All this talk from echo about their new U6 aluminium, but what is it? Is it a different alloy or a different way of heat treating or what? All I know about it is that U stands for Ultra. I would appreciate it if someone who actually knew the answer posted along with the usual stupid comments. Maybe that Deng guy knows... (hint hint)
So, its significantly better than 6061... (7005 is about 5.5% 'stronger' (in terms of Tensile strength at yield) than 6061) I think 'U6' is just a trade name (like 'Araldite' for example). Ive found an aluminium alloy that has very similar properties to those claimed by Echo and Dahon (Folding bikes). It is 'UltrAlloy® 6020-T9 Aluminum' (which is where the 'Ultra' bit comes from? And the '6' from the series of alloy? I dunno... just an informed guess) All in all sounding pretty sweet for bike frames. Anyway... i hope that can be of some help... id really like Deng to fill us in though, if he could Adam
Cool that was a pretty good, how the hell do you manage to find things so quickly on the web?. I did a search for it and all I could find was that dahon or whatever it is. Its pretty weird that this U6 stuff just appeared which is so good that it means that none of the echo frames will ever break any more - Why hasn't anyone else ever used it before?
Erm, i had those links saved in my favourites, hehe. http://www.matweb.com is an awesome materials website as well. Id never thought of that actually... it is pretty strange. However, that Dahon place uses it for their folding bikes... so... Also have a look at: http://www.pulobikes.com/newproduct/newproduct03.htm Time for another search now i have specific values :Wavey:
Aaahh... theres a comma in there... It means they'll make it out of 6061 (2.0mm thick = Koxx, OnZa) OR U6 (1.2mm and 1.6mm mix = Echo) - whichever you specify. No prizes for guessing which one is the cheapest to manufacture (and then which one retails for more)
