Prof Houts Sighting

Houts emailed to set us straight on the whole Scandium thing. BTW He says this photo was from New Years, which would inspire such frivolity, however, I know the truth that this is a regular Saturday night occurence around the Houts ranch. Anyway, I quote the master:

" ... your frame is mostly aluminum although containing small amounts of Scandium (from Scandinavia, hence the name). Scandium is even rarer than titanium but retains the same high quality performance characteristics as titanium. It is mixed with aluminum to control grain growth in the weld zone. If you notice most aluminum frames fail at the edge of the weld (the row of nickels). So, you increase weld strength through finer inclusion of other alloys and by reducing the voids that normally occur at the grain boundaries, (as you know, metals have grain structure like wood), of when aluminum alloys harden and oxidize. The hardening code is in the numbers 6061, 4130, 7000. This tells you what process was used both in the materials mix and afterwards in the hardening process. The main goal is to strengthen the weld, but it is just enough Scandium in the mix to create a cleaner, stronger weld. Take it from here marketers! Back to diggin' ditches! That is one sweet ride! This time I mean the bike."

But wait, there's more:

"After sitting here second guessing myself on the numbers on materials ... I looked it up - here is the truth. Every type of material has a different code: Cro-mo Steel 4130 = 4-type of material, 1 percentage of molybdenum, 30-amount of carbon; Aluminum6160 - T6 = 6-major alloy (6 is magnesium and silicon), 1-impurities (mill-controlled impurities), 60-% of Aluminum stock (40% uncontrolled impurities), T6 treating; in this case T is thermally treated and 6 is solution treated and thermally aged; 7000 = zinc is the major alloy. There! That sounds more like it!"

I am so thankful that in addition to bike knowledge, Her Houts also gave me a lot of advice in the area of fashion. Thanks, Dave ... I love you, man.