Carbon frames & crashes

[stephenb]

I've now had 2 heavy crashes on my carbon frame trek (clattered by a red light jumper in summer at high speed and a nasty one on some black ice yesteday). There's no visible damage but does anyone know how resiliant these things are and if there are any signs I should look out for? Thanks greatly.

 

[Monty Dog]

Obviously, any signs of deep abrasion or gouging could be terminal. Carbon is pretty tough, but it doesn't like being crushed so the thing you are looking for is signs of impact damage indicated by crazing or cracking of the paint / lacquer - particularly where the frame could come into contact the ground or if the bars swing round and hit the top tube. Give your frame a good clean and look for any hairline cracks - you can't tell if they're just superficial or all the way through. Another tell-tale is if you start getting a creaking, which is where something moving that shouldn't. There are specialist non-destructive techniques for composities including ultrasound but the cost is prohibitively expensive in comparison to a new frame.

 

[Mortiroloboy]

For this very reason I purchased a cheap winter hack ( Giant SCR4) so I could continue to ride through winter and, not fret about damaging my Wilier when sliding on ice, as I have done twice so far this winter. Came a cropper on Sunday, lovely friction burns and bruising to right hip and elbow, still very tender to touch, put a hole in my brand new Specialized fleece jacket, which hurt more than my injuries!

 

[domtyler]

You should get yourself a decent insurance policy.

 

[yenrod]

Prior to getting my off the peg alu-carbon fork bike I was well aware of the forks being carbon as I once had a carbon seatpost go bendy bendy (splinter-crack-fray) on me. But I do see the strenght of them but for others the just done cut it. Though i would have a carbon frame but I wouldnt wellt it or use t day in day out every min of my life !...

Go over it millimetre by mm and see if it 'looks smooth' !

 

[walker]

Prior to getting my off the peg alu-carbon fork bike I was well aware of the forks being carbon as I once had a carbon seatpost go bendy bendy (splinter-crack-fray) on me. But I do see the strenght of them but for others the just done cut it. Though i would have a carbon frame but I wouldnt wellt it or use t day in day out every min of my life !...

Go over it millimetre by mm and see if it 'looks smooth' !

yenners, was you drinking when you wrote this?