For those of you out there riding steel frames, particularly old conversions....how much life do you expect to get outta your frame? I'm just wondering, because I've cracked every steel frame I've ever owned. Most of these have been steel BMX frames, but recently I cracked my Bianchi fixed gear conversion frame after about 2000 miles. The BB shell developed an inch-long crack. Now I'm using an old Motobecane frame (a real one, not the new fake Motobecane USA). I like these old road frames because they take fenders and big tires and such and most of my fixed gear riding is commuting. I'm guessing that a lot of these older frames just aren't built to withstand the abuse that they get with a fixed gear. If my Motobecane cracks, I'm gonna just get a legitimate track frame.

are you sure they arent just paint cracks

I thought you wanted to know about cracking good steel frames.


If you have had this many steel frames fail, something is wrong. Check for rust and stop crashing them.

SOrry...somehow I stated this thread twice.
I'm not crashing and they are not rusting. Like I said, most of my cracked frames have been BMX bikes...and I really abused these frames...BMX style abuse. As for the Bianchi...it has no rust and its not a paint crack.

So don't abuse them, and they won't break. Make sense? Track frames are built slightly beefier than road frames in order to withstand high speed crashes common on the velodrome. But that "beefiness" is hardly enough to warrant BMX style abuse. These are elegant machines designed for one thing: speed, not bunnyhops.

No...please read my post again. I've severely abused BMX frames, as they should be. But, I haven't abused my Bianchi conversion road frame any more than you would expect from hard road riding.

Define "hard road riding"

you know, when it gets hard and you start riding vigourously and you get this sensation...

Hrm, what can I say, maybe you've just had some bad luck? There are guys in the Classics/Vintage forum who ride 50 and 60 year old steel frames for thousands of miles and the frames are fine. My Ciocc is well over 20 years and I ride it hard all the time, do you hit a lot of things?

fast...pedaling hard..mashing up hills in a big gear...an occasional pothole.

Yes but the vast majority of 50-60yo bikes have already bitten the dust. It is completely possible that a bike will last that long but if it is frequently ridden it is pretty unlikely. Newer stiffer alloys and thinner tube walls continuously make it less likely.

I would say you have really bad luck then.

are they? I bunny hop and stuff all the time '87 frame, 6 years hard riding in my hands...before me, don't even know.

no probs yet...only a couple top tube dings

take care of your ride (and your wheels) and it will take care of you

The BB shell should not have cracked unless there was something wrong with the frame to begin with. How many miles did the frame have before you converted it? You should check with Bianchi, if you're lucky they may do something for you.

I don't see how riding fixed is inherently more abusive than any other type of riding. My dad does loaded mountainous touring in all weather conditions on a 1978 steel frame with tens of thousands of miles on it. And it's not particularly high end steel. Either you're mistreating your bikes or you've had bad luck getting frames with inherent structural problems.

riding any ss bike will put alot more stress on the frame as you mash alot more. Fg can put even more stress if you are into skidding.

I do see what you're saying, dutret, but - just to play devil's advocate - there are many ways to stress a frame. A lot more than what? Racing? Commuting? Loaded mountainous touring? Please qualify. We don't even know what his gear ratio was.

What I was saying to the OP is that under ordinary conditions, a decently made steel frame shouldn't crack. His cracked after 2000 miles. Good steel? Ehh... hard to believe it wasn't a preexisting structural problem in the BB area that revealed itself via the added stress of riding fixed. I put tons of miles on my fixed gear bike, which is a total gaspipe beater Paris Sport that had lord knows how many miles on it when I converted it, and with a little TLC have had no problems, commuting every day in NYC, mashing up the hills of VA where I'm working right now, etc.

Steel... my old Puch's frame bent after going over a huge pothole at night... so badly the front wheel was almost touching the down tube - it was the classic warping by where the top tube and down tube meet the head tube. Still rode it all over till it was stolen. Only problem was bad toeverlap, otherwise it rode fine. Granted that bike didn't have the added stress that a fixed gear will cause (due to the mashing you mention), but it nevertheless had years of hard all-weather riding on it.

Are they? Uh, what do you think? You can use your bike for whatever you want, obviously. I would think that when a builder is putting the finishing touches on their latest road frame they're not taking into consideration people jumping off of curbs. I mean, dude, seriously, c'mon. That's not even an argument.

any latest road frame, whether made for racing or whatever, should be made by the builder with the intention of taking abuse...

in bicycle races, people crash, ride over cobblestone roads at high speeds, veer offroad (lance a couple years ago), hit potholes, etc..

this type of stuff puts way more pressure than bunnyhoping (a relatively low impact activity)

dude, seriously, c'mon.... not even an argument? think about it

Yes, those things certainly do happen. And do you think Mr. Armstrong gets back on the crashed bike the next day? My guess is no. Of course bikes are built to withstand the elements of the road. Intentionally putting unnecessary stress on a frame is just well, stupid. When you ride do you not lift your ass up off the seat when you hit a pothole? Do you not swerve out of the way of a big sewer grate? Do you attempt to lighten the load when rolling of train tracks or whatever? I know I do. Those would obviously be stressful to the frames integrity and the wheels had you just kept your fat ass on the seat. Sure it can withstand it, but what is the point in potentially damaging it? What is the point of putting undo stress on your frame whether it is from bunnyhopping or riding "heavy" on abused roadways? Take your own advice and take care of your ****. Stress is stress, anyway you slice it. I chose to avoid it if I have the option. I would suspect builders assume their customers would want to take care of their frames as well.

Heh!...that frame was from 1985 and I seriously doubt Bianchi would do anything about it. I have no idea how many miles were put on it before I got it, but I put ~2000 miles on it. The paint is job was nearly pristine, so I'm guessing not very many miles were put on it before me.

Bunnyhopping, when done properly (absoring the shock with your limbs), is smooth and a helluva lot less stressful that plowing through a pothole with your ass in the saddle. Likewise, riding off a curb is nothing, unless you are locking your joints up when you land.

I was riding 76 gear inches for most of those 2000 miles. I'm guessing you are probably right about a structure problem in the BB shell revealing itself after being converted to a fixed gear. My commute is mostly uphill and I did a lot of mashing on that thing.
On the other hand, most of my BMX frames have cracked around the chainstays and at the headtube-downtube joint, but of course that was from years of jumping, wall-riding, and all sorts of slamming abuse..the kind of abuse that road frame never sees, which is why I was suprised when my Bianchi conversion cracked.

how much to you weigh?

~207

Sounds like you need to learn how to ride smoother, or maybe you just got unlucky with this frame. The only frame I've ever destroyed was a cheap aluminum mtb that got twisted in a hard crash. My steel conversion is 20 years old this year, and has no problems. The kind of steel is important, too. There's a difference between hi-ten and 853, or even hi-ten and cromoly.