Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Since I’m the one who brought it up, I’ll address it. I’m not saying that touring frames are prone to breaking. I really doubt that a touring frame is any more or any less delicate than any other frame. Touring frames are likely stronger than many road bikes but probably only slightly and certainly not by orders of magnitude (i.e. tens of times stronger). Frankly, I consider the fear of breaking a frame on tour to be an unreasonable fear. That’s part of the reason I call it a “myth”. It happens but it’s probably a 1 in a million chance. That doesn’t stop people from being unreasonable, however. There are very few reports of broken touring frames here on the Bike Forums.
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As a person who has managed to break 4 frames (not touring bikes) by simply using them, I think I have a lot more experience with broken frames…and repairing them…than most.
Your "one in a million chance" doesn't seem to jive with the seven reports of broken bikes that've cropped up already. (Note I'm including your four since, as you say, there's not much difference between touring bikes and other bikes that would significantly change the probability of their failing.) Are there seven million registered users of BF?