Originally Posted by splytz1
I do see what you're saying, dutret, but - just to play devil's advocate - there are many ways to stress a frame. A lot more than what? Racing? Commuting? Loaded mountainous touring? Please qualify. We don't even know what his gear ratio was.
What I was saying to the OP is that under ordinary conditions, a decently made steel frame shouldn't crack. His cracked after 2000 miles. Good steel? Ehh... hard to believe it wasn't a preexisting structural problem in the BB area that revealed itself via the added stress of riding fixed.
I was riding 76 gear inches for most of those 2000 miles. I'm guessing you are probably right about a structure problem in the BB shell revealing itself after being converted to a fixed gear. My commute is mostly uphill and I did a lot of mashing on that thing.
On the other hand, most of my BMX frames have cracked around the chainstays and at the headtube-downtube joint, but of course that was from years of jumping, wall-riding, and all sorts of slamming abuse..the kind of abuse that road frame never sees, which is why I was suprised when my Bianchi conversion cracked.