Columbus XLR8R

The characteristics of XLR8R tubes

The addition of Zirconium to the chemical composition of the alloy allows:

•	Reduced grain size
•	Improved strength and resistance to recrystallization
•	Improved resistance to Hot Cracking
•	Good weldability
•	Recovery of mechanical characteristics after welding.The best material performance is achieved through Columbus specific treatment (3/4 days after welding): 135°C for 5 h and 150°C for 2 h. This operation maximises the alloy features.

Reasons to choose XLR8R
Athlete: XLR8R enables the production of lightweight frames with high lightness/strength ratio (below 1100 g for a frame size 54 cm c-c) together with elevated comfort and reliability. Performance is so high that Starship tubes only can do better.

Multishape Dampening Effect
XLR8R top tube and down tube tubes only, can be particularly shaped to obtain a sensible damping effect of vibration phenomena. The idea is to use a shape punch on the tube surface in order to damp vibrations in the frame. This damp effect is obtained by creating three different diameter punches, on both sides of the top and down tube ends, near the head tube connection area. The punches are positioned in a zone where the vibrations coming from the fork enter the frame structure. Their particular shape enables the vibration damping in two ways:
1. By creating a physical obstacle to the free movement of the vibration waves along the tube.
2. The emispheric shape of the punches enables the dissipation of the vibration energy.
Columbus R&D dept. has made severe and repeated tests to define the dimension and position of the punches and to check the damping effect. Thanks to this Multishape damping effect, Columbus studies proved that the vibration phenomena on XLR8R frames come up at higher average speed than usual.