Does steel wear down?

[Mr. Pink]

Do steel frames change over time? Do they "age"?

[axel23]

Lots of discussion on this point over the years. Engineers and metallurgists will want to weigh in. All I can tell you is anecdotal: I've ridden 40 year old steel frames that feel as stiff and reliable as many current bikes.

In my university racing days I salvaged an old Crescent Reynolds 531 frame that had been sitting outside in the rain for months. Once I got the bb out, there was so much rust in the seat tube that it almost filled an entire coffee cup. I ran oily rags through it, chased the bb threads and it went back into service for many more years.

Properly cared for (and that doesn't require much), chrome-moly steel is immensely durable.

[rustychisel]

No

/

[nooneline]

Pros used to say that a high-end racing bike would go soft toward the end of the season.

But pros say a lot of things.

[martl]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Do steel frames change over time? Do they "age"?

It is a widespread myth that steel frames tend to "age" or "get softer". As a rule, steel, as long as it stays steel and doesn't transcend to rust, will keep its material properties. No one ever heard of a steel railway bridge gone soft, or a medieval sword. Even the tour d'eiffel is standing still upright.

[fiamme red]

A gem from the Classic Rendezvous list archives:

Ah yessss... I remember a trip to sunny Italy in the seventies and a highly anticipated visit to Molteni Arcore. Out behind the warehouse that housed the team bike spares, etc. (you should have seen the shelves of wool jerseys with one entire shelf of Molteni jerseys with the worlds bands on the collar and sleeves reserved for Eddy himself)... anyway out behind the warehouse was this field of waist high weeds, and in the middle of this field was a big soggy mound of all these orange painted bike frames, the steel tubes of which were reduced to so much limp pasta by the herculean efforts of Eddy and his domestics in the previous season's races.

Chuck "huh?" Schmidt
SoPas, SoCal

[Tony]

The connecting points can, but the steel will not.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Do steel frames change over time? Do they "age"?

No...metal bicycles, like steel and titanium, are so overbuilt they they don't get soft, or wear out or any of that stuff.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Do steel frames change over time? Do they "age"?

Be skeptical of any claims that suggest you need a new bike.

[christian]

I own a bicycle from 1936. It has neither rusted nor gone soft.

[ceolwulf]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Be skeptical of any claims that suggest you need a new bike.

But get a new bike anyway, just to be on the safe side.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by ceolwulf

But get a new bike anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Well, that's what inspired this line of inquiry. I had a ten year old Serotta, bought a new Strong, and the Strong feels like a livelier frame. Same size (the Serotta was copied), same wheels, even same tires. Different fork, though. Both bikes sleep inside the house.

Somebody told me once that steel bikes get softer over time. I find it hard to believe.

[Joachim]

Yes it gets old, soft and saggy, but if you treat the tubes with Botox it becomes somewhat ok again. Not 100%, but ok.

[Joachim]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Well, that's what inspired this line of inquiry. I had a ten year old Serotta, bought a new Strong, and the Strong feels like a livelier frame. Same size (the Serotta was copied), same wheels, even same tires. Different fork, though. Both bikes sleep inside the house.

Somebody told me once that steel bikes get softer over time. I find it hard to believe.

Made of the same steel?

[Mr. Pink]

Probably not. Ill get back to you on that one.