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Halftrack_El_Camino t1_jdv3nuz wrote

Reply to comment by MarthaFarcuss in My 25 year old Rivendell Atlantis with home made bags. A perfect bicycle. by Dirtdancefire

That thought did cross my mind. It'll surely depend some on the frame though, and ironically I bet it'll be the super high-end frames where every possible gram has been shaved off that'll go first. Steel or aluminum, though? There's no reason those shouldn't last 100 years with even halfhearted care.

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cptjeff t1_jdvuq3o wrote

Aluminum fatigues with every stress cycle, getting more brittle until it just snaps. Steel is much more ductile, meaning as long as its max strain loads aren't exceeded that repeated stress won't fatigue the metal at all. You can drive aluminum for a long time, sure, but eventually it will just snap. Steel won't ever just snap from cyclical loading.

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