# 969 "race lite" cromo



## McNewbie (Apr 5, 2008)

my 1995 univega alpina is made in japan of "969 race lite" steel.

what is 969 and how is it different from any other generic cromo frame? what other kinds of steel are there for making bikes with and what are their pros and cons?

[pardon the acera  ]


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## themanmonkey (Nov 1, 2005)

I'm going to guess the 969 is an statement about the tubing, .9/.6/.9 mm wall thickness presented as a marketing decal.


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

themanmonkey said:


> I'm going to guess the 969 is an statement about the tubing, .9/.6/.9 mm wall thickness presented as a marketing decal.


That's what I would think as well. 9/6/9 ho-hum tubing with a cool sticker. Not that there's anything wrong with 9/6/9 tubes as that's what Columbus SL and Tange #2 tubesets are. But there's more that goes into a tube than its wall thickness.


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## McNewbie (Apr 5, 2008)

so which parts of the tube are .6 and which are .9? and is it worth putting any money into this bike?

haha, trusting my weight to fractions of a millimeter of steel sounds awful dodgy :/


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

McNewbie said:


> so which parts of the tube are .6 and which are .9? and is it worth putting any money into this bike?
> 
> haha, trusting my weight to fractions of a millimeter of steel sounds awful dodgy :/


The ends of the tubes are 0.9mm thick and the center section is 0.6mm thick. 9/6/9 tubing is considered "stout" or heavy. There's tubing now that is 0.5/0.38/0.5.

It's only worth it if owning the bike gives you a sense of satisfaction and fun.


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## McNewbie (Apr 5, 2008)

ssmike said:


> It's only worth it if owning the bike gives you a sense of satisfaction and fun.


i can have satisfaction and fun with a piece of old string, doesn't mean i'd gold-plate it 

what i mean is, a frame's just a chunk of steel, but is this 969 solid enough and light enough to do anything but ride as-is? that is, is it high-end enough to warrant putting high-end parts on it?

i swapped the cheap old RS elastomer fork for a tricked out marzocchi z2 bomber, and gave it some new pedals. i've been riding it like a maniac ever since i got it, and it's got problems that require $$$ but i don't want to drop loot for a wheelset and drivetrain if it's going to be, ah, putting lipstick on a pig?

that is, given this boring cromo frame and acera/alivio components, would my money be better spent on parts or a whole new bike?


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## JmZ (Jan 10, 2004)

Probably not worth investing into.

That's said from someone with a '94. It's a decent entry/mid level frame - but not much more. I still see 'em pop up on craigslist and ebay now and then. If you can get parts pretty cheap (and with winter setting in prices normally start to drop on ebay), might be worth to keeping running as a beater. It's a 13 working on 14 year old bike, that probably cost in the $500 range when new (my '94 was about a $800-$900 bike when new, so not much better.)

The things that made my '94 different and why I bought a Univega were the 72 deg headtube (it felt right to carve in the woods).

But unfortunately it probably has a 1" headtube. (Unless they updated to 1 1/8 _right_ after I bought mine, and that would be my luck.) So finding a new fork for it at any point in the future will be 'fun'.

I gave mine away and hunted it down again because it felt right and for sentimental reasons (my first 'real' mountain bike), but if you don't have similar attachments - is it really worth spending a couple hundred into?

JmZ


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## themanmonkey (Nov 1, 2005)

9/6/9 was, and is, pretty standard tubing wall for MTB frames. I've build a few with 7/4/7 and that's as thin as I'd go. Some folks have built MTB with thinner, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Wall thickness isn't as important as heat-treatment as far as strength in a tube set.


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## McNewbie (Apr 5, 2008)

ok. i'm going to swap out the chain-sucking alivio crankset for a cheap Stronglight 32t single-ring assembly in front, and let that be it. thanks.

i'll post some bike-porn once i get it all put together. with the fork i custom-painted in black and red it will actually look pretty good i think.


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## wheelbender6 (Sep 25, 2007)

Had my 969 Alpina for 8 years or so. Not a speed demon, but an excellent climber. 
I have used it as my MTB, commuter, SS MTB, and most recently I added a Chinese 
motor kit to it so my teenagers have cheap transportation. The 969 is just good enough that I never seem to be able to get rid of it. 
Mine looks just like the one in the pics.


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