Originally Posted by
2ndGen
"All things being equal I might give this one to steel with a caveat; Carbon bikes aren't designed to last 20 years. They're designed to maximize performance. Like any other performance oriented product there is often a trade off. In this case it is lifespan."
I agree.
Fail.
Do some reading about carbon's entry into the marketplace. Carbon will be the stuff of C&V in 20 years but only after there numbers are such that units sold are on par with all other materials. We are trending this way. Ten years ago carbon was the spec'd with DA or Record, now you can buy a carbon bike with Tiagra. A significant number of those bikes will still be around in 20 years.
BTW, we went through this when aluminum first moved out of boutique and into mass produced frames. This process is not new. No-one seems to be asking these questions of 6061-T6 now, are they.