The sentence from Michael Topping 'Ordinary mild steel will absorb most of the pedalling effort, not transfer it to the rear wheel' seems not to fit comfortably with my understanding of the properties of mild or any other steel. What else does the energy put in do? Or, which bits get hot? An effort on a pedal will cause the metal – any metal – to spring, and if the effort is too great, it will take a permanent set. Otherwise the spring effect of mild steel is no different from fancy grades of steel – the relevant Young's Modulus is almost exactly the same for all steel.
So, does this mean that a pedal effort on mild steel is enough to bend it permanently? Or what is going on with mild that does not happen with Reynolds ?
Confused of mid Wales – ie Tim