Originally Posted by
saddlesores
maybe.....but what about the total lifecycle? are you considering the service life
of each material? alu frame will last how long....ten years maybe? steel frame
will last......well....mostly forever. how long does a typical crabon frame last?
and when they finally die, both steel and inferior aluminium are easily recycled,
whereas crabon lives forever in landfills, leaching toxic chemicals.
so to be fair, you need to compare the crabon footprint of 1 steel frame to
3 aluminium frames to 6 crabon frames.
Cheap frames, whether aluminum or steel, will last practically forever. High-end steel and aluminum racing frame might not, although I've seem far more broken high-end steel frames than aluminum frames over the 30 years since aluminum frames became a presence in the market.
It's been a while since anyone has referred to the German Tour magazine-sponsored test of high-end frames:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/...tigue_test.htm
The takeaway from that report is that, under the test conditions, which were intended to show the expected fatigue life of 12 high-end frames built with steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber, a couple of the aluminum and carbon frames fared best; all of the steel frames failed.
Make of that what you will.