Originally Posted by
maddog34
the shear load capacity of a 5mm bolt is a bit below one metric ton... an aluminum bike rack is rated to about, what, 50 Pounds? :-D
That's cool, but shear-strength of a bolt matters when the two surfaces held together by that bolt are (a) perpendicular to the bolt and (b) flush, and (c) the forces are perpendicular to the length of the bolt.
Under a purely shear-strength condition, bending strength is essentially irrelevant.
As the surfaces held together by the bolt are not flush, then shear-strength becomes less relevant, and bending forces become more relevant.