Cyccommute says:
No, an aluminum bikes service will not "weigh heavily" on my mind with time. I
don't think about the frame material at all while I ride. I think about the
ride and traffic and little Jimmy running out in front of me and how to descend
the rock garden and a whole host of other things. I don't 'think' about the
frame at all. I don't worry that the bike is going to collapse in a heap nor
that the frame is going to snap. I do check the bike for cracks occasionally
but I'd do that if I had a steel or titanium or carbon bike.
Good, but if you own an aluminum framed bike, check your frame more frequently. The life you save may be your own.
As for warranties, I've had two bikes replaced under warranty. No questions
were asked about the bike or how I rode them. Personally, if I crashed a bike
in such a way as to ruin the bike, I wouldn't expect the manufacturer to replace
the frame. I certainly didn't when I ran one into the side of a car nor when I
bent the frame when I hit an unmarked trench.
Hey guy! You should be more careful!
...I've known a lot of cyclists in my day. None have ever had any luck with frame warranties.
And is buying one bike to ride the rest of your life really the point? If
everyone did that, there would be no bicycles made. Look at the touring
bike market for a real world example of what happens when people buy one bike
and keep it for 20, 30 or 40 years. From 1985 until 2008 (roughly), the
touring bike market was almost nonexistent. It's had a little bit of a
surge lately but is starting to taper off again because people aren't buying
touring bikes.
No, Cyccomute. The reason that touring bikes don't sell like the other bikes, is that almost all touring bikes are made of chromoly steel. Chromoly steel lasts a heck of a lot longer than the aluminum bikes. Touring bikes are made of steel due to the increased ride quality of a steel bike. Most seasoned tourers no better than to attempt to ride across the country on an aluminum bicycle. I've had my Nishiki Sebring for almost thiry years now. It remains my most favored riding bike to date. It rides slightly better than my other two steelys and much better than my Trek 7.5FX, and that's despite technological innovations!
On the other hand, look at the mountain bike market. Mountain bikes have been
booming since the mid80s. It's driven by innovation and changing technology
that makes people want to replace the bikes they have with better bikes.
All I really care about is a bike that can safely and reliably transport me from point A to point B. I don't care about any technological hokus pokus. I'm a commuter, not a MTN biker. This is the commuter forum!
However, it's a good thing that we've had our MTN biker brethern be more convenienced with better suspension systems. OTOH, that's got nothing to do with the average cyclist feeling enthusiastic about making future bike purchases if they're like the average cyclist. Since most of us are either commuters or utilitarian cyclists, we couldn't care any less about being in a rush to buy another bike. In fact, many commuters reach for the Craigslist just to find a twenty or thirty year old bike, for commuting purposes.
As has been demonstrated by mechBgon's post above, I'm not a bad judge of
bike flesh. The Atwood has a steel seat post, steel saddle clamp, steel headset
and steel frame. The steel frame isn't going to be a wonder frame like the
Rodriquez Trillium so it's likely to be a fairly heavy frame. All that steel
adds up to a whole lot of extra weight. It's certainly not going to be all that
close to the 27 lb that mechBgon estimated. All those steel parts are going to
increase the weight a good 5 to 7 lbs over the FX. That's noticeable.
Again, most of us normal guys, don't care about a couple extra pounds, if were just commuting, and not racing. Nobody cares about their bike weighing twenty-four pounds instead of twenty-eight pounds...
You certainly implied it.
I did not!
Aluminum almost always breaks at welds too. That's where all bikes are weakest. Heating of the metal around the weld causes weakening of the metal. The welds themselves are strong but the heat that spreads away from the weld causes changes in the crystalline structure of all metals.
Aluminum has also been known to crack right near the center of the top tube!
And, while steel bicycle frames may be repaired, it's not as easy as you think. Even fairly inexpensive frames like the Atwood use thin walled steel and require special skill to repair. And once repaired, they would be suspect for riding for any appreciable amount of time. You could certainly repair an aluminum frame as well but, again, the repair would be suspect.
AGREED! Highly Suspect, too!
Again, you implied it.
I did not!
Go read your own posts, man!
I read my own posts, all of the time. I personally find them, exciting!
Don't you?...
Freeriders (more correctly "all mountain riders") don't want steel frames for the simple reason that steel full suspension mountain bike frame would weigh what a motorcycle weighs. All mountain riding means that, occasionally, you have to ride up something. Assuming the same volume of steel and aluminum for a full suspension bike (valid because of all the different tubes that make up a full suspension bike), a steel full suspension bike would weigh 3 times as much as an aluminum bike. In other words, a 5 lb aluminum bike frame would balloon to a 15 lb steel frame. That's not too pleasant if you have to ride up something.
Some of the most successful MTB free-riding, dirt jumping, and street-styling, cyclists in the world, are currently developing a cultural bridge between BMX and MTN biking. As a part of this development is the chromoly MTB.
Check one of them out right here:
www.norco.com/bikes/dirt-street/26-inch/two50/
By the way, downhill bikes aren't steel. They are aluminum.
I know, as they should be, if they're racing!...Where'd you get anything contrary to that fact, from me?
Have you been dipping into the holiday spirits, today?
Then why haven't you changed all your parts to more durable steel parts?
Because aluminum wheels are better at stopping with my rim brakes in the rain. Other than that, I'll take chromoly steel components over aluminum ones, any day of the week. As soon as my aluminum components wear out (which I'm certain will be soon), I'll replace them with chromoly.
Not much
The universal truth
I don't see anything about only the headset. The Atwood does have more steel parts: seatpost, seatpost clamp, stem, headset, frame. That adds up.
You don't, because you improperly referred to the
threaded fork, when you should have referenced the
threaded headset. I overlooked that error...
Context and reading comprehension.
You should repeat this statement very loudly as you gaze into the mirror...
Nope. I'd have an aluminum bike with well chosen components because I'm not enamored of steel like some people. But I already have a well equipped bike shop. It's called my garage. I also have access to a bike coop filled to the gills with steel bikes. I wouldn't give a plug nickel for 99.9% of them. The other 0.1% I might look at but I probably wouldn't buy one.
You have just insulted and blasphemed against the most high god of steel..
Prepare for eternal damnation and spiritual retribution!
And I wouldn't touch a Trek FX+ with a ten foot pole. The '+' doesn't refer to a higher quality bike. It's an electric. That's cheating.
Alright! You started this mess! I didn't intend to type FX+. I meant to type FX! Whatever you have, it must be contagious! Now, I've got it, too!
Most Respectfully,
- Slim