Originally Posted by
Doohickie
That's okay; I'm not sure I understand it myself. I think repechage figured out what I meant to say though:
If CF becomes the accepted norm and steel/aluminum go away, I think there will be far fewer bikes left over to be resold. CF is a performance-optimized material that does not have an unlimited life in the same way steel does. What's left will be high-end boutique steel frames that won't be accessible at thrift store prices, and, x-mart junk.
You still see old Elgins and JC Higgins bikes kicking around. If CF frames become the norm in cycling, I think there will be precious few of them left after, say, 50-100 years.
I personally think CF will be replaced by something else - what, I don;t know. But I doubt it will the main frame building material in 50 - 100 years' time. I agree the "delicate" nature of CF doesn;t bode well for future classics from maybe the next 10 to 20 years, but I think there'll always be steel frames being made somewhere, even, I think, by some of the bigger names. And the classics from the last 50 years will still be around in some form - those that survive, anyway. Just look at the old mutts being ridden through the streets of so many European cities. Not very well loved, true, but still there cranking out the miles.