There are many reasons for this.
Firstly, I believe that the Columbus product came out right around the death of steel in general for a frame material. Columbus was trying to respond to the Titanium surge at that point.
It cost a lot of money. Nearly as much as Titanium, and steel, no matter what it is, does not have the prestige that Ti does.
It's a real bear to work with. Hard to cut and braze. TIG welding on Stainless requires the same procedures as does Titanium and once again a builder could not command as much money. Not many builders (maybe five or six?) can lug/braze the material safely. It was one of those things that if all you made was but one or two, you couldn't get down the technique necessary for a safe joint. This alone scared off most builders, and if I wasn't so naive it would have me too.
finishing could be a pain. Of course you could give it a brushed finish which is also the easiest to take care of but full polish is very, very time consuming and once again usually made the material unprofitable.
Otherwise, I hoard two sets for myself someday.
Dave Bohm Bohemian Tucson Az ----- Original Message ----- From: jimmycue@att.net To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 8:10 AM Subject: [CR]Stainless steel bike
Stainless steel bike bytes sounds like good idea,why
didnt colombus stainless tubeset last for very long?
Would make chroming the frame a mute point.
Jimmy Katynski Madison Hts Mi
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