I just ran across this NYT article from a few years back. It completely proves what we at Bike Forums have know all along.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/sp...3A17%22**&_r=1

Ah yes, the old NYT asploding carbon article. Old news; stupid article. Been discussed on here (BF) endlessly.

Seemed pretty factual and too the point to me.

Yes, this completely proves that a catastrophic high-speed crash will do tremendous damage to a bicycle. Glad I learned that.

I also noticed this: "...for consumers who are not constantly banging their bikes around on team vehicles and who are unlikely to be involved in crashes, the risks in buying a carbon bike made by a reputable company should be minimal."

Of course that has got to be a lie, because everyone know carbon frames are deadly. The reason there is no evidence to support that is that the riders and all the witnesses were killed by flying carbon shards.

My one failed frame as an adult has been carbon fiber. Rear ultegra derailleur body snapped, rotated around and sheared right through the seat stay on that side. Bet that wouldn't happen on my steel bikes.

Just sayin...

And I've broken more steel bikes than carbon. They all break.

Steel:

Cinelli at the head tube
Nishiki Comp III at the rear dropout
Nishiki Team Pro through the down tube
Eisentraut at the head tube twice and once at the seat stay cluster
Gianni Motta at the BB shell
Raleigh Comp at the BB shell
Trek 460 at the BB shell

Aluminum:

Alan CX - de-bonded at the head tube

Carbon:

Specialized Roubaix Pro - BB sleeve de-bonded.

True, but only CF bikes asplode when they break!!!

Never seen an asploding carbon bike but seen a few green-stick breaks. The exploding thing is pretty much BS.

A little rustoleum goes a long way.

Don't know what that has to do with broken tubes and joints but thanks for your advice.

Hmmm, so lets see... Out of all the bikes I can remember

Red 20 incher as kid- steel, no break
Mom's Montgomery Ward I rode for years - steel, no break
The red 50-60 era bike I had on the farm in the 80s - steel, broke the frame where the dropout was crimped into the chainstay one day doing massive jumps on it.
Beige ten speed, beat to heck, crooked saddle - steel, no break
Peugeout in Germany - steel, no break passed to another G.I.
Shogun road bike - steel, no break
Diamond back MB - crashed multiple times - steel, no break
1993 ish Schwinn road bike - steel, no break
2010 Trek Madone 4.5 - CF, break (broken derailleur snapped frame clean through and it them asploded on the spot! yes shameless exaggeration but it really did break, LOL!)
2011 Trek Madone 5.9 - CF, no break
2000 Lemond Zurich - steel frame/CF fork, no break
1999 Schwinn Circuit - steel frame/alloy fork, no break
1972 Peugeot U08 - steel, no break IN 44 years!!
1989 Giordana Antares - steel, no break
2009 Scott CR1 Pro - CF, no break
2003 Trek Tourmelet - steel frame/CF fork, no break
2015 Lynskey R265 -Ti frame/CF fork, no break (in first 46 miles, whew!!) LOL
1997 Giordana Superleggero -All beautiful Italian (oops french) steel, no break but no miles yet.
2003 Kona Jake the Snake - aluminum frame/steel fork, no break
2008 Raleigh Mojave -aluminum, no break.

So lets add that up...

1 of 3 CF frames broke and asploded leaving a hole in the universe

1 of 14 steel frames broke and I still could ride it - TOTAL PROOF, STEEL IS REAL!

0 of 2 aluminum frames broke - Steel is still real!

0 of 1 Titanium frames broke - Yep, you guessed it... Steel is real!

So there you have it. Unquestionable proof that CF bikes are worthless and will totally, totally asplode. I don't see why people chose to deny this. I mean really, come on, it's so obvious.



And I hope no one is really taking this seriously, LOL!

All kidding aside on this. If you google videos on youtube about CF bike crashes you see some really spectacular fails with frames really destroyed. It's pretty entertaining in a sick, perverted kind of way.

I was 10 miles out from home when my CF frame was broke. But I honestly think with a stick and some duck tape I could have ridden it home if not for a broken spoke too.

I think he means hammer to fit, file to match, paint to cover

Guys, relax. Nothing against any frame material and I've got a list as long as [MENTION=203117]jamesdak[/MENTION] of steel frames that didn't break, also. I just get so tired of the frame wars and "Steel is real" and "carbon asplodes" and "aluminum is harsh" and "Ti lasts forever" and the NYT article besides being ancient history and discussed here ad nauseam, was ill informed and BS.

