Also, I'll say that the notion of steel's vulnerability to rust is a red
herring--in 25 years of full-time wrenching in the rainy Northwest I have
seen very few frames with actual rust damage. It takes almost deliberate
neglect and/or abuse to cause structural damage to a steel frame by rusting.
David Feldman
Vancouver, WA
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> Maybe this is the counterpoint to our prior discussions on super light
bikes and frames. Bikes in the CR "zone of consideration" have an
effectively unlimited life span absent crashes or corrosion. Or at least
the effective, usable life span is in the range of 100,000 miles and/or 50
years of use. Thus, you can feel safer buying a used bike made of Reynolds
531 or Columbus SL, knowing it won't have suffered fatigue damage in normal
use, even fairly vigorous racing, whereas aluminum, carbon fiber and new
super light steel you have to worry about what your buying. (But what is the
expected longevity of a highly engineered aluminum bike like a Klein?) I
presume Titanium, if well made, has longevity equal to steel, but at a much
higher cost and only a bit lighter weight.
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> So when will this knowledge filter out to the mass consumers, making
standard weight steel the material of choice? Probably never, given the
power of racing in setting market trends and, as has been pointed out
before, the consumer's obsession with weight. Also, bike makers might
prefer a bike that wears out every few years and requires replacement, so
it's hard to expect them to educate consumers about a steel bike's
advantages.
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> Of course we can always wait for some rider to get seriously injured
riding a "silly light" racing bike through frame fatigue failure, and
(shudder) watch the product liability lawyers go to work. "Is it your
testimony today, Mr. Colnago, that you sold my client a bicycle frame that
you knew would likely fail after a mere 5 years and 30,000 miles of riding,
thereby causing my client to implant his head into the grill of that SUV?"
Every bike sold thereafter in the US will weigh 32 lbs. (Tongue only lightly
in cheek).
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> Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ
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> >From: LouDeeter@aol.com
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> >To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
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> >Subject: [CR]Re: Steel, Failure, and Used Racing Bikes
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> >Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 14:34:37 -0500
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> >
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> >Ann is absolutely right, one of the risks of buying a used bicycle is
that you really don't know what stress that the frame has seen. As Chuck
Schmidt pointed out earlier, some "stage" bikes were made with a potential
lifespan of one stage. If that "stage" bike wasn't wrecked, then it will
might appear on ebay as "like new, ridden less than 200 miles". While you
can generally determine low-medium-high usage in very general terms by
examining the paint chips under the downtube and on the right chainstay,
along with the wear of the parts, you can't really know whether a bike was
stressed from racing, heavy rider climbing, or other damaging events without
a detailed inspection and alignment check and even then, you may miss
something. That is why when you are buying an expensive bike, that you
should learn everything you can about inspecting a bike and if you don't
know how to do it, to seek assistance from someone who does. I don't believe
the ads for cars that say "owned by 80 year old grandmother" and I don't
believe "never raced" for most bicycle purchases either. It is a risk. I
suppose the framebuilders could say, "that is why you should buy new". I
can't argue with that if you are super concerned. Lou Deeter, "I buy used",
Orlando FL
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