QUIT PICKING ON ALUMINUM!

In frame material lore, steel is romantic, titanium is magic, and carbon fiber is a super-material.

- MATT PHILLIPS

Aluminum, meanwhile, is…what? While aluminum is widely used—from sub $100 balance bikes to $10,000 e-cargo bikes—it often gets cast in a negative light: It’s cheap, it’s harsh, it’s brittle, or it’s not durable. And that’s not fair, because aluminum is a miracle material that deserves some respect.

Even Richard Sachs—perhaps the most highly regarded living steel-frame builder in the world—is a fan of an aluminum frame. Sachs had an aluminum Gaulzetti Corsa— “had” because the frame was damaged when Sachs and an SUV came together in Asbury Park—with large aluminum tubes, sloping top tube, BB30, integrated seat mast, carbon fork, and “one of those wacky LARGE headset thingies.”

Even though it was entirely different than the bikes he builds, Sachs liked the Gaulzetti. And not because it was, or wasn’t aluminum; Sachs liked it because it fit well and rode well. “It was so polar opposite than anything I make, yet the actual ride was a mirror image of what I make for myself. It was my riding position contact points melded with a rational frame design.” As far as how the Corsa rode compared to his bikes, Sachs says, “I couldn’t tell or feel any single differences.” That’s a statement likely to cause traditionalists’ jaws around the world to drop.

All frame materials have their good and bad points. But even among the common materials, aluminum is unique. It’s abundant and reasonably priced. When used properly it has a nice feel, and it has a blend of properties well-suited to bicycle frames. Aluminum frames have won everything from Tours de France to downhill World Championships.