Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Many people posting here have already seen this report of the results of fatigue tests of a number of high-end road bike frames as performed for the German Tour magazine back in 1997, but for those who haven't, here it is. (Short version: two aluminum frames and one carbon frame survived the testing. All of the steel and titanium frames failed. The testers concluded that the failures had less to do with the frame material and more to do with the design of each frame and with how careful the builder was during the building process.)
For those who might object that the steel and titanium alloys used for building frames have improved since 1997---that's true, but aluminum and carbon technology has improved too, of course.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/...tigue_test.htm
Interesting but that test in question didn't include high end steel framed bikes with tubes such as the Columbus Nemo , the Columbus Genius, the Dedacciai Dr Zero 18 mcd v6ht and even the Reynolds 853 and 631. I doubt that aluminium frames will outlast them. Back in the days all Cannondale frame were made in the USA,that is not the case anymore. Where as for carbon, good luck for repairing a broken frame. For instance the Columbus Genius won a number of victories in the road bike racing and mtb racing races and championships from early 90's to mid late 90's beating aluminium and carbon made bikes. In 1991, the Genius tubing, made of Nivacrom steel, was an unprecedented success. For the first time in the history of cycling, the concept of"Differential Shape Butting" appeared, which only Columbus technology, now the master of the know-how connected with the strain of a frame could design. In 1994, to celebrate 110 years of Bianchi, Columbus strengthened the friendship that born between the fathers of the two companies, making MEGATUBE solely for the Treviglio company, the first oversize tube for high-performance, strong and lightframes. Megatube has become a must and is now one of the strong pointsof the Milanese company, with more than 14 different shapes. In 1995, the Columbus adventure also began in the mountain bike sector with the OR tubing for Cinelli and the custom series for Tom Ritchey (the first fork blades with a variable thickness). With the CYBER tube set (1994), specifically for mtb use, with subsequent forms, and then with Genius mtb, Columbus began accumulating World Championship mtb victories: from Brentjens with American Eagle to Acquaroli with Bianchi, to the Sunn Team and their multi-medallists Vouilloz, Martinez and Chausson. The competitive sector is obviously not the least: from Coppi and Bartoli who were the first to use the Columbus tubes, passing through Merckx, Gimondi, Hinault, Lemond, Argentin, Fondriest, Chiappucci, Roche, Rominger, Pantani, Chioccioli, Armstrong, Rijs, Bartoli and Olano to Tonkov, Brochard, Zuelle and Virenque.