I was not aware of that. I have been mislead into believing that titanium is lighter and stronger than steel? Are Ultegra sprockets made from Alu, steel or alloy? Thanks Johan, I always appreciate your insight. Dylan, Titanium is lighter than steel, but not stronger. It is stronger than aluminium though, but not twice as strong. Titanium has about half the density (thus weight) of steel and double the density of aluminium. Compared to steel, titanium is a very poor wear material in applications such as sprockets. It is much softer than steel. Further, titanium is extremely difficult to machine, weld and heat treat. Therefore you'll see lots of reports of cracks in titanium frames. Absolute strength isn't always the whole story. It may be stronger than aluminium, but makes a poorer frame. If you look at titanium's weaknesses, you'll see why it is only used on the top three sprockets of bicycled clusters. Those are the sprockets that racers are prohibited by peer pressure, never to ride in. Titanium is also very expensive, mostly because of the high energy needed to extract it from its mineral form, titanium oxide. Thank you Johan, you are very wise and indeed the king of bicycle maintenance!
