Originally Posted by
elemental
What about mountain bikes? It's pretty difficult to use it for its intended purpose without applying some rather significant stresses, and low-level loads multiple times a second (particularly for a hardtail). This is one of the many reasons I wonder why so few brands still build high-end steel hardtails (hopefully ordering a Jamis Dragon later this week).
Mountain bike manufacturers switched from steel to aluminum for frame material because overbuilt (or, more accurately, appropriately robust) aluminum frames carry a smaller weight penalty than overbuilt steel frames. Any manufacturer who builds a steel mountain bike frame that is meant to be close to an aluminum frame in weight is asking for trouble. As a Trek sales rep told me in the early '90s, Trek found that reducing production of steel frames and increasing production of aluminum frames resulted in a greatly reduced number of frame warranty claims.