Originally Posted by
ctxguide.com
From what I understood, T6 aluminum has less lithium after heat treating than T8 (I could be wrong).
A little hung up on this? The only difference is whether the tubing is cold-worked or not.
http://www.engineersedge.com/aluminum_tempers.htm
Originally Posted by
ctxguide.com
Does anyone know if there is a way to determine the remaining life span of the bike frame other than just checking it by eye? (x-rays, ultrasound...)
Yes and no. You can disassemble the bike, strip the frame, zyglo and/or X-ray/ultrasonic the frame. You're talking about $1000 of work on a $50 frame.
If the fork broke, it broke. That's a different story than the frame. Mag is more likely to run into fatigue problems because of its corrosion issues. It sounds like you don't trust your bike frame any more. You're getting a new one. Sell the old one. There's very little that you can realistically do to figure out frame life other than what I've already told you.