too. Our Founder Mark had nearly 35 years experience to draw upon to make our frames that little bit more special. Nobody in the UK has more experience in working with the incredible material titanium, you can buy a brand designed by a graphic designer but you cannot replace frame-building experience.
Style and Sleek Finish
Most recently, at the launch of our advanced road bike ‘Fusion’,with its aerodynamic cast titanium frame and sleek appearance this year to high media acclaim, described by Cycling Weekly as ‘as innovative as it is gorgeous.’ Key standout features of this titanium bike include an investment cast 6Al-4V titanium head tube, seat cluster, bottom bracket shell and dropouts with 3Al-2.5V tubing.
Whether it’s our brand new Reilly Fusion launched in 2022, which is our most advanced road bike yet, or our Spectre, which is the perfect titanium road bike for country lanes, or our Gradient T47, which is a titanium gravel adventure bike drawn on the blueprint of the ultra-successful Gradient, you can be assured of a stunning design that matches innovation.
Our knowledgeable and passionate team will take the time and care to work with you to create your dream ride whether it is a frameset or a full bike build.
With component customisations, mirrored, anodised and painted finishes, you can create your Reilly, your way.