Do aluminum frames wear out?

I've talked to two people who have said aluminum frames wear out. One
said that after about 8 years they kind of go "dead" and lose the feel
they once had. Another talked about how he broke the bottom bracket
out of an old aluminum frame.

Back in the day, we were told that European racers replaced their steel
frames every year because they "went soft." And those of us who thought we
were of even moderate strength would insist that our steel frames became
"mushy" after a couple of years.

It's funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same...

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com

"Chris Hansen" wrote in message
om...
Hello,

I've talked to two people who have said aluminum frames wear out. One
said that after about 8 years they kind of go "dead" and lose the feel
they once had. Another talked about how he broke the bottom bracket
out of an old aluminum frame.

Does anyone know anything about this? If you plan to keep a bike for
longer than 10 years is it better not to get aluminum?

"Benjamin Lewis" wrote in message
...
Peter Cole wrote:

It's a mistake to think material has anything to do with longevity.
^^^^^^^^
I think you mean "everything".

No, I meant anything.

"Dane Jackson" wrote in message ...

As to the frame material, as long as you don't buy something
stupid-light, it shouldn't be a problem. But don't go out and buy
a 2.5 lb aluminum & faery dust frame with drillium/unobtainium
components and then complain that it breaks in two years.

Don't worry about that.

Today top-end AL frames are all way overbuilt.

Take De Rosa's Merak frame, it's built with Dedacciai V107
hydroformed aluminum tubing but weighs in at 1.25kg. That's
giving up to much on today's top carb frames. This thing will
still be around next season, which by then the frame design will
be out of date.

I've asked Cristiano DeRosa several times to shave the mass of
that frame down to a more reasonable 968 grams.

Start the season with a new training frame and one or two race frames,
that's how many of the pro teams work it.

Why wish your AL frame to last for three years? You're going to have
to rent a storage unit in that case.

"Methuselah" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 20:04:16 GMT, Cipher
wrote:

Here's something to read on the subject:

http://www.ihpva.org/com/PracticalIn...materials.html

Good site. He neglects titanium, though. The homebuilder committed
to welding aluminum already has a MIG or TIG setup, and in my
experience, 6Al-4V Titanium is easier to weld than aluminum, and
stiffness-to-weight, there is no contest.
A vast difference between steel and aluminum was explained to me by an
ME friend thusly: After a million flexural cycles on a steel
structure, it can be considered to have unlimited life; After a
million flexural cycles on an aluminum structure, it can be considered
to have Zero remaining flexural life.

Gee, with those numbers, my frame shouldn't last the summer, or my rims, or my
cranks, or my seatpost!

(I do not know the rationale for
this, nor the mechanisms, etc. BUT: Do airframe components "time
out"? There are plenty of commercial aircraft flying after decades of
use. But they are not 6061-T6, I do not think.)

I wouldn't take any chances, refuse to fly anything but steel planes!

"TopCounsel" wrote in message
...
It's a mistake to think material has anything to do with longevity.
^^^^^^^^
I think you mean "everything".

Obviously the material has "a lot" to do with longevity. I'ts just not
the
be-all and end-all of longevity. Try building an origami bike frame and
see
what happens. After all, there's a reason nearly all cars are made of
steel,
whereas fiberglass and other metals are somewhat rare.

Easier to mass produce.
Cheaper.
Doesn't "dent".

If you live in a damp climate and don't crash, fiberglass wins.

Everything wears out, eventually. My Schwinn Sierra steel ATB, which was
used primarily for commuting, recently parted ways at the rear dropout.
Actually, the dropout itself broke.

The frame was bought in 1989, making it 14 years old. It had 43,500
miles on it. And "Schwinn" doesn't honor _Schwinn's_ lifetime warranty
(The bike outlasted the company that made it).

Aluminum frames usually don't come with lifetime warrantees, period. 5-6
years is the norm. Aluminum, for all it's good points, doesn't handle
torsional stresses as well as steel. It slowly develops micro-fractures
in it's structure eventually leading to fatigue and failure. This is
just a characteristic of the metal.

How long this takes depends on the alloy, the quality of iot, and of
course the severity of the stresses it is being called upon to
withstand.

- -
"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

From: (Dane=A0Jackson)
Cipher
snip
As to the frame material, as long as you
don't buy something stupid-light, it
shouldn't be a problem. But don't go out
and buy a 2.5 lb aluminum & faery dust
frame with drillium/unobtainium
components and then complain that it
breaks in two years.
--
Dane Jackson

Jays! Are they making frames out of that already? I guess that means my
laminated spider-silk frame and metallic hydrogen components are
obsolete and will have to be replaced next week!


@#$ %^& * (&^%!!!!

- -
"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Easier to mass produce.
Cheaper.
Doesn't "dent".

Surely "doesn't dent" is a part of "longevity," isn't it?

If you live in a damp climate and don't crash, fiberglass wins.

Oh, well, that's easy. I'll just decide to "never crash," then. Thanks! And
thank goodness, I live in a place with 0.0" of rain per year, too (Mercury?).

Peter Cole wrote:

"Benjamin Lewis" wrote in message
...
Peter Cole wrote:

It's a mistake to think material has anything to do with longevity.
^^^^^^^^
I think you mean "everything".

No, I meant anything.

You're seriously claiming that the material has *nothing* to do with
longevity? So a bicycle made of pasta would last just as long as a bicycle
made of steel, all other things being equal?

--
Benjamin Lewis

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
- Mark Twain

I guess that means my
laminated spider-silk frame and metallic hydrogen components are
obsolete and will have to be replaced next week!

Bag the lightweight frames. Just go buy "Ride-Fast-In-A-Bottle" pills, by the
makers of HGH. You'll be faster than Lance Armstrong in a week!