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Why did Obtainium stop making springs?

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Anyone know what happened there? A premium product, that sold at top dollar price, and seemed to be very popular. I would have thought they'd be raking it in for such a small outfit.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Are you referring to an increase in cost of titanium due to those planes using a lot of it?

But there seems to be plenty of other companies churning out much cheaper ti springs...? And I didn't notice any ti frame manufacturers going out of business?
 

thom9719

Turbo Monkey
Jul 25, 2005
1,104
0
In the Northwest.
No, he's saying those spring manufactures make springs for many industries. When you have Boeing and Airbus asking for very expensive aviation grade products in large quantities, you stop making the few hundred mountain bike springs that you weren't making good money on anyways.

-KT
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
When you say "those spring manufacturers", I assume you're referring to some entity in China who Obtainium bought them from? Obt weren't making them themselves, were they?
 

UiUiUiUi

Turbo Monkey
Feb 2, 2003
1,378
0
Berlin, Germany
funny, did have a talk with a sales/project guy at Eibach regarding titanium springs, they are not doing them at the moment. mostly because it seems to be rather difficult to get the titanium alloys needed in a controllable stable quality.
so this makes every batch different and basically a very expensive custom project...
 
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- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
So if you want to buy a new ti spring for you bike in the USA at the moment, what're your options?

In the UK there's two new startups, http://www.ti-springs.com/ & Sprung Loaded (no website at the moment)
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
That is impressive Ian! I would have bought one myself, but the owner wanted to get rid of his Obtainium spring so that he can run one of the ones he sells instead, so I got that.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
127
I'm actually sidelined at the moment 4 weeks in from a shattered collarbone....I'm healed enough to bounce around on in and it actually feels dead on....we'll see once I ride it, but based on what I've felt so far I can't see it being far off at all...
What did the price come to, with shipping and all? I would love to get a ti spring for the rear but just can't find one cheap enough for my taste. $300+ for a RCS is just rediculous. I'd rather buy 3 pairs of DHF's, or Kashima stanchions, etc etc etc. Broken c-bone sucks a fat one though, dealt with that ~10 months ago. Never again
 

Mark W

Chimp
Jan 28, 2004
70
0
Canada
What I don't understand is why other mfgs haven't copied Obtainium's formula. Shortest free length and lowest turn count for crazy-low weights, plus widest I.D. for fit on any shock, not to mention that sexy dark-clear (laquer?) finish, all features that made them such a sought after product, but no one else is doing any combo of these features, at least not to the degree that Obtainium did. Free length on most 3.0 ti coils available now is an inch longer and the turn count is up to 2 turns higher. Seems silly to ignore obvious improvements.
 
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Sprungloaded

Chimp
Mar 16, 2013
2
0
Then you have me, Sprungloaded, I also supply Ti Springs my US delivered price at the current exchange rate is $155. All my springs come supplied to me with a quality certificate and the Titanium is sourced from the same factory as Boeing. I have a long list of sponsored riders here in the UK inc the British Army DH Team, Kye Forte (Ex world Champion Bmx), Ben Deakin and Zak Hurrell, (UK Expert) with Will Soffe (UK Elite) and Jim Davage of the Ride.io Team more than happy to endorse the product to name a few.
My site Sprung-loaded.com is still under construction but i can be found on both Pinkbike (Link on holding page) and Facebook if you need me.
Cheers Guys, hope to here from you soon.
Rich.
 

Sprungloaded

Chimp
Mar 16, 2013
2
0
Hi Mark, the one problem I have encountered with regards their set up is the production costs and quality testing of the Delrin spacers that they were using. I can get anything you like made up, If you want a 450 x 3 at 145mm FL thats not a problem but your going to need to to pack out the differnce especially if your running a Vivid that needs a 172mm long spring.