Question about butts

Butted tubing simply means the bicycle frame tubing is not the same thickness from one end to the other. Double butted tubing (the most common butted tubing for bike frames) has two thicknesses, the tube walls are thicker at each end to better handle the heat of brazing or welding and thinner across the middle of the tubing span for lighter weight.

Similarly triple butted tubing has three distinct wall thicknesses (still thickest at the joining ends) and quad butted tubing attempts to improve on the overall strength to weight or flexibility characteristics of the tubing. Double butted tubing is almost always a big upgrade over straight wall tubing, whether higher orders of butting actually make a difference or are worth paying extra for is subject to debate. Personally I think triple and quad butted tubing are more tied to marketing hype than actual performance and I wouldn't go out of my way looking for tubing like that but if I really liked the ride quality and characteristics of a frame that touted quad butted tubing I wouldn't shy away from it either.

BTW, that really applies to steel, titanium, and aluminum alloy bike tubing, carbon fiber composite bikes are layed up in such a way that tubing profiles and thicknesses can be tailored in almost infinite ways and aren't simply butted to be thicker or thinner along the length of the tubing.

-Dave

Thanks

That cleared it up for me.