STRAIGHT GAGE &
BUTTED TUBING
Ever
wonder what the difference is between straight-gage, butted, and
double-butted tubing? The answer is pretty simple. Straight
gage tubing refers to tubes with a tube-wall of uniform thickness. That means a cross section of the tube at any point along
its length would be identical to any other cross section along
its length. PVC pipes,
conduit, McDonalds drinking straws, and our non-Super framesets
all use straight gage tubing.
Butted
tubing refers to tubing with thinner tube walls in the middle
of their length than at its ends. Butting is simply the best way to make a lighter frame
while retaining all of its reliability. The single drawback is of course the costs involved in
the butting process.
At
Spectrum, we select from both butted and straight-gage tubing
when customizing your ideal frame. We use straight-gage tubing on our standard titanium
frames while our Supers are built with double butted tubes except
for the seat stays (we even double butt the head tube and chain
stays.) Durability is not affected by butting, as the highly stressed
areas are the thicker butted sections. The advantage of the Super
is simply the lower weight. Depending on size, the weight savings
is anywhere from 4oz. to over a pound.
But
weight is not everything. We can make either type of tubing feel the
same by choosing the appropriate diameters and gauges. Because all of our frames are custom made, there
is no performance difference between the two custom models. They
handle, fit and feel the same and have the same geometry but the
Supers feel a little lighter. Still confused? Give us a call.
1190
Dorney Road, Breinigsville, PA 18031-1123 phone:1-610-398-1986
