Steel is Real
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,900
Likes: 2
From: San Leandro
Bikes: Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra, Basso Loto, Pinarello Stelvio, Redline Cyclocross
Steel is Real
We just had a long bitter argument about how unsafe carbon fiber bikes are.
I have since talked to an industry insider and he told me that carbon fiber frames can be make as strong and long lasting as steel frames. But, he said, then these frames would weigh about the same as steel frames. And the demand is for ultra-lights. He thinks that eventually the majority of companies will be sued out of business because the industry knows that these ultra-lights are dangerous to the point of serious injuries or even death. He thinks that it is only a matter of time before we start getting a large number of failures.
In any case, be that as it may, I have a Colnago Dream HP. This has an aluminum main triangle, a carbon fork and the rear triangle is stolen directly from the C50. Ready for the road with a seatpack on it it weights in at 22.4 lbs.
I am in the process of building up a very good steel frame. I transferred all of the parts from my broken C40 to it. Presently the only thing I'm missing is the control cables, bar tape and seatpack. I put it on the scale yesterday and it weighs 22.11 lbs. And it has heavy Campy Atlanta wheels on it.
Now the C40 was two lbs lighter but you have to remember that I had a non-catastrophic failure of a fork that caused me to crash at high speed. And my friend had a catastrophic failure of his C40 for no reason at all luckily while he was on a bike path going about 5 mph. He got away with a severely broken small finger that will never regain full motion. And in 15 more minutes he would have been on a 40 mph descent.
For those that absolutely MUST have ultra-lights you can now buy top of the line titanium frames for half the price of the top of the line carbon frames. There is still the problem of the carbon forks but at that price savings you can replace the fork every two years and feel perfectly safe.
So there really is no reason to take chances with your life on a full carbon bike.
The problem is that people invest a lot of confidence in their own judgement and tend to pay no attention whatsoever to facts and statistics. So I don't expect many if any to pay any attention to this post.
I have since talked to an industry insider and he told me that carbon fiber frames can be make as strong and long lasting as steel frames. But, he said, then these frames would weigh about the same as steel frames. And the demand is for ultra-lights. He thinks that eventually the majority of companies will be sued out of business because the industry knows that these ultra-lights are dangerous to the point of serious injuries or even death. He thinks that it is only a matter of time before we start getting a large number of failures.
In any case, be that as it may, I have a Colnago Dream HP. This has an aluminum main triangle, a carbon fork and the rear triangle is stolen directly from the C50. Ready for the road with a seatpack on it it weights in at 22.4 lbs.
I am in the process of building up a very good steel frame. I transferred all of the parts from my broken C40 to it. Presently the only thing I'm missing is the control cables, bar tape and seatpack. I put it on the scale yesterday and it weighs 22.11 lbs. And it has heavy Campy Atlanta wheels on it.
Now the C40 was two lbs lighter but you have to remember that I had a non-catastrophic failure of a fork that caused me to crash at high speed. And my friend had a catastrophic failure of his C40 for no reason at all luckily while he was on a bike path going about 5 mph. He got away with a severely broken small finger that will never regain full motion. And in 15 more minutes he would have been on a 40 mph descent.
For those that absolutely MUST have ultra-lights you can now buy top of the line titanium frames for half the price of the top of the line carbon frames. There is still the problem of the carbon forks but at that price savings you can replace the fork every two years and feel perfectly safe.
So there really is no reason to take chances with your life on a full carbon bike.
The problem is that people invest a lot of confidence in their own judgement and tend to pay no attention whatsoever to facts and statistics. So I don't expect many if any to pay any attention to this post.
#2
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,597
Likes: 7
From: Houston, TX
Bikes: 2017 Cannondale CAAD12 105, 2014 Giant Escape City
Everything is real, man. Like, even unreal things are real. It's trippy.
#3
Not this poor, tired, cloth-eared, moth-eaten pantomime dead horse again, surely?
Make ... It ... Stop.
Make ... It ... Stop.
#5
Senior Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,301
Likes: 14
From: La La Land (We love it!)
Bikes: Gilmour road, Curtlo road; both steel (of course)
I'm too fredly to consider anything other than steel...
__________________
Today, I believe my jurisdiction ends here...
Today, I believe my jurisdiction ends here...
#7
We just had a long bitter argument about how unsafe carbon fiber bikes are.
I have since talked to an industry insider and he told me that carbon fiber frames can be make as strong and long lasting as steel frames. But, he said, then these frames would weigh about the same as steel frames. And the demand is for ultra-lights. He thinks that eventually the majority of companies will be sued out of business because the industry knows that these ultra-lights are dangerous to the point of serious injuries or even death. He thinks that it is only a matter of time before we start getting a large number of failures.
In any case, be that as it may, I have a Colnago Dream HP. This has an aluminum main triangle, a carbon fork and the rear triangle is stolen directly from the C50. Ready for the road with a seatpack on it it weights in at 22.4 lbs.
I am in the process of building up a very good steel frame. I transferred all of the parts from my broken C40 to it. Presently the only thing I'm missing is the control cables, bar tape and seatpack. I put it on the scale yesterday and it weighs 22.11 lbs. And it has heavy Campy Atlanta wheels on it.
Now the C40 was two lbs lighter but you have to remember that I had a non-catastrophic failure of a fork that caused me to crash at high speed. And my friend had a catastrophic failure of his C40 for no reason at all luckily while he was on a bike path going about 5 mph. He got away with a severely broken small finger that will never regain full motion. And in 15 more minutes he would have been on a 40 mph descent.
