Galvanized (zinc plated) hardware is the cheapest and shortest lasting.
Cadmium plated, which has sort of a bright yellow finish, is next up.
Stainless, the most expensive stuff, tends to be hardest and is usually pretty tough too. But not all stainless steels are the same.
Anytime you see a bright, shiny silver finish on a cheap bike, it’s probably chrome plating over mild steel, and it will fail easily.
If you find hardware classified “Grade 8” it will be tougher than lesser or ungraded stuff. It might also be made to tighter tolerances, but I’m not sure about that.
I put a light coat of grease on almost everything when assembling bike parts. Then, I try to keep stuff clean the best I can. I seldom* have problems with stripped or broken hardware.
* I didn’t say never. A few months ago I broke a fender attachment bolt on my wife’s bike. It was a bugger to resolve, too.
Last edited by Broctoon; 07-01-21 at 03:57 PM.