Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
In my mind the CF frame definitely has a life span of less than 20 years even if just left in the box, nobody really knows as there are relatively few CF frames that old and using the same resins. It is also getting a hammering as a commute bike hitting pot holes etc and doing 10k miles a year.
You can't have it both ways

So far as any aging goes "even if left in the box", you are right, nobody really knows for sure, though there have been plenty of other CF products around for much longer, and I haven't heard anything about them deteriorating if not used.
So far as the hammering goes though, they have carried out fairly extensive testing, giving the frames more of a hammering in a few months than any real cyclist could manage in quite a few years.