+1, and thank you (from the author of post #2 ).

Just as soon as you admit that "Steel is real!"

LOL, come on guys, no one that's posted is taking this serious.

Now quit resisting it. Steel is real!!!!!

In 30+ years riding as an adult, I've never broken a frame - road or mountain or city.
Steel mostly but also, CF, Ti, Al.

You must really dig hard coming out of the hole. My '85 Trek 460 flexed quite a lot at the BB but never cracked.

Interesting, but one abbreviation seems to elude my comprehension. CF? what is that?

thanks.
In my experience, All my bikes are steel and I've never had any problem with frame breaking, or any parts of it.
Even my current bike is 17 years old, steel, front shocks, and I took it up in the rocky Mountains and rode the heck out of it. damaged my tire, but overall, still running smoothly. had to replace the crank set, but that was due to wear and tear, not because of that trail I rode on, considering the crank set was the original one I had since I bought it in 1999. So I guess if we took really good care of the bike, ie: tune up annually, proper lube and adjustment semi annually. the bike will pretty much last a long time.

W

Lots of reasons. One is just about everyone has a camera or phone to take videos. Another is most bikes you see people riding are carbon. The third is many of the videos involve races where all France's are carbon.

There used to be spectacular crashes with steel too. They just weren't recorded.

I did have one steel bike frame break -- a Sears Free Spirit 3-speed, waaay back in 1974. Bike was 'only' six years old, but I rode it daily year 'round, including Cleveland winters and lots of road salt. You've seen cars of the 70s rust out in only four years in the Rustbelt, right? Well, rust got this one, too. I was diligent in giving it a detailed total rebuild at least once every winter, and poured motor oil through the frame to coat the inside - but it still rusted. Enough that when I hit a snowbank, the toptube separated from the seatpost. The tubing had rusted so thin from the inside that there just wasn't enough strength there. I had it welded, but it failed again just outside of the welded joint just three weeks later.

My first 4 steel bikes, two single speed kids bikes and two 3-speeds - no breakage.

My first "real" bike, a UO-8 -chainstay failed at 19,000 miles after 5 salt road winters and probably more than 25 crashes including a car door.

Aluminum forked Lambert - the fork failed at 19,000 miles.

Fuji Professional - seat tube broke at the BB at 5,000 miles. (This was known to happen on that run of bikes. Fuji replaced it.)

Peter Mooney - no issues after 44,000 miles and several hard crashes except on fork #2 . (Fork #1 was straightened and ridden a year after a crash that would have destroyed any CF fork.)

Next 4 steel fix gear frames (after the UO-8 and bought used with unknown histories). One broke a fork blade at 8,000 miles. One survived several hard crashes where either the fork was trashed or I broke multiple bones. Died with a wheelbase shortening crash at 27,000 miles. Last had the seatstay caps repaired at about 10,000 of my miles. (those bikes were well known to break there.) Still going at 17,000.

So yes, a few of my steel frames have failed. Two or three from manufacturing/design defects. Two outlasted any carbon fiber frame, that UO-8 and the Miyata 610, #4 of the fix gears. (No CF bike would have survived all of those bikes' crashes.) True, the UO-8 had a different alignment after each crash and was never remotely true. The Miyata was simply - impressive. Went through three forks, all dying violently. The frame stayed true through the first two.

Ben

Never mind the bikes, I'm surprised your body didn't up and explode!

But i do have a question... Did you ever feel like you had "a different alignment after each crash"?

Oh, and of course... Steel is Real.

Not knowing anything about you, I'd guess you are a heavy and tall rider, trying to use bikes that are too under built/light for your size. Most exotic steel bikes are built for average riders, average in the world of top end cycling being 5'9", 160 lbs.

My Columbus tubed sl/sp framed steel bike was never a problem for me over 36Kmiles, and I was 5'11"and 175 lbs when I had it. I stayed away from slx tubes, deeming them too light for me.

My modern Al bike, came with not only a weight limit, but also road/riding style warning.

Frames have design limits re rider weight. For you to have broken so many steel frames makes me think you were outside those limits. But like I said, I know nothing about you.