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Aluminum bikes are not disposable, they are recyclable. Carbon bikes are disposable and not recyclable.
I heard Big S kept their aluminum bike team when some of them carbon folks got laid off. The return of aluminum is here!
Huh, and I though Cannondale Scalpels were first to the party, but alas - indeed it is Gary Fisher. Mind blown!
Where does the myth come from that carbon is not recyclable? Just because very few do it does not make it impossible.
As soon as there is a consumer demand for products made from it, “they” will find a way to make the processes more efficient and cost effective.
Can of worms opened!
Yes it's recyclable, but not into its original form. Can use it in chopped strand stuff. Resin has to be burnt. Very expensive. No-one really does it.
Ally can be, but uses shit loads of energy to extract in raw form.
Swings and roundabouts. No-one ever quantifies the environmental damage. Chose your material and be a dick about it
If you really cared you'd hang onto your current bike until it brakes and not buy another one!
Sure, but carbon is repairable. I'm one of those that wouldn't buy an aluminum flex stay bike, or really any aluminum bike that's on the lighter side of things. I likely have anchoring bias from breaking so many aluminum bikes over the years.
The reality is that the vast majority of MTBs won't get ridden often or hard, so these are fine bikes for the average consumer.
1998-99 Ibis would like a word...
Fortunately the geometry formula for each "class" or "genre" of MTB has settled down to the point where holding on to a frame until it breaks is viable*. My 2018 trail bike is still pretty close to "modern" in every dimension other than the seat tube angle, which is not something I think you could say about 99% of 2012 frames at the time**. Even the parts are more or less the same as those being specified on brand new bikes.
* Of course it was always viable – just ride! – but the new hotness isn't significantly different any more.
** Amusingly my 2021 enduro bike is more "behind" modern enduro bikes than the 2018 trail bike is behind modern trail bikes, but it only takes an angle set to make up the difference.
I've still got my early 90's apollo everest in the garage (With manitou Ti SX's
)
that elevated CS was so soft you had 20mm of axle travel lol. I rode the shit out of that bike, it was so compliant in the rear end and is still uncracked. I'll restore it one day.
They looked amazing
Mine looking a little rough lol, next to it is an almost new Kona Cindercone. I have a problem
Steel wins. Recyclable and easily repair, with a lower initial carbon footprint.
Carbon will never be a realistic "recyclable" material, aluminum and steel are much more recyclable. Most aluminum and steel is close to 75% recycled because its easy and cheap.
And no we wont figure out how to make it reasonable to recycle carbon, if we haven't done that with plastic its not going to happen with carbon.
Aluminum is recyclable but do AL bikes ever actually get recycled? I think every bike bike ever ends up getting resold & ultimately in the hands of a random tweaker then ends it’s life either in a landfill or at the bottom of a body of water lol.
Has anybody ever actually taken a bike to a scrap yard?
I think bike co ops and good bike shops will if you write off the frame and bring it in for inspection or replacement/donation.
I've seen zero evidence of aluminum frames being recycled. I ran bike shops for 10 years and never saw a recycling program. I still have never seen a hint of a recycling program, not at local shops and not at manufacturers. There is no link on manufacturer websites to "recycle your aluminum frame here" .
Aluminum is recyclable, but with no public easily accessable way to do it, the rate of it actually happening is likely close to zero.
Pretty much every bike shop I've seen in the UK will have metal waste bins, separate from the general waste. This is then taken off to be separated into different metals and recycled. Scrap metal is worth money.
Where are you disposing old frames?
In Australia our local tip has metals recycling and you just throw it in the correct metal pile, aluminium recycling rates around the world are between 30%-75%. Because it requires only 10% of the energy to re-smelt aluminium its one of the few metals worth recycling, as energy is the primary cost of it.
I'd be surprised in America if you couldn't send it somewhere, as the industry globally recycles aluminium packaging, as its financially valuable to do so (unlike carbon or many many other materials).
I used to seperate out all aluminium and steel waste into 2 seperate bins and when they were full take them to the recycling/scrap dealer in town.
I used to get good money (a long time ago) but kept doing it when prices dropped to zero.
Our local trash convenience sites have metal scrap dumpsters couldn't be any easier to get rid of aluminum/steel.
If you had a big enough pile of aluminum frames you could take to an actual scrapyard and get a few bucks.
Thats on you then,
There has always been, and always be, scrap yards that will happily take your steel or alu bikes, strip them down, and recycle them. Just the same as cars, appliances, construction materials, etc.
Realistically, bikes getting sold, and turned over to multiple owners is the best possible scenario. We often forget the hierarchy Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
It is actually Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
This is the correct answer. Even the cracked Kona frames I had I sold to someone who "was going to fix it" but more than likely just strip it for parts. Has anyone in this thread ever actually disposed of a bike frame before?
Even my carbon road bike that got hit by a car (while I was on it) I have in the shed as a keepsake, despite being a crumpled ball of carbon and plastic.
please keep it tech rumors only and your frame material religion out of here, thx!
Counterpoint: I worked as a mechanic for 26 years, and every single shop I worked for recycled aluminum and steel frames, rims, spokes, and assorted components.
Joy - this is now a thread about recycling. FFS.
Just to bring it back to tech rumors. I saw knolly post a story about a new bike coming on the 26th. Looks like it might be a mullet with longer travel. Any guesses what? New Warden?
In the US I've never seen that. It could be happening depending on the individual shop being willing to take on the additional costs, but it is definitely not the norm in my area.
Every bike shop I've worked at in the US has had an aluminum and a steel bin to take to the srapyard.
Maybe it's different in the US, here in the UK money from the scrapyard is a perk, provided you have a little room for storage there are no additional costs apart from time.
I've personally taken at least 3 frames to the scrapyard, plus various components. They are for sure being recycled, those companies wouldn't pay me money for that metal in order to just throw it away.
We also have people in vans driving around most towns looking for scrap metal in order to weigh it in and get paid for it.
C'mon folks, let's get this back on track:
New R7 XC fork from Manitou coming on July 4th? Kazimir looks to have it on his Chisel build on PB and the Rockrider/Ford team have (likely) been running it for while. Anyone know anything more? Hoping it'll go up to 130mm...
really? americans not giving a shit about recycling? color me shocked!
New Warden for sure. I wouldn't be surprised t see a little more change from the previous version than we've seen on the other gen. 6 frames.