The development of aluminium frames seems to be stagnating. The entire spirit of research is currently focussed on the trend material carbon when it comes to developing even lighter, stiffer and more comfortable framesets. The small guild of intelligent frame designers seems to be trapped in a tunnel woven from the black fibre. There are no recognisable attempts to break out. Has the potential of aluminium as a material for high-end frames been exhausted?
Malicious tongues not only claim that it is exhausted - they also believe that the high point of aluminium as a material for racing bike frames was a good twenty years ago. Back then, the American Gary Klein perfected the construction of aluminium frames. At the time, the trained engineer recognised the potential of special aluminium alloys to build extremely light and at the same time stable frames.
The question is what the current generation of top-class aluminium frames can do. We invited a total of twelve candidates to the test, including some illustrious names from the aluminium era of the 1990s.
SHORT & SHORT
Six out of twelve aluminium frames achieved scores that would also make them competitive in a carbon test. Storck wins the comparison with the second most expensive frameset in the test (€ 1,700).
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