matticus
Guru
Well done.
How long should a bike frame last
- Thread starter johnnyb47
- Start date
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Does anybody change their handlebars from fatigue concerns ?
In well over 50 years of owning bicycles I have never done or even considered this.
davidphilips
Veteran
- Location
- Onabike
Only with carbon bars (my view) but dont even know any one who has ever changed alloy bars over fatique issues?
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
The bikes I use for training get ridden and (quite literally) thrown around very hard. Ive seen one complete failure on a students bike, and plenty with early warning cracks in the finish on other bikes, so I replace them every 2nd year. A lot of MTB racers do the same.
As for the rest of my bikes, nah, don't replace them. The chances of failure are less likely and my pre ride checks would, one hopes, catch it before it killed me.
Smokin Joe
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
People are happily riding refurbished 1960's bikes with all the original alloy components cleaned up and working perfectly.
Hover Fly
Lazy so and so
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
Back in the 90s I crack detected (whiting and dye) a par of 20ish year old Cinellis and the stem, the results were pretty shocking, especially from the stem. Since then I change the bars every 10-12 years and use a steel stem if I can.
This is a 1962 CB I restored last year and virtually everything on it was cleaned, refurbished and reused. Every component was as good as it was 60 years ago.
FrankCrank
Old layabout
My aly folder snapped in two a year or so back, where I've marked it in orange:
Bike was a over a dozen years old, but little used, just for trips away. Clean break right along the weld.
Had an old steel folder frame, so transferred a lot of the parts to this:
I'm happy to ride an aly diamond framed bike, but would not like to own another aly folding bike.
Although I'm a porky 13 stone, I'm well within any weight limit. Can only put the failure down to fatigue stress, either through bad design, or badly welded. Anyway, glad to have come away unscathed
Bike was a over a dozen years old, but little used, just for trips away. Clean break right along the weld.
Had an old steel folder frame, so transferred a lot of the parts to this:
I'm happy to ride an aly diamond framed bike, but would not like to own another aly folding bike.
Although I'm a porky 13 stone, I'm well within any weight limit. Can only put the failure down to fatigue stress, either through bad design, or badly welded. Anyway, glad to have come away unscathed
matticus
Guru
... and I've seen someone break alloy bars at 2am. Not "racey" lightweight jobs either.
50-year-old parts often work perfectly. And then they break. But not always.
mustang1
Guru
- Location
- London, UK
Aluminium does have a fatigue life but I would imagine a Spesh Allez' fatigue life is beyond anything a human can put it through (it ain't like those old airplanes that used to fall out of the sky due to fatigued rivets).
Btw, what's all this thing about steel is for life? It rusts and will fail. Aluminium does corrode but it bubbles over at the corrosion point and so there is no weakness that occurs.
In other words, I'd imagine an alu frame is for life and a steel frame could be.
Btw, what's all this thing about steel is for life? It rusts and will fail. Aluminium does corrode but it bubbles over at the corrosion point and so there is no weakness that occurs.
In other words, I'd imagine an alu frame is for life and a steel frame could be.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
You mean steal might rust, and if it does so to a sufficient degree then it might fail. There are sufficient century+ aged frames in regular use to suggest that it is far from a fait accompli.
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Both welded steel and Aluminium frames (not an expert on carbon fibre or titanium) will fail in fatigue eventually. If either are well-designed, they will not fail before the rider does.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Thats the point. If it outlives the customer it will have achieved its purpose, so it could be made from dung and bark and it will have succeeded if it lives a day longer than the purchaser.
All material will eventually degrade if left long enough, or in conditions conducive to its degradation, regardless of whether is used or not. Heat, cold, cycles of heat and cold, moisture, environmental chemicals, radiation, solar radiation, they will get everything eventually. Every material from metallic hydrogen through to oganesson, every possibly conbination, mix or alloy, without exception.
That being the case, the only sensible measure is whether it is likely to fail as a result of the use to which it is put. The ability of these materials to withstand the forces encountered during use are really down to an appropriate design and construction for any given material, rather than the material itself.
All material will eventually degrade if left long enough, or in conditions conducive to its degradation, regardless of whether is used or not. Heat, cold, cycles of heat and cold, moisture, environmental chemicals, radiation, solar radiation, they will get everything eventually. Every material from metallic hydrogen through to oganesson, every possibly conbination, mix or alloy, without exception.
That being the case, the only sensible measure is whether it is likely to fail as a result of the use to which it is put. The ability of these materials to withstand the forces encountered during use are really down to an appropriate design and construction for any given material, rather than the material itself.
mustang1
Guru
- Location
- London, UK
Reading some more posts, it reminded me of when the alloy bars on my bike snapped. BUT I had loads of warnings, over several weeks in fact. I could clearly feel being in the bars but this Muppet thought he was getting stronger, alas the bars were telling me swap them.
