Cecil developed the process by mistake. He was vacu brazing a Ti frame and the tech put in Nitrogen instead of Argon. Frame came out an interesting gold color. The nitrogen penetrated fairly deeply into the frame forming TiN. Made the surface quite a bit harder. The Alu bike parts were plasma coated with TiN. (like machine tools) And yes, they do wear better. As an aside, TiN is bronze colored. You get gold color when you cut back on the Nitrogen. That means that bronze colored is harder than gold colored. I wonder how ZrN compares with TiN for hardness? Some tool manufacturers use ZrN.
Steve Leitgen La Crosse, WI
On Jun 11, 2006, at 9:46 PM, Mark Stonich wrote:
> At 10:19 AM 6/11/2006, BikeMike wrote:
>> I have been offered a Gold plated bicycle that is all original early
>> 70s Campy and has gold plated Campy components as well as Frame /
>> forks and hardware. Original early 70s Michelin sew-ups as well...
>> Seller has no set price in mind. Anyone know if this was a bike show
>> display model. It has no headbadge and no evidence of ever having
>> one. Seller has difficulty answering questions about the bike as he
>> calls pedals " that platform where the leather straps onto your
>> feet" ANY ideas about who might have made this bike and value
>> (seller states it is for someone 6' tall or over) Thanks for any
>> thoughts and insights into this mystery bike. Please email off list
>> to coololdbikes@aol.com Thanks
>> Bicycle Mike
>> Nostalgia Bikes
>> Boston MA
>> 800-336-BIKE (2453)
>
> Is it really gold?
>
> To my uneducated eye, a TiN treated frame is indistinguishable
> from gold plate. I have a photo of one around here someplace, but
> I wouldn't know where to start looking. Cecil Behringer originally
> invented the titanium nitrate treating process, to extend the life
> of aluminum Campi chainrings. He said they wore out too quickly,
> compared to the steel rings he was used to in "the old days". He
> used the process on a few of his frames. He claimed that it
> measurably increased the Youngs modulous of the tubing.
>
> I never saw a bike with the cranks, hubs etc, treated. But he had
> a flair for the dramatic, so it sounds like something he might have
> done. .
>
> BTW the the Behringer process, the TiN penetrated the surface to a
> depth of several molecules while Toshiba developed a similar
> process that was similar to plating in that it did not penetrate
> the basemetal. I don't know which version is now used commercially
> on machine tools, .
>
>
> Mark Stonich
> Minneapolis Minnesota
> http://bikesmithdesign.com
> http://mnhpva.org