Snoopy007 wrote:I didn't use the direct quote, but if you go to the first page there's A table about how good certain metals are based on certain characteristics e.g weight, durability.
Snoopy007 wrote:The table shows titanium clearly being better than any of the other metals with aluminium being the worst which i believe is clearly not true.
For durability or overall?
As for durability, if you did a google search for cracked frames, I think it would be a close race between carbon and Al. This might be because there are more Al frames out there though. You can crack any type of frame material if it is built too light or poorly for the application or weight of rider. It is just the lightest bikes are often Al and carbon and so they are usually the ones to crack more often. Carbon has the added durability problems of strike or scratch resistance. It is also generally built the lightest of all as the most weight-critical applications for racing bikes are almost exclusively carbon these days.
The graph above is the very learned opinion of Zinn who writes many tech articles and has a degree in physics (IIRC). I wouldn't bother posting it unless I thought his opinion had some merit. Many don't, but opinions vary with differing experiences. Things are always changing, so may be even less accurate in five years time. I know Al frames used to crack quite often many years ago, but not as much these days IMO. I have 4 Al frames here. None have cracked so far. However they don't get ridden too much either.
Steel and Ti have endurance limits, below which they can be flexed infinitely (for practical purposes) without cracking. Neither Al or carbon can make this boast. Often Ti and especially steel are built for heavier duty applications where more strength is built in and so crack less for this reason. I know my steel cyclocross bike is very unlikely to crack due it its heavy build for my weight. For high distance applications like touring with added weight, you'll find most touring bikes are still made from steel. However, I'm sure there are plenty of almost paper-thin tubed lightweight steel bikes that do crack though.