I have a 3 y o carbon road bike. I found out about how carbon forks fail suddenly. Now I'm paranoid about this happening. I don't want to be paralysed from the neck down. Thinking of saving up and just getting a brand new bike, not sure if I can trust 3 year old carbon...
What are your thoughts /n/? Have you ever had any carbon fail, if so which component was it and at what age?
>>970512
I'm riding 10 year old carbon. Calm your fears, I have more than enough for the pair of us.
Ok this may not apply completely for you but my bike frame+fork is 4 or 5 months old with 6k miles, and 5+ crit crashes (30+mph and one at 38mph) a couple RR crashes and a couple drops (sliding off a fucking wall or some shit from the wind) + getting rear ended on a group ride by a buddy. It's completely fine. The shit is sturdy as fuck, trust me.
You're probably much more likely to die trying to hop a curb than from your carbon bike failing without it being wrecked badly first.
I had an old crabbon MTB fail when the metal part corroded off because I had been riding it in the salt and snow several winters in a row, but I saw it coming weeks before it happened so it was no surprise
I would have serious reservations about buying a used crabbon, but new? Not worried at all, but then, I'm not a hamplanet and I don't make a habit of crashing
His fork failed because it was faulty, not because it was carbon. My dad used to ride professionally back in the day, and he also had a faulty fork fail suddenly, but guess what, it was STEEL.
How do you die from such fall anyway? I've fell at high speeds plenty of times and have always escaped with at most a sprained ankle and some road rash. My dad was going on a steep descent when his fork failed and while he smashed his teeth and passed out, he didn't die, nor close to it. Pretty unlucky guy.
I don't wear a helmet so if my forks snap I'm pretty much dead.
>>970543
bike probably shattered and impaled him. carbon shard in your femoral artery will kill you but quickly.
could also have been internal hemorrhaging or any number of ghastly injuries you can sustain taking a header like that.
i feel bad for the dude and his family though, as much as a total stranger can.
>>970549
>bike probably shattered and impaled him.
Has this EVER happened?
>>970561
at least once, apparently
>>970568
We don't know that
After some googling, this is the only quote I can find regarding his death cause, from the coroner:
>“Jonathan Weatherley probably applied braking through his front brakes for some unknown reason, causing the bonding between the carbon fiber blades and aluminum crown to fail as a result of the fact that the bonding material had not adequately bonded these two components together. Jonathan died as a result of his injuries sustained in this accident.”
So his front wheel came off and he probably smashed his face against the concrete or something. Seems to me that it's not carbon what's dangerous, but the bonding of different materials, like those old alu-lugged carbon-tubed frames.
>>970512
I have a bike that is 9 years old and the forks are carbon fiber. I train and race on it for the last 7 years. I've never had a single problem with it or any reason to believe that it's going to fail for no reason other than age. I think your fears are based on stories of counterfeit carbon fiber bike frames failing, because they don't meet the same specs as the real thing. If you have a cheap Chinese knock-off frame then maybe you'd better think about getting rid of it, but if it's a name-brand bike that you know isn't counterfeit, then I really wouldn't worry about it.
>>970591
i kinda wondered why they would even bother making carbon mtb frames if they were inherently fragile and prone to breakage
>>970604
Yeah, not to be a newfag or anything but I always thought "fuck riding a carbon MTB or downhill or something like that". Kinda freaks me out but if I stop for just one damn second....!
>>970512
I have several cheap ali express carbon items , two forks.
the one on my city bike is two years old and fine.
the one on my xc bike is getting cracks....
I had a rather sever frontal encounter with a wall tough...
I had a carbon fork fail after I had ridden it for less than 100km -the bike had been picked up at the shop 3 days before. Smashed my head into the road pretty good, fractured collarbone and a vertebra. Company recalled these forks after that, others were faulty too.
Most of the times carbon brakes, it seems to be faulty construction/design or mistakes during the assembly.
Personally, I stay away from carbon for now. If I will buy carbon again, it will be new parts that have been on the market for a while.
There is no question carbon is a great material for bike-parts, I just don't have the balls to brake hard with carbon forks at the moment.
>>970512
I just sold the 4 carbon forks I had. One was at least 15 years old and fucked up looking.
I am 30 now and I don't want anything to do with them.
Give me a drop bar touring bike to ride slow for century rides and I will be happy forever.
I set up my bikes so I *can't* accelerate much faster than gravity pulls me on a steep descent. There is no option to go 35/40mph down a hill. Just coast it brah. Chill ride babe
>>970674
>Carbon is stronger than metal.
Assuming no damage and proper bonding.
Carbon is great if you compete. CX, road, mtb, sure.
If you are riding carbon on commutes / roads with a lot of cars / training on country roads I would avoid it. There's no reason to take the risk in uncontrolled environments.
>>970700
>Assuming no damage and proper welding
>>970674
It's the failure mode that matters.
>>970710
Failures like that are caused by defective parts or idiots. Carbon fibre components can be made very strong, much stronger than aluminium. Thus the forces that may bend and snap aluminium won't affect carbon, and with an impact large enough to damage carbon you're going to be hitting the ground no matter what so it hardly matters how many parts the bike is in afterwards.
>>970713
Well I haven't seen a piece of steel pipe snap off cleanly like that, so I'm gonna stay with that.
