they dont want you to find out if there is a fatigue problemel Inglés said:
TechJD, Just purely out of curiousity does your Continental have a chrome fork? I have fond memories of my brown late 70's Continental that was ripped off in the early 80's at college (all that I found was half of the padlock shackle hanging from the rackTechJD said:they dont want you to find out if there is a fatigue problem
they probably know but dont want the customers to find out cause that would cost them sales
I have a 79 Schwinn Continental (U.S. Steel)
I'm changeing the parts now hopeing to give it longer rideable life
frame is in good shape, no major rust except the end of the fork that the stem goes in and it's not real bad just stem stuck in it, al stem, but I will get it out one day
) (and no I don't think that you stole it ) Just a nostalgic recollection that it seemed like everyone else had Schwinn Collegiates and I could always pick my Continental out a half mile away from its glistening fork!!
Sorry for long time to replayserenaslu said:TechJD, Just purely out of curiousity does your Continental have a chrome fork? I have fond memories of my brown late 70's Continental that was ripped off in the early 80's at college (all that I found was half of the padlock shackle hanging from the rack
hadnt looked that ths secion 
) and in the UK by Saracen. Magnesium is a remarkable material for frames: 94% mag and 6% proprietary alloy. Harvested from sea water(!!) and welded w/o lugs.
) and in the UK by Saracen. Magnesium is a remarkable material for frames: 94% mag and 6% proprietary alloy. Harvested from sea water(!!) and welded w/o lugs. 
polywog said:Hi, this is my first post. I was drawn here looking for referrences on google for magnesium. Now I can't find the thread.
The poster asked about magnesium. Responses in general were fairly ignorant. No surprise since there is little market penetration of magnesium frames.
A little about magnesium...nobody in the states seems to be making the frames. They are made in Russia, presumably by out of work aerospace technologists. Every hi-tech over there (again, read: aerospace) is being privatized. Sold in the states by Paketa and myself (I'm researching the market with a mind to start a business
The frame has the tensile strength we like in steel, but memory that allows it to bend and return to original shape (unlike steel). It has great dampening characteristics like carbon, but isn't mushy when you lean hard on the pedals. Lighter than aluminum, but less fatigue prone. As for cost, less than you would imagine....
My 21" xc mtb weighed 3.4#s stripped. Built up with XT & XTR, Mavic & King, it handles like a small Ferrari, tossable and fast. At just over 23#s including Oriflame rubber, it's the easiest thing you'll ever push uphill and predictable on the way back down.
Sound ideal? Damn right! If I can put this bike on the market for 2-3 large would anybody take it for a test ride?
Hey elrohwen, I know I am replying to a really old post, but...elrohwen said:One of the chemical engineering professors at my school races bikes and owns a bike shop. I visited his shop the other day looking for a new road bike and I happened to ask him what he thinks about the difference between aluminum and steel. I'm partial to steel, but my preference isn't really based on tons of experience or anything valid ... I guess I just like the look of steel bikes. Anyway, he said that everything that you hear about aluminum being harsher than steel isn't true at all. He helped a student with a research project a few years ago where they built bike frames out of different materials (some aluminum, some steel, different types of steel, etc), painted them all the same, put the same components on them (same pressure in the wheels, same spoke tension, etc) and had some hardcore local bike riders test them out. The riders were sure that they could tell the difference in materials, but, in fact, they couldn't tell at all with any statistical significance. They were even given two bikes of the same material and one of a different material and they couldn't even pick which of the three was not like the other two.
With everything I've heard about the different materials, I think it's amazing that his scientific testing proved that most of a bike's ride isn't about the frame, but about all of the other minute little adjustments. It's so great to have a professor in my major who knows so much about bikes and was willing to spend so much time talking to me about them
__________________
~Laura
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"Train hard, win easy."
(found spray-painted near the top of the toughest hill I train on
