Carbon Frame safety after a smash

[BigonaBianchi]

Looked over the frame, its a full carbon frame, after a fall which saw the bike somersaulting and th efront wheel coming out of the stays, it looks A ok to me and th ewheels run true etc...but as its a carbon frame i'm just after some reassurance that it isnt likey to fail on a future ride? I remember hearing tell of hairline cracks etc????? Ta

 

[mr Mag00]

get to a specialist!

 

[rusty bearing]

Without an ultrasound scan you'll never be certain, wouldn't know where to get one though.

 

[amaferanga]

Check it over yourself. Get a mate to check it over. Get an LBS to check it over. Get another LBS to check it over. If there's no evidence of cracks (look for cracks and also squeeze all the tubes - damaged carbon should be softer and might feel a bit squishy) then ride it. If there's no evidence of damage then its unlikely that it'll fail catastrophically. Doesn't sound like you had a head-on shunt. I think people worry too much about failing carbon frames.

I crashed my carbon frame last year and there's a small crack in the superficial carbon layer on the top tube. Still riding it. I measured the crack and monitor it for any changes, but there's been no change so I'm pretty happy that there's nothing to worry about.

 

[monnet]

+1 to everything amaferanga says. I had a nasty one a couple of years ago, followed this course and each person spotted something new (it was all superficial and I'm still riding it). The guy who came off in the same crash had to write off his Wilier (after sending it to them for stress testing - very distressing!

In summary, check, check and check. And keep an eye on anything that looks like it has potential to turn nasty.

It's worth noting some companies do crash replacement, simialr to helmets. Scott and Wilier both do this (don't know about others- they'll give you a new frame for about 40% off, depending on age etc.

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm ... I was talking to bromptonfb recently about the accident which put an end to his mountain biking. The front of his carbon fibre MTB suddenly sheared off and resulted in him face-planting hard and being rushed to hospital.

After hearing that, I'd want to be 99.99+% sure that a crashed carbon fibre frame was safe, not 'pretty happy' about it!

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Hmm ... I was talking to bromptonfb recently about the accident which put an end to his mountain biking. The front of his carbon fibre MTB suddenly sheared off and resulted in him face-planting hard and being rushed to hospital.

After hearing that, I'd want to be 99.99+% sure that a crashed carbon fibre frame was safe, not 'pretty happy' about it!

+1. See Trek's warning about crashed carbon's ability to conceal damage and potential sudden catastrophic failure.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Thanks guys

 

[cyberknight]

I read carbon frame salty after crash

For a minute i thought you were licking your frame clean !!

As other have said if you have crashed your frame then get it checked out , i certainly would not trust it.There are places that do repairs to carbon frames by lagging the tubing in more carbon fibre but i have no idea how much it costs and how good the repair is.

 

[Mawsley]

My insurance claim wrote my Lemond off without inspecting the bike - and that's good enough for me.

Im not exactly a risk-averse person but am not going to renovate it just to have the frame fail.

 

[TheDoctor]

I've corrected the thread title - I read it as salty too!!

 

[Ivan Ardon]

I measured the crack and monitor it for any changes, but there's been no change so I'm pretty happy that there's nothing to worry about.

That's not how carbon fibre fails, it goes "bang" suddenly when the load exceeds what it is capable of supporting.

I'd get it professionally checked, or bin it.

 

[amaferanga]

That's not how carbon fibre fails, it goes "bang" suddenly when the load exceeds what it is capable of supporting.

I'd get it professionally checked, or bin it.

Really? Well it's been checked out by numerous people and all agree that the damage is only in the superficial carbon weave - it's not structural. Its also not in a high stress area. Been riding and racing it for a year now and the tiny little crack is still a tiny little crack. So thanks for your opinion, but I won't be binning it.

 

[Globalti]

Same here; got two witness cracks in the paint on my 2007 Roubaix, which I check carefully quite often and there's no sign of them enlarging. As the bloke from Specialized said: "these carbon frames are much stronger than people realise".

 

[accountantpete]

Personally I'd do what everyone else does with a crashed frame - flog it on **** and then get a new one.