Zinn knows more about frames than I ever will. I refer to a column he wrote a few years ago about frame materials. He does not have a favorable opinion on aluminum frame longevity.
https://www.velonews.com/gear/techni...nkarm-fatigue/
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A friend of mine cracked his fork steerer tube. I think it was an aluminum fork, not steel, but I can't say that with certainty. He also cracked his helmet. This was on a bike that he had ridden cross country three times, twice with fully loaded bike (with four panniers) and a third trip was van supported. He cracked it on a ACA van supported Pacific Coast ride from Canada to Mexico.
I took the photo below of his bike when he was doing a test ride for his third cross country ride, this was before he broke his fork in half. He always used the rain covers, even on nice days.
Before you say anything about his saddle, he was trying that out on our five day shakedown tour, he ditched the saddle when he got home. One of his brifters quit working shortly before this short shakedown tour, he was trying out his new bar end shifters, new dynohub wheel and new Luxos U headlamp. Lots of new stuff on this bike.
He also crashed on a supported trip in Ireland, his foot fell off the pedal when he hit a bump, he woke up in the hospital, cracked another helmet. When he got home, he had his bike inspected by a carbon frame engineer, he had a lot of cracks in the downtube, his carbon frame went into the dumpster after that.
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Originally Posted by
pdlamb
As I've noted previously, my bike broke on the first day of my tour. The drive-side dropout (part of the steel frame) broke. ...
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A few years later, I figured out I'd put a 135 rear wheel into a 130 frame, without spreading the frame, which might have caused the breakage.
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That should not have caused the breakage.
I run a 135mm hub on my rando bike, before I ordered the frame I talked to the company (Velo Orange) about using a 135mm hub in their 130mm steel frame (rim brake version Pass Hunter). Their only concern was the inconvenience of stretching the stays with both hands when I drop the rear wheel in.
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