Don’t things get stiffer when women ride them? Hey hey?
I dunno there’s always hydrogen embrittlement.
That could make a (steel) frame become brittle and snap after prolonged stress (below the yield point), of course not many people are riding in a hydrogen rich environment…
As to softening, I reckon that if Brendan was riding this bike he might be able to go fast enough so that aerodynamic heating would cause it to soften…
Actually if he was riding it in the rain the speed of his passage might cause the rain drops to dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen. Of course the aerodynamic heating would mean the hydrogen could diffuse out of the steel just as easily as in and of course the hydrogen and oxygen might just recombine (as fire), but I reckon it’d look pretty cool. It could also explain why Brendan’s steel abs have become decarburized.
Maybe if you were riding under some tram lines or other overhead powerlines in the rain electrolysis could cause the rain to dissociate without the Brendan induced aerodynamic heating.
Hmm if this thing’s ever been ridden on Brunswick velo in the rain I’d steer well clear, otherwise its probably a good buy.
Back to the frame, it has been on that site for ages, I also emailed over a year ago and never got a reply. And cycling club classifieds are notorious for not updating when things are sold so I would consider it gone…