"Merlin was founded in 1986... In 1988, the company began a strong relationship with master frame designer Tom Kellogg, who helped them produce the world’s first 3-2.5 titanium alloy road bicycle frame. Introduced in 1989, the Merlin Extralight was seen to be the first titanium bike to fully achieve the metal’s promise, it was as strong as steel but lighter, and possessed a unique and pleasing road feel—slightly more
forgiving, with a little extra spring and, somewhat counterintuitively, also more
stiffness."
"Merlin pioneered the use of titanium for mountain bike frames, they figured out
how to make titanium frame tubing internally butted, and with design help from Tom
Kellogg of Spectrum Cycles they came up with this road bike that you see here.
The titanium tubing made for a springy ride (if not actually stiffer than a steel bike)
and one that was lighter, rust-proof and markedly different looking."
"For close to ten years Merlin ruled the world of exotic high-end racing bikes. A Merlin
mountain bike or road racing bike was considered indestructible. While carbon fiber
durability was viewed with a skeptical eye and aluminum ride quality was often
labeled as being too stiff (deservedly or not), the sublime ride of titanium was
immediately embraced by those willing to pay the higher prices."
classiccycleus
"Merlin MTS325 frames, which include the Extralight, XLM, Road, Mountain and
Aerial are built with Merlin MTS325 seamless titanium tubing throughout. All of
the tube gauges and diameters are size-specific; that is, they are individually
selected for each frame size in each style to guarantee the best possible ride |
and lowest weight."
"MTS325" denotes a set of standards developed by Merlin for our 3-2.5 titanium
tubing.
"MTS" is an abbreviation for "Merlin Tube Specification," while "325" stands for 3-2.5
titanium, which is a high-strength alloy that contains 3 percent aluminum,
2.5 percent vanadium, and 94.5 percent titanium. The MTS325 standard is based
on a set of four aerospace specifications, but with stricter tolerances for finish
quality, which affects fatigue endurance, and for straightness, which is critical
for final frame alignment."
"In addition, all MTS325 tubing is made in the United States from 100% certified
material. Certification is a fail-safe tracking system of quality control and continuous
testing that follows the tubing as it is being manufactured. The MTS325 certification
standards call for intermediate ultrasonic testing, which is usually omitted for non-
aerospace tubing, and for more rigorous final ultrasonic testing and eddy current
testing. These tests measure finish quality and dimensional accuracy, and if the
tubing fails any test or inspection, we reject it.
We do not use any "sports grade" or scrap material. Certification is our guarantee
of the highest possible tubing quality and performance." SandS machine
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