Materials and Pricing
Aluminum is a material that has been evicted from the high-end frame market of late. We are big fans of 7000-series alloy here at HampCo and we feel that a well-designed aluminum frame can provide a light, stiff ride unlike that from any other material. Less dense than steel or titanium, aluminum provides more road feedback than most carbon frames. Offering a high quality aluminum frame is an opportunity for us to design a genuine performance frame with an emphasis on custom fit and optimal geometry. Aluminum is coming back, just you wait.
Aluminum
Co-Motion-built – $2200
Carbon fiber is particularly well suited for use in forks as well as frames. The beauty of carbon is that it can be flexible where needed – for example along the fork blades and stays – and strong and stiff elsewhere, particularly at fork crowns and tube intersections. A well-built and carefully designed carbon frame or fork will do an excellent job of absorbing shock and dampening vibration at about two-thirds the weight of a comparable steel frame. We’re not offering carbon frames at this point.
Steel has come a long way with the development of thin-walled oversized tubing, which can be heat-treated and air-hardened for maximum strength. This allows us to build a lighter frame that provides a livelier road feel than was the case with steel frames of the past. We feel because of its strength, resilience, ride, and relative ease of working that steel is still one of the best all-round materials for a bicycle frame. We select from Columbus, True Temper, and Reynolds for our steel tubing.
Welded Steel
Crema/Columbus Zona – $1800 w/fork
Custom/Pegorichie tubing – $2200 w/fork
Custom UL/Spirit – $2400 w/Edge fork
Columbus MAX – $2400 w/fork
Lugged Steel – $2600
Titanium has proven itself to be an excellent material for bicycle frames. Less dense than steel – and more elastic than aluminum, carbon, or steel – titanium is an excellent choice for riders seeking a light, comfortable, and durable frame. We use both 3/2.5 straight-gauge and butted tubing for our ti builds.
Titanium
Butted 3/2.5, built in-house – $3200 w/fork
Straight-gauge 3/2.5, built in house – $3000 w/fork
Moots or Kent Eriksen ti – $3400
XCr by Columbus is a high-strength stainless steel with numbers approaching those of titanium. Given its incredible toughness, we can use oversized tubes that are drawn thinner than many current steel tubes but are more resistant to denting and deformation. The ride rivals that of the best steel and the finish is painted or bright and shiny.
Columbus XCr stainless
Built in-house, polished or painted – $3200 w/Edge fork
IF-built frame, polished or painted – $3500 w/Edge fork
Scot Nicol of Ibis Cycles has a great treatise right here on material selection.
