Whats the next super material for bikes?

To be honest it really is steel. I think it was one of the Lynksy builders who said that had it been introduced after aluminium steel would today be considered the " wonder " material.
Good old fashioned iron alloy ( which is what steel is ) has had an incredible rennaisance in the past few years after the initial massive kick up the @rse it had from aluminium and then the following public drubbing it recieved over the following years from bike manufacturers obsessed with image and weight.
 
With 953 now out for a good while steel is still being developed, though I haven't seen any 953 mtbs, which with its corrosion resistance would have been an ideal material.
 
Aermet steel. From reading about it i wonder if the failures in aermet frames were due to stresses initiated during cutting and mitering, and if a post weld heat treat might help to prevent that.
 
Steel has it's place.

First steel bike where fine.
Then Aluminium gained favour because it was light and fat tubes looked cool.
But it was harsh to ride, so they invent suspension this that and the other which adds lots of wait when built properly, unless you pay lots of money. So now the aluminium bikes are heavier, so you go after a material that means you do not need suspension just to ride down the road or over a buzzing trail. So back to 'Steel' as it's cheap and easy to play with. Titanium would do but it's too expensive for an every day material.
Carbon is also good but difficult to implement for an every day bike.


Personally I think a lot of modern bike are good for trick rising and down hill when you want to race or not break your bike.
But you loose the fun factor where you can take a shorter ride and still feel knackered and shit scared. So hence we are here at RetroBike ;)
 
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