Has anyone built (or is currently building) a Legal Eagle, or a Double Eagle fuselage using titanium tube?
I was on a bicycle building forum recently and the topic of building bicycles with titanium tube came up. Many upscale bicycles are built from titanium tube. Titanium has roughly the same strength as chromoly steel, it has better "spring" ability than chromoly steel ("springs" rather than permanently bending / deforming), it has excellent corrosion resistance, and it is roughly 45 percent lighter than chromoly steel. Titanium is a frequently used metal in aviation. From Wikipedia (titanium use in aviation and marine applications): Due to their high tensile strength to density ratio, high corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, high crack resistance, . . . but titanium is significantly more expensive than chromoly steel.
However, on the bicycle building forums, a number of people have stated that from time to time you can find some real bargains on titanium. One person stated that from time to time you can find surplus titanium (sheets, tube, etc.) sold for pennies on the dollar. One person stated that Boeing was practically giving away surplus titanium a few years ago.
