There's been a spate of threads here, in General, & Road, about the possible perils of damaged carbon, fatigued aluminum, & such.

Some have responded that even the older high-performance steel race frames had their share of problems, too. Let's set aside crash damage, whatever the cause, or rust caused by neglect over the years. Sure, welds can fail, lugs can crack, (though I've never seen it personally), but really, weren't the bikes of 20-30+ years ago more durable and reliable than the seemingly planned obsolescence ones of today? Or are the specimens we have now just the survivors?