To say this is exotic is an understatement.

Imagine an alloy that wasn’t even considered an aircraft alloy as it is too exotic to be used on aircraft. This is literally an alloy that arose out of the cold war and pursuit of orbital dominance. It might be hard to believe but only one category of product consistently requires lightweight and performance beyond bicycles or aircraft. Mythalloy is a Magnesium-Lithium alloy, offering 45% lower density than 6069 Aluminum, and yet has the strength of 6061-T6.  Metallic lithium has such a low density it actually floats on water, in fact, if you dropped a 200kg block in the ocean, an average man could sit on it like a surfboard. It is basically the density of woods such as douglas fir. We mix this super exotic element about 10% magnesium along with a few other hardeners. This results in alloys with nearly the same stiffness, as other magnesium alloys, therefore higher specific stiffness than Magnesium, Titanium, or steel.

This is an alloy with a strength to weight ratio 40% higher than 3-2.5 Titanium, or to put it even more clearly this alloy has a strength to weight ratio equal to 6-4 Titanium.

So if this stuff is so damn good why isn’t everyone making bicycle parts from it?

Let’s consider we don’t just need to work with this stuff in a solid form where it is safe, but we need to melt this and add it to molten magnesium. This process is one that only 5 factories have ever actually done, due to complexity and danger. Our foundry is unique in the world, and they have simply started from scratch to make a factory to process only Lithium containing magnesium alloys, if planned as such, it is not impossible, or even overly dangerous. The results, in the end, are so well worth the efforts. So much so that it was exclusively used for launch vehicle components from Gemini to Apollo. Even today it is too exotic for use in commercial aircraft, and far too difficult to procure. A full history of MgLi alloys can he found online.

For an explicitly limited number of partners, we can make available MgLi alloys for bicycle rims. This will be limited by first come first serve and based on qualifying for promotion and service of these rims. We will not produce more than 4000 pcs worldwide in 2018.  Contact us for password protected information about Mythalloy, mechanical properties, performance characteristics and remaining availability.

A quick preview, our 36-17 rim made using Mythalloy weighs in at a mind-bending 325grams in 29″, with a translational MOI of only 18.6 gm2, it is lower than any aluminum aero road rim. The Mythalloy program will start Q3 of 2018 and will run two production runs only for 2018.