Originally Posted by
Spasticteapot
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.
As a college student, wouldn't that make me better qualified to guess?
You do realize there are race cars being displayed, raced and collected. These vehicles incorporated cabon fiber, kevlar and other materials new at the time.
And some these cars are from the early 80's. Thirty years old for some of the McLaren's. But since some of the carbon wonders were built before you were born you may not have known they even exist.
And you can count on a Ferrair Enzo or McLaren F1 being around many, many decades to come.