DISCUSSION

The common material used when choosing for bicycle frame will be aluminum alloy. Although
there are some company that use carbon fiber and steel as a main material for the body frame. All in all,
when compare in term of weight aluminum alloy is much lighter than steel but a bit heavier than carbon
fiber. However the difference between aluminum and carbon are not that huge only slightly. Meanwhile in
term of price, none of carbon and steel can compare to aluminum as it is the cheapest among all three.
Aluminum is also easier to get and get access to. In term of stiffness and strength, carbon fiber reign at top
as it strength and stiffness when tested double of aluminum. However, the downside of carbon fiber is that
it was very brittle. When it reach it limit of deformation it will break and shatter. Opposite to the carbon,
aluminum is very ductile and when reached it limit of deformation is will only bend. Thus, when consider
safety of the user it is safely to say that aluminum is much suitable as the effect is much easy to look on
the appearance.

Of course, in production nothing is perfect as company face many problem that have to overcome
when manufacturing a product. This is very true for Trek Bike Corporation as they have many defect
when producing their product such as frame failure, fork failure, handle bar failure and seat post failure.
So it is very important that this company take a suitable measure to overcome the problem to provide
more comfort for the user when use their product. Frame failure usually happen when crack appear at head
tube. This is due to excessive stress and to overcome this company must design a good body frame which
can handle better stress. While bad welding contribute to this problem too, the only way to improve this is
a person welding the frame must have sufficient technique to cope with the problem. Fork failure is
commonly seen when carbon fiber is use because unlike aluminum alloy, carbon fiber cannot be welded
with different metal. To overcome fork failure in carbon fiber, selecting a suitable and good epoxy is must
and when assemble the carbon tube. In addition, besides using epoxy carbon fiber can be joint using bolt
and nut. However, if aluminum is to be consider the method is much easier as only better welding should
be apply. Lastly to overcome handle bar failure, selecting a suitable threaded fastener is very important.
There are many type of fastener and selecting the suitable type and size of threaded fastener is a must to
prevent handle bar failure.