# Steel Question



## jtompilot (Mar 31, 2002)

I'm looking at steel bikes. The Langster and Raleigh are Renolds 520 while Masi, Salsa, Redline are chromoly. Is there going to be much difference? Is the chromoly 4130?


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## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

jtompilot said:


> I'm looking at steel bikes. The Langster and Raleigh are Renolds 520 while Masi, Salsa, Redline are chromoly. Is there going to be much difference? Is the chromoly 4130?


No difference and yes.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Reynolds 520 is 4130 chromoly... 

Most(all?) 520 is butted( meaning that the walls are thicker at the ends vs in the middle) this allows thicker tubing at the joints while offering thinner walled tube in the middle for lighter weight.

4130 may or may not be butted....Most of the inexpensive fixies are straight gage tubing(ie:not thinner in the center)..


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

What Dave says. Just as an add-on to separate the apples from the oranges a little more:

"4130" is a number in an SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) index system for the classification of metals and their alloys. In this system, the class to which the metal belongs, the predominant alloying agent, and the average carbon content percentage are given. In this case, "41" is the steel family; "30" means 0.30% average carbon content.

"520" is a number assigned by the company _Reynolds Technology, Ltd._ to a specific kind of frame tubing they make.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41xx_steel


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## Speedthrillz (Aug 20, 2009)

im far from a material engineer, but isnt chromoly lighter?? please correct me if im wrong as i'd like to know


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Speedthrillz said:


> im far from a material engineer, but isnt chromoly lighter?? please correct me if im wrong as i'd like to know


"Chromoly" is simply a steel alloy containing chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo). But because Cr and Mo make a steel alloy a bit stronger, a piece of chromoly steel tubing of a specific strength can have thinner walls than a piece of tubing of the same strength, but made from lesser steel. Hence, the CrMo tubing would be lighter because it's thinner. Nice article at the link.
http://www.63xc.com/scotn/steel.htm


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## Speedthrillz (Aug 20, 2009)

wim said:


> "Chromoly" is simply a steel alloy containing chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo). But because Cr and Mo make a steel alloy a bit stronger, a piece of chromoly steel tubing of a specific strength can have thinner walls than a piece of tubing of the same strength, but made from lesser steel. Hence, the CrMo tubing would be lighter because it's thinner. Nice article at the link.
> http://www.63xc.com/scotn/steel.htm



Thnx Wim, thats some Brain food :thumbsup:


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