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Comment by virtue3 | Hacker News Reader

Carbon fiber is extremely durable when it is designed to be stressed in the directions it's designed for.

For instance if you eat shit and fall laterally the frame is likely to crack :).

When you invest in these kinds of bikes you end up having to get them x-rayed after accidents to verify they aren't having sub-surface cracks and are safe to ride.

Aluminum will also stress crack and just fracture.

Steel is dramatically more ductile and will most likely deform instead of catastrophically failing.

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Steel also has lower embodied energy than aluminum, it's rather underrated.

Steel is real!

Steel has a bad rap because cheap, bicycle-shaped objects sold in the consumer mass market are usually made of steel: both frame and often wheel rims too.

Like "Ozark Trail" bikes sold by Walmart, bikes for toddlers and what not.

These bikes are massively heavy and susceptible to rust.

That is true but aluminium requires less energy to recycle when you're finished with it.

I have bikes made of steel, aluminium and carbon fibre. I don't worry about the longevity of any of them.

Hydro-formed aluminium is cheap, relatively light and easy to live with IMHO. Horses for courses.

I also think geometry of a frame is far more important than frame material for things like comfort but that's a different story. i.e. how much can the seat post flex.

> end up having to get them x-rayed

Maybe if you can find an X-ray lab that offers 2 for 1 coupons, you can get the bike imaged for free.

took me a second but that was hilarious.

Friend fell over at a red light from a stop (was clipped in on the pedal on the wrong side and fell over). Had to get frame x-rayed and it was cracked inside. He was fine of course...

Speaking of pedal contact, I learned to countersteer once upon a time and came to habitually use it all the time. I rarely take a turn without countersteering and often take sharp corners at speed. There have been a few times when I forgot to stop pedaling, just muscling my way through the curve because I'm so confident I can take it without slowing down, and ended up scraping the pedal crank on the pavement. I've not fallen down, luckily.

The good thing with carbon is it is relatively easy and cheap to repair compared to alu and steel.

If you you think that some cloth and resin patch is a good and safe repair for a bike frame, you can easily apply that technique to aluminum and steel too.

Carbon fiber weave and resins don't stick to aluminum and steel very well. It was an issue in the earlier days where frames using both metal and carbon fiber would come apart when the glue failed.

With aluminium you risk galvanic corrosion but yes I was contemplating using that technique to bond steel tubes and build a tall bike.

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