Originally Posted by
grolby
How long does this process take? How severe is it? Is it likely that a CF bicycle will be structurally unsound to the point of being unrideable in 20 years? How do you know? Again, this happens with the old steel stuff, too - if it's been ridden lots, and exposed to the environment, than you have rust, fatigue and damage to content with. CF is not marzipan. The UV loss argument is kind of like the aluminum fatigue cycle argument - true in the basic sense of the statement, but with little or no relevance to reality
1. It depends on the resin - anywhere from months to decades. But it does happen. There's also potential for fatigue.
2. The damage to steel frames is largely a function of abuse - don't crash the bike, and it can last forever. Steel is quite resilient.
3. Based on what I've seen of old carbon fiber - including some of the early aluminum lugged frames - CF frames are generally no longer functional after fifteen or twenty years.
That's not to say that carbon fiber isn't fantastic stuff - from both a riding and production perspective, it's a big jump ahead of metal frames. However, unless someone stuffs a Cervelo in their closet for thirty years, you won't be seeing any in very good condition thirty years from now.
Originally Posted by
sykerocker
That's going to be the worry of those who are in this forum, and are currently 15-25 years old. The rest of us can blather on all we want. It's not going to be our worry - barring some massive improvement in the human life span in the next ten years.
As a college student, wouldn't that make me better qualified to guess?
