Originally Posted by
tallbikeman
I agree with you Eric. There are no reliable bicycle industry statistics on frame, fork, and component failures. Not only that the bicycle industry worldwide is set up to automatically defeat any product liability lawsuits made against them. It is pretty much useless to speculate as to which material is better. You run the risk of making a fool of yourself because no real, reliable information is available to the consumer upon which to base any opinion about durability in service of any materials used in bicycle manufacture. I'm a steel is real(cheap) kind of guy but have no opinion about other frame/fork materials. My wife has ridden an aluminum Trek hybrid bike, from the early 2000's, for years with no problems.
Bicycle frames of steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber break. This has always been the case. When you push the limits of a material's strength and durabilty in order to reduce weight for improved performace, the rate of failures increase. Likewise, there are TONS of examples of frames of each of these materials having great durability. Anyone who says otherwise is either dishonest or ignorant. There is no single best material. I have my preferences for my reasons, and have no issue with other people having another preference. I do have an issue with people who make up ******** to justify their preference as being superioir (not you, tallbikeman).