How to Choose a Bicycle Frame

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Part of the video series: How to Buy a Bicycle

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Summary: Learn about the materials and cost of different types of bike frames in this free video series that should help you pick the proper bike for yourself.

Views: 3,221 | Tags: bike, shopping, bicycles, cycle, cycling, bicycling, mountain-bike, ten-speed, framebicycle, unic

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About the Expert
Contact: spincitycycling.com

Eric Kieke In 2006, Eric Kieke co-founded Spin City Cycling - a full-service bicycle shop in Austin, Texas. He is an avid mountain biker and enjoys supporting the local... read more

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Video Transcript

How to Choose a Bicycle Frame

Hi! This is Eric from Spin City Cycling in Austin, Texas. I am talking to you on behalf of Expert Village and what we are going to talk about now is frame construction and some of the issues related to that in terms of strength, costs, etc. What I've got here is a mountain bike made for off road use and you can see that the frame tubing on here is relatively thick, very strong welts; not certain if you can make that out but they are beefy welts. This is an aluminum frame. Aluminum is a great material for bicycle frame because it is very light but very stiff and very strong. In years past, frames have been made from steel and other materials. Some of the more exotic materials or titanium things like that but aluminum is the most common frame material being used these days in mountain bikes. In contrast to the mountain bikes, we've got a road bike here and again, the road bike has an aluminum main frame here but you will notice that there is a carbon fiber fork. Carbon fiber is light and strong like aluminum but absorbs vibration much better. It is also more expensive. So you are getting the benefit of some of that carbon fiber here as well as in the back in this particular bike. Some road bikes may only have a carbon fiber fork. Some road bikes may have the entire frame made out of carbon. Again as you go up, the more carbon you have, the more expensive it will be. Generally road bike frames are much lighter than mountain bikes. Thinner wall tubing; they don't have to stand up quite the same abuse as the mountain bike does which is why they can get away with these thinner tubes and having lighter weight frames. So hopefully that tells you a little b it about how bicycle frames are put together. Thanks for watching.