Winter Cycling - frames and their frozen molecules

edit: not sure this belongs in the frame subforum or could be answered easily here by the winter experts:o

during the last snowstorm a week or so ago, i rode my old steel beater everywhere...and yeah, left it outside a few times due to being worn out, etc.

right now i have some other beaters (aluminum and steel) out in the garage which is NOT very well insulated (from the cold).

it's snowing now and i was thinking of the ole beaters and wondering, does freezing weather make frames more brittle? or cause weakness?

The depends a lot on the particular alloy and the temperature. For steels, I've only heard of big problems when you get into subzero(F) temperatures, like -20F and below. I'm not sure about aluminum. In a previous life, I worked with a machine that had parts that operated at around 15K (which is really, really cold) made of 316 stainless. Never had problems with breakage on that.

I leave my winter ride in an unheated garage and so far I've only had problems with plastic parts getting brittle.
This sounds like a great area to do some internet research to try to find some data on alloy properties at various temperatures. Maybe do some searches on 'cryogenic' and 'alloy'.

edit - This reference (http://www.keytometals.com/Article23.htm) gives me quite a bit of confidence in aluminum alloys.

thanks. yeah, i was thinking of how to google this and get the right flood of info...my father in law was a mechanical engineering professor, but he can't help but get too technical. last time we talked about frames and he tried to persuade me to audit a course on Materials...:p

There's a theory or two that says part of the reason the Titanic sank is that they type of steel they used got brittle in the colder water and literally shattered in places when it hit the iceberg.

Nevertheless my recommendation is to not worry about it unless you encounter icebergs on your commute.

I keep my bikes in an unheated garage and we have days where it gets to -20F or colder. Maybe they're more susceptible to damage in a collision when it's that cold but I'm more concerned about damage to my person.

There's a theory or two that says part of the reason the Titanic sank is that they type of steel they used got brittle in the colder water and literally shattered in places when it hit the iceberg.

Nevertheless my recommendation is to not worry about it unless you encounter icebergs on your commute.

I keep my bikes in an unheated garage and we have days where it gets to -20F or colder. Maybe they're more susceptible to damage in a collision when it's that's cold but I'm more concerned about damage to my person.

sounds good.

i do wonder, now, about my old schwinn carbon TENSILE....Caliente....1990...

Back in the 70s I rode year round in Minnesota and never had a problem with my LeTour. Personal opinion next. I would prefer leaving the bike out instead of bringing it in. Especially if it is only going to be inside for less than a full day. I worry more about the theral shock from abrupt temperature changes than the bike just being cold.

Well the motorcycle has sat in an unheated shed each winter & it hasn't fallen apart under me.

Ride down to -20F and keep my winter bike outside-frozen for about 5 months out of the year, no problems yet.

The only part of my bike affected by the cold is the engine.... and the frozen water bottles.

A few years back when I was in highschool we were doing experiments with liquid nitrogen in my Chemistry class. We were each allowed to bring one object to freeze. I brought a piece of CrMo bicycle tubing. After removing it from the container the teacher hit it with a hammer, and instead of bending it "shattered." Not into a million pieces, but it broke into several pieces. However, if it ever gets that cold outside I doubt anyone will be alive to ride.

Completely non bike related, but try freezing a bouncy ball in liquid nitrogen and then throw it against the wall. Fascinating.

The only time that I saw this was at temperatures below -40F (same as -40C) in Yukon. I dropped a wrench on a metallic platform and it shattered. We had to use special stainless steel tools to prevent that. I never had that problem here in Montreal, where -20F during winter is bordering on balmy. ;)