As it reached 15.000 km, my road Décathlon’s frame snapped out of the blue. I guess it’s time to steer away from aluminum. In its defense, it’s taken quite a beating, including a head-on collision with an oncoming car a few years ago. The staff at the store were astonished—indeed, the thing looks like it was sawn. Here’s to you, old treacherous friend. Meanwhile, the hunt for steel frames begins.
λ ∧ ¬λ 
Wow! Ouch! Sorry to hear that news. Hopefully you weren’t riding at the time…
I have two steel framed bikes: one commuter (Trek 311) and one road/race (Lemond Zurich). They are arguably just as light as aluminum and much, much more durable.
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Nice! My ’70s Peugeot has a lightweight steel frame, and I absolutely love it. Then there’s the frame on my 50-lb Dutch roadster, which feels noble and smooth as butter.
I was, actually, riding at the time. Wasn’t doing anything special (just a moderate climb) when I heard a metallic snapping sound, but I didn’t even realize what had happened, as the bike kept going fine. Only a couple of miles later did I feel some lateral wobbling and stopped to properly inspect. I was pretty lucky in that regard.
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Miguel, you do realize that writing in English doesn’t mean you have to switch to imperial units, right?
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Wow. Yes, could have been a bad crash. Glad that was not the outcome.
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E.M.: Haha! It just sounded better. But you’re right! I meant my 25-kg Dutch roadster.
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Lance, so this happened last week: https://miguelcsf.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/img_8578.jpg
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