For those that absolutely MUST have ultra-lights you can now buy top of the line titanium frames for half the price of the top of the line carbon frames. There is still the problem of the carbon forks but at that price savings you can replace the fork every two years and feel perfectly safe.
So there really is no reason to take chances with your life on a full carbon bike.
The problem is that people invest a lot of confidence in their own judgement and tend to pay no attention whatsoever to facts and statistics. So I don't expect many if any to pay any attention to this post.
I have since talked to an industry insider and he told me that carbon fiber frames can be make as strong and long lasting as steel frames. But, he said, then these frames would weigh about the same as steel frames. And the demand is for ultra-lights. He thinks that eventually the majority of companies will be sued out of business because the industry knows that these ultra-lights are dangerous to the point of serious injuries or even death. He thinks that it is only a matter of time before we start getting a large number of failures.
In any case, be that as it may, I have a Colnago Dream HP. This has an aluminum main triangle, a carbon fork and the rear triangle is stolen directly from the C50. Ready for the road with a seatpack on it it weights in at 22.4 lbs.
I am in the process of building up a very good steel frame. I transferred all of the parts from my broken C40 to it. Presently the only thing I'm missing is the control cables, bar tape and seatpack. I put it on the scale yesterday and it weighs 22.11 lbs. And it has heavy Campy Atlanta wheels on it.
Now the C40 was two lbs lighter but you have to remember that I had a non-catastrophic failure of a fork that caused me to crash at high speed. And my friend had a catastrophic failure of his C40 for no reason at all luckily while he was on a bike path going about 5 mph. He got away with a severely broken small finger that will never regain full motion. And in 15 more minutes he would have been on a 40 mph descent.
For those that absolutely MUST have ultra-lights you can now buy top of the line titanium frames for half the price of the top of the line carbon frames. There is still the problem of the carbon forks but at that price savings you can replace the fork every two years and feel perfectly safe.
So there really is no reason to take chances with your life on a full carbon bike.
The problem is that people invest a lot of confidence in their own judgement and tend to pay no attention whatsoever to facts and statistics. So I don't expect many if any to pay any attention to this post.
That is all.
#9
Oh I have; I've even proffered you congratulations! A classic in terms both of its entertainment value and your serious point -- the two are not at all unrelated.
#10
Wait a minute, I just talked to a schizophrenic who says steel bikes are going to turn against their owners one day, it's only a matter of time before millions of people are murdered. We just agreed that any crazy thing a person believes is true so that rules out carbon and steel bikes. Guess we all need bamboo, huh?
#11
Banned.
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2,717
Likes: 10
From: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Bikes: '74 Raleigh International utility; '98 Moser Forma road; '92 Viner Pro CX upright
plastic resin - no it cannot be made to last as long as steel (in a landfill yes, but not in a mechanical application)
#12
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,119
Likes: 13
From: D'uh... I am a Cutter
Bikes: '17 Access Old Turnpike Gravel bike, '14 Trek 1.1, '13 Cannondale CAAD 10, '98 CAD 2, R300
Ultra-light is always barely stable enough to be useful.... it doesn't matter whether it is steel or plastic.
#14
https://www.bikeforums.net/general-cycling-discussion/1073471-danger-carbon-fiber-bikes.html
Give up. You are a liar and a loser.
#15
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,900
Likes: 2
From: San Leandro
Bikes: Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra, Basso Loto, Pinarello Stelvio, Redline Cyclocross
Or is your attention span so short you don't even remember saying that you weren't going to post any longer?
#16
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 8,206
Likes: 86
From: Metro Detroit/AA
Bikes: 2016 Novara Mazama
The fact that you still are caring about the weight of your bike down to the hundredth of a pound and justifying the difference in three tenths of a pound between two metal bikes shows exactly why CF bikes and ultralightness in general is very much here to stay.
All my bikes are steel. One is around 24-25#, one is in the 30# range, the other two are 33-34#ish. I arguably have more fun on the 34#ish pound Schwinn than I do on the 24 and some change pound Peugeot. So really, you don't even have to risk your life on lightweight steel bikes, just go for the all out, fully lugged, hi-ten steel beasts. I ran mine into a chainlink fence the other day. Stuck the front wheel between my legs, manhandled the handlebars back into roughly the right place (been on two rides since, they aren't straight, but I keep forgetting/can't be bothered to fix it), and continued on. Couldn't do that with a lightweight wheel set!
All my bikes are steel. One is around 24-25#, one is in the 30# range, the other two are 33-34#ish. I arguably have more fun on the 34#ish pound Schwinn than I do on the 24 and some change pound Peugeot. So really, you don't even have to risk your life on lightweight steel bikes, just go for the all out, fully lugged, hi-ten steel beasts. I ran mine into a chainlink fence the other day. Stuck the front wheel between my legs, manhandled the handlebars back into roughly the right place (been on two rides since, they aren't straight, but I keep forgetting/can't be bothered to fix it), and continued on. Couldn't do that with a lightweight wheel set!
#17
Touring Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 278
Likes: 1
From: USA
Bikes: 23" Schwinn High Plains, 20" Trek 830 Antelope
In on p1
#18
Just Plain Slow
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 6,026
Likes: 5
From: Santa Clarita, CA
Bikes: Lynskey R230
Still on page one and already off the tracks. Closing this before it goes any further.
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