Aluminum Frame Life Expectancy?
#26
Junior Member
I still ride a Cannondale Delta V frame from '93 from time to time, no issues here.
#27
Rhapsodic Laviathan
Depends. Fatigue stresses does accumulate on aluminium, but aluminum bike frames are generally so overbuilt that you can get billions of 'cycles' (one cycle = one excursion from high stress to low stress at any given point on the frame) before failure. But this is assuming the frame is made in such a way, and used in such a way, that no part sees higher stress than the designer anticipated - things like a bad weld, a void in the material, or a very heavy or strong rider, can result in stresses that will fatigue the frame earlier than you'd expect. Also, heavy jumping or crashing or other non-standard applications of stress are more likely to cause non-fatigue failure.
So the rule is, check your bike regularly for any cracks starting to develop, more often if you feel you are putting higher than normal loads on the frame by the way you use it. Especially check spots near welds and suspension pivots.
I am a big guy who rides a lot of miles and I have only ever had one aluminum frame fail, and it was a road-touring frame I did lots of thoughtless off-roading on, and I was riding it for months not knowing there was a crack before I retired it. I replaced it with an identical aluminum frame and have 10s of thousands of kms on the replacement so far, but fewer abusive 'off road' rides than I had done on the original.
So the rule is, check your bike regularly for any cracks starting to develop, more often if you feel you are putting higher than normal loads on the frame by the way you use it. Especially check spots near welds and suspension pivots.
I am a big guy who rides a lot of miles and I have only ever had one aluminum frame fail, and it was a road-touring frame I did lots of thoughtless off-roading on, and I was riding it for months not knowing there was a crack before I retired it. I replaced it with an identical aluminum frame and have 10s of thousands of kms on the replacement so far, but fewer abusive 'off road' rides than I had done on the original.
#28
Senior Member
My 1990 Cannondale is still fine. It saw very hard use for the first 15 years of it's life and a bit less and maybe easier use after that. I destroyed a nice steel frame with the same level of use in just a couple years just before I got the Cannondale. I am not blaming the steel, but just saying that it is more about how well it is designed and built, what kind of use it sees, and just plain luck of the draw.
#29
Steel is real
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Bikes: 1992Giant Tourer,1992MeridaAlbon,1996Scapin,1998KonaKilaueua,1993Peugeot Prestige,1991RaleighTeamZ(to be upgraded),1998 Jamis Dragon,1992CTWallis(to be built),1998VettaTeam(to be built),1995Coppi(to be built),1993Grandis(to be built)
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I have a mountain with a frame from a mix of an aluminium bonded front triangle and a rear chrome moly seat which is 30 years old, a merida al bon and it is as robust as a tank.