Originally Posted by
bargainguy
In the world of bicycle messengers, using a hi-ten (or even MTB) frame is not unusual. Less likely to suffer damage from repeated abuse - potholes and the like. While it's a little heavier than cromoly, less likelihood of downtime from frame damage, which means less worry of not having a paycheck, a fair trade-off.
I wonder if Brommies fall into the same category. A folder has additional stress to deal with - frame stress around the folding bits as the bike is being ridden as well as the stress of being folded/unfolded. So in a sense, it's over-engineering the frame at the cost of a little more weight. You might have to push a little harder from the extra weight, but it's well worth having your Brommie frame intact at the end of the day.
Ok, I can see that. Bike Fridays don't have mid-tube frame hinges so they can use a lighter steel. Moultons are steel but their hinges aren't the usual Dahon/Brompton/Tern frame hinge. So maybe bikes with those kind of hinges benefit from the heavier material? And maybe the aluminum Tern uses contribute to their failure?
From what I've seen, low end MTB use hi-ten. Messenger bikes tend to be beaters as well. Just not something I expect on a high-end bike. Are there any other bikes out there $1000+ that use hi-ten? I'd be surprised. I would expect the "over-engineering" to be in triple butted framing at that price.