5 Reasons to Buy a KVA STAINLESS Steel Bicycle Frame and Fork Blades

SAN DIEGO, CA, December 19, 2010 (Press-News.org) Already proven and tested by KVA STAINLESS in other industries such as automotive, patented KVA martensitic stainless steel (MS2) structural tubing can now be integrated into high performance bicycle frames and fork blades to reduce weight, increase strength and stiffness, at a significant cost savings over competitive metal alloys.

MS2 Stainless steel bike tubing for road and mountain bike frames was just released to bike frame builders and to the public in November 2010. KVA STAINLESS recently finalized several new stainless steel fork blade designs with the intention of making them available to bike frame builders and the public in February of 2011.

"These new fork blade designs will be incorporated into several different styles of bicycle frames, which will be displayed at our booth at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in February," says Douglas Gore, vice-president of sales and business development.

Over the last three years, Joe McCrink, production manager and Danny Codd, principal engineer, have manufactured and tested numerous road bike frames using MS2 tubing. McCrink stated, "There is a growing interest for stainless steel frames as riders like the 'feel of stainless steel'. "McCrink and Codd recently attended Interbike to network with bicycle manufacturers. "There was much excitement and interest in KVA's stainless steel tubing technology across all bicycle market segments, from mountain to high-end road bikes. It's the right time for this technology in the bicycle industry," says Codd.

Many people believe engineering is more important than materials, but that is not entirely true. The differences in material-especially failure modes-can increase safety and reduce injuries. Stainless steel frames may sound out of date, but for strength, safety, repairability, durability, and aesthetic beauty, nothing beats steel or Stainless Steel.

Weight has been hyped in the media to the point that manufacturers are creating frames that are just one bad bump away from disaster. If you have not seen the results of failed forks and handlebars, try Googling "broken fork." It's not a pretty picture. The number of failures in high-end forks and frames is astounding, all because manufacturers feel pressure to defy the laws of physics with lighter and lighter forks and frames.

Safety is defined not just by the durability of a part, but also by the warnings the rider receives before component failure. A part that bends before it breaks is safer than one that snaps suddenly. Material strength equals safety, but what kind of strength?

Of the most common materials used in bike frames today, carbon fiber has the highest rate of catastrophic failure. Steel and Stainless Steel has the lowest rate of catastrophic failure. When steel fails, it fails slowly. In a sport where speed is the name of the game, failure is the one area where it's good to be slow. Real slow.

The idea that a shock can be absorbed without motion is a myth. One marketing claim is that carbon fiber forks absorb shocks well, creating a smoother, more comfortable ride. It sounds promising, but it conflicts with basic physics. Carbon fiber is very stiff, so there is relatively little movement to absorb the shock. Metal absorbs some shock through compression and deflection, but only suspension forks truly absorb shocks, because they move. Otherwise, the best way to create a smoother ride is to deflate your tires and lighten up on your grip.

About KVA Stainless Inc.
KVA Stainless Inc., (http://www.kvastainless.com), based in San Diego, CA, is an engineering and research company that also manufactures seam welded stainless steel tubing. KVA has spent years developing and patenting it's technologies around air hardenable martensitic stainless steels and other hardenable ferrous alloys, which can be used for tubes, pipes, structures, components or parts. For additional information on our bike tubing, please visit http://www.kvastainless.com/bicycles.html#tubing-info or call 760-489-5821.

Located in southern California, KVA Stainless is a growing R&D venture focused on developing and promoting uses for lightweight, ultra high-strength, low cost alloys. KVA STAINLESS ' technical staff, with a combined 60 years experience in thermal processing, metallurgy, automated welding, brazing and mechanical design, have developed numerous proprietary and patent-pending processing and manufacturing methods to enable the use of lightweight, corrosion-resistant, hardened stainless steel components throughout industry.