I know there are a lot of esk8 components made of 6061 grade aluminum. Wonder why there are not more components made out of titanium. Would love to see some trucks machined from Ti. I know Lacroix have some axles and bolts made of Ti.
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I think just cuz expensive.
What’s the benefit of titanium parts that makes them worth the added cost? I feel like for most people and applications, other materials just make more sense
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Expensive, and much harder to machine compared to aluminum. A square foot of 1/8" 6061 is $32 on McMaster for instance, while a square foot of 1/8" titanium there is $495. I’m sure if you really wanted some titanium parts, you could get a machine shop to do it. Just expect to pay a crap ton of money for them.
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Even if titanium were only twice as expensive as aluminum there’s really only one application I can see where the added strength makes any sense: motor mounts. And even then only in extreme setups.
For trucks the breaking point is almost always the axles, not the hangers. Which is why mtb trucks use 12mm axles.
But titanium still sounds cool. Kinda like carbon fiber
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I’ve used titanium screws and nuts since two boards ago, they don’t really provide anything extra from stainless or just steel screws. But I use those fancy bling bling rainbow colour, so it looks good, besides that, its all the same for me.
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The only part I think you’d ever see improvement from titanium is metal on metal movement, so gears and chains/sprockets
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I think titanium have more surface friction than steel and aluminum tho?
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Titanium is heavier than Aluminum and just not worth it.
Aluminium has an incredibly low specific gravity 2.7g/cm3. Titanium is 4.5 and mild steel ~ 7.8
So the benefit of Titanium is its roughly half the weight of steel but just as strong. This is why you see Titanium axels are hollow (cos heavier than alu but stronger and thus can be hollowed)
Titanium is just board bling 
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It’s all about strength/weight, and strength/cost.
Steel is very cheap, and can be very strong, but it’s also really heavy. Very good strength/cost, but medium strength/weight.
Aluminum is more expensive, and somewhat less strong, but is less than 1/2 the weight, so the strength/weight can be better, while the strength/cost gets worse.
Titanium is very expensive, medium weight, and medium strength (stronger than Al, but some steels are even stronger than Ti). Very poor strength/cost, and better strength/weight than steel, but not as good as high-strength aluminum, like 7075.
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Maybe bc ti’s use case in esk8 is like ceramic bearings on powered boards, spoilers/splitters on road cars, Apple silicone in my moms “how are you doing” email laptop, 4K screens on most gaming laptops.
Its pretty when rainbow anodized, but pretty unlikely the average user needs or will use the metals special properties.
(@arzamenable circa 2019-2020, can you hear me? Come in, over. Did you actually need those parts, did it make you faster? )
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Because it doesnt make sense for everything to be made out of ti
Actually, gears would be the worst use of titanium in esk8. Titanium has very poor wear resistance, and will gall easy. As Lee said, “its just board bling”. Titanium screws are cool and don’t rust, but still not as strong as steel.
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Exactly. And if you want strong screws that don’t rust, you can get high-strength stainless screws. Just expect to pay titanium-or-higher prices for them, because they’re a lot more rare and expensive than the usual soft stainless.
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They wear better than aluminum, … and look prettier than steel.
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That’s not a standard to aspire to. That’s like saying your bolts are harder than sharp cheddar 
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damn.
I thought someone was going to start making something that I don’t need but want anyway.
I’m with the OP. I love titanium. We use some at work when we need high strength and corrosion resistance. I don’t wear jewelry but I’d put a TI shackle through my nose.
On an esk8? You’d save a few ounces then go put 6lbs of copper windings (or 20lbs @Arzamenable) and another 5-10lbs of lithium. Kinda like carbon fiber enclosures 
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