Chuck Schmidt wrote:
I don't believe these are ti. Logically there would be no reason to make them out of titanium. Titanium is heavier than aluminum and CLB makes (made?) aluminum brakes just like everyone else did beginning in the mid-1930s.
I would, however, believe they are 'ti-color' anodized aluminum calipers...
Chuck Schmidt SoPas, SoCal
Another listmember wrote me off-list (I don't know the etiquette here, so I will withhold the name of the sender given that it was sent to me off list):
"These are Ti Calipers. Part of a set of Ti Calipers and Levers that CLB produced in the late 70's (I believe 1978)."
The seller says that they are Ti, they LOOK Ti. As for why one might make a caliper set from Ti, the specific properties of Ti v Al alloys are such that even given Ti's slightly higher density, most anything one can make in Al alloy can in fact be done lighter in Ti alloy if one reduces the volume of metal used to take advantage of Ti's considerably higher (moreso with more modern alloys such as 3Al/2.5V and 6Al/4V which were available if exceedingly uncommon in the '70s) specific strength properties.
On the other hand, it could have been purely marketing driven as well. If I'd known one could have a bought decent functioning Ti alloy brakeset in '78, I probably would have bought one then just for the WOW factor!
If one did a Magistroni or Williams style cottered thin arm crank in good Ti alloy, other than perhaps being a bit flexy, I think it might make a dynamite superlight crank even by modern standards.
-- http://fineartscrimshaw.com
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