Steel certainly wins for ease of manufacturing (less processing/processes) making it small-builder friendly, repairability, and environmentally - steel bikes should last longer and require the least energy to recycle when the day comes.
Aluminum wins on weight and overall frame strength-to-weight - which matters to many folks - without going the plastic-fantastic route. Still very easy to recycle. I know a few folks who had aluminum frames repaired BITD but it was never a long term solution. I don’t know if a big company, say Trek or SCB, could reliably repair aluminum frames if they were motivated to setup to do so.
Feb. 21, 2022, 8:36 a.m. - Andrew Major
Steel certainly wins for ease of manufacturing (less processing/processes) making it small-builder friendly, repairability, and environmentally - steel bikes should last longer and require the least energy to recycle when the day comes. Aluminum wins on weight and overall frame strength-to-weight - which matters to many folks - without going the plastic-fantastic route. Still very easy to recycle. I know a few folks who had aluminum frames repaired BITD but it was never a long term solution. I don’t know if a big company, say Trek or SCB, could reliably repair aluminum frames if they were motivated to setup to do so.