Originally Posted by
soulbike
4) Front hub showed oxidation marks and what I feel are signs of neglect, yes personally I feel that it's not acceptable to assume your bicycle components will last the same amount of time if it's ridden in the rain and dirt and not cleaned.
6) The hub material we used in the past is not of 'inferior' quality. It is less tolerant of being neglected.
Of course the hub showed signs of oxidation. That's why it failed. Had you picked a more suited alloy in the first place this wouldn't have happened.
For a very quick look at why 2000 series isn't appropriate.
go here.
The most pointed excerpt:
"2000 series are alloyed with copper, can be precipitation hardened to strengths comparable to steel. Formerly referred to as duralumin, they were once the most common aerospace alloys, but were susceptible to stress corrosion cracking and are increasingly replaced by 7000 series in new designs."
I'm not sure who you materials engineer is, or if you have any actual background in the subject, but normal cleaning wouldn't have done little if anything to prevent the corrosion. While the OP's riding in the rain no doubt greatly accelerated the corrosion, I'd hardly call riding in the rain "neglect", but it does help set up a galvanic cell when in contact with a steel spoke.
It's apparent that you went for light over durable, had issues, and moved to a different alloy. That's great. But persisting in asserting that cleaning somehow trumps electron transfer is just nutty.
Let's not cloud a business decision which you are well within your rights to make with engineering quackery.