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.
Your making the assumption that Carbon frames don't last as long as the others. Based on the science behind carbon frames, it should last LONGER. Science does not = real world, necessarily.
Carbon can be repaired easily.
Just picked up a Calfee carbon frame, used. It had a 25 year frame warranty, transferable to new owner, me. It was built in 2007, so I have another 15 years under warranty. Calfee was one of the first, arguably still one of the best and believes in the material that much.
I know of no other bike frame manuf, steel, ti or alum that offer that. Doesn't necessarily PROVE anything besides confidence of one manufacturer, Calfee, but it does go to show that it is believed to be a long lasting durable material by an industry expert.