Secondhand carbon frames - ?
- Thread starter simongt
- Start date
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matticus
Guru
It's got toe-clips! That's a bargain!
matticus
Guru
Presumably that explains the safety car periods while marshals sweep carbon-fibre fragments off the track.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
no sure any cars have spontaneously broken apart though, per the fork doom-mongers hypothesis. sweeping up is after contact like ramming your front wing into someone elses rear end
Vantage
Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
- Location
- Behind everyone else, Bolton
F1 and other racing cars are built with safety structures around the driver in the event of an accident. Not so with bikes.
My own concerns over carbon fibre frames/forks aren't worries about their strength. More so about how they break.
The only frame that has ever developed a fault on me was a crack in the ds chainstay of a steel subframe on a fs bike. It creaked. It showed visually after a wash (this is why you wash bikes!)
A carbon fibre frame/fork doesn't creak. It doesn't go floppy before failing. It just snaps. No warning.
You couldn't pay me enough to ride that crap.
My own concerns over carbon fibre frames/forks aren't worries about their strength. More so about how they break.
The only frame that has ever developed a fault on me was a crack in the ds chainstay of a steel subframe on a fs bike. It creaked. It showed visually after a wash (this is why you wash bikes!)
A carbon fibre frame/fork doesn't creak. It doesn't go floppy before failing. It just snaps. No warning.
You couldn't pay me enough to ride that crap.
matticus
Guru
"spontaneously"? What, you mean it could happen while locked in my garage? :O
Landsurfer
Veteran
Their not crap.
Carbon fibre structures they are immensely strong in the correct application. Thats the rub .. it’s the application that matters and cycle forks are not in my top 5 for appropriate applications.
Manufactures are drawn to the lightest new shiney tech to give them a USP for their sales programs.
Depends if it is heated or if there is a leak.
Vantage
Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
- Location
- Behind everyone else, Bolton
Landsurfer
Veteran
As previously posted ....I’m not in agreement .... with John’s actions .. but i understand his thoughts on the matter ... its about passing on risk unknowingly
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
I ride a recumbent, I look up to other cyclists
Landsurfer
Veteran
I ride a steel framed touring bicycle ... I look down on recumbents ....
All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
I ride anything, slowly.I ride a steel framed touring bicycle ... I look down on recumbents ....
I know my place.
Landsurfer
Veteran
Brilliant how that came together .... people of a certain age ...
bonzobanana
Guru
Surely not a fair comparison anyway as F1 is high end low volume manufacturing where as bicycles are produced in far higher volumes in very low cost factories. No point being alarmist though most CF forks are fine and safe the issues come in due to probably 4% of fork production probably being less than ideal and perhaps a small amount perhaps 0.5% percent very dangerous. I think the industry accepts something like up to 2% failure rate before recalling frames and forks, maybe that has changed. Lighter riders etc will have less issues. As I've said previously when you look at bicycle recalls CF forks make up a high percentage despite being low volume sellers compared to many other types of forks and it seems like just about every brand has had CF fork recalls at some point. Just put in any major brand you can think of. I'll try a random one myself. Giant are known as one of the best manufacturers by far and a supplier of high end bikes for many other brands.
https://www.google.com/search?q=giant+carbon+fork+recall
It's just the nature of material. It's hand assembled and relies on everyone along the line of production to be competent and not make an error.
It certainly doesn't mean all CF forks are dangerous but it is just tricky for the end consumer to be sure. If they buy s/hand they may not know its history, people at home can't scan CF forks and people can over-tighten the fork steerer and damage it. In the past a lot of CF fork failures were caused by the bonding failing between the CF blades and the aluminium steerer tube. Any hair or dirt in a CF layup can act as a cutting force over time as the forks are constantly flexed back and forth. So this acts as a sort of fatigue of the forks as you use them. Anyway Luescher Technik channel on youtube is a great resource for information on CF frames and forks.