>>970715
>Steel
If you're happy with a boat anchor of a bike that rusts at the first sign of moisture that's fine. Still, carbon fibre can be made even stronger than steel and still be lighter.
Holy fuck, how do you pussies live with yourselves? Motorcyclists get in accidents at 55mph or have tire blowouts and are fine all the time, but you're worried about a 20-25mph "crash" on a bicycle? Jesus fucking Christ, this world is going to hell.
>>970716
I don't race for a living, I'm fine with arriving at my destination 4.7 seconds later. Also I see a lot of 30 year old steel bikes that still work fine, how many 30 year old carbon bikes have you seen?
>>970720
>I don't race for a living
Then get aluminium.
>I'm fine with arriving at my destination 4.7 seconds later.
You know, instead of being faster with a lighter bike you can be just as slow and expend less energy.
>how many 30 year old carbon bikes have you seen?
In person, none. I see very few carbon bikes and my own (one of 4 or 5 bikes) is the oldest I've seen at around 15 years old, it is a DH frame though so sees much greater forces than a road frame.
There are however some very old carbon frames out there still going strong, a lot of the failures on the early frames are caused by the carbon tubes coming unbonded from the metal lugs but relatively few have snapped in half. I don't know exactly how old they are but I wouldn't be surprised if some are 30 years.
>>970725
>aluminium
I like to enjoy my rides m8.
>>970720
>how many 30 year old carbon bikes have you seen?
there are early (late 80's - early 90's) Calfee, TVT and Look frames around that are still just fine.
>>970728
>I like to enjoy my rides m8.
this meme only applies for 22-25c cucked betas who don't know about fatty slicks
>>970720
>how many 30 year old carbon bikes have you seen?
>>970743
>22-25c cucked betas
>>Steel
>If you're happy with a boat anchor of a bike that rusts at the first sign of moisture that's fine
>15 years old, it is a DH frame
>>aluminium
>I like to enjoy my rides m8.
I didn't realize this was a terrible opinions competition.
>>970743
Why is Look the best brand?
I just can't stop loving it.
Well I'm never buying carbon. There is a reason they don't really make carbon bmxs and dirt jumpers. At least not that I've heard of
>>970759
yes they do- even downhill has gone carbon. Deal with it steeltards. (fat bikes still suck though)
>>970759
>they don't really make carbon bmxs and dirt jumpers
Both exist, but neither is common because weight is less of a concern for DJ, and BMX is largely a budget-limited activity (primarily limited by how much mom and dad are willing to spend, lol). Carbon forks on nicer BMX race bikes are normal these days.
>>970765
Why do these even have saddles?
>>970543
probably hit by a car / truck driving behind him
>>970767
They function as guides for the legs, helping the rider sense and adjust their position relative to the frame.
>>970777
Okay, neat. Thanks!
>>970512
A retrogrouch/hipster troll thread on /n/!
No fucking way.
Again, the carbon didn't fail, the bonding between carbon and alu failed.
>>970561
In the early days of lugged carbon, I remember seeing a racer high side into a car. Critical carbon fiber seatpost failure. Shards of carbon straight through the chamois into his renals.
Fortunately, the vehicle he highsided was an ambulance, otherwise he probably would have died.
The most common injury mode to carbon I've seen so far is easily carbon spokes and things like Spinnergies.
Carbon is generally stronger than other materials, but you should know what your carbon is weak to, and how to test your carbon
>>970763
I don't know how safe that would be for street riding...
>>971053
it's not for street riding.
it's clearly for BMX the sport,
not BMX the .. whatever street riding is
>>971073
Freestyle bmx
>>971076
Also The only real reason to buy a bmx bike
>>970916
>carbon spokes
TIL this exists. Fuck.
>>970916
carbon fiber is used in aircraft only because it's strong tensile strength (pulling apart strength)
anything else and carbon fiber is not an ideal material
it's main use in cycling is to prevent bikes from lasting decades.......frame manufacturers know that carbon has a limited fatigue life, epoxy bonding agents they use have a limited lifespan and they factor that into planned obsolescence
>>970910
That's a relief!
>>971099
They do and they make an annoying sound when spinning.
I own a carbon mtb but this just seems stupid.
>>971209
Why? They have the potential to perform much better than steel rotors. The only downsides are cost and fragility (I've personally never hit one of my rotors but I can see how it could happen).
>>971212
no one has figured it out yet- the Kettle ones are still on the market but they keep redesigning it. Reviews say they don't perform well and eat pads. I imagine they would get hot and glaze easily too.
>>971216
I've heard the opposite about Kettle rotors, they're not just straight up carbon fibre but more similar to what you'd see on a Formula 1 car (silicon carbide, carbon fibre, and ceramic if I remember correctly).
One thing to note is you can't just use normal pads with them, Kettle makes specific pads. Well, you can use normal pads but it's not going to perform as well so perhaps that was the issue with the reviews you've read.
>>971216
I don't see much of a future for carbon fibre rotors, but I bet that graphene nanoflake coatings on stainless would be useful for strength and heat dissipation.
>>971217
perhaps, but no way I'm spending $200 on rotors to find out.
>>971218
Carbon composite rotors are common in automotive racing. I can see them taking off if the UCI allows discs on road bikes.
>>971165
It is, as long as your frame is made from a single material
>>970512
Just buy American-made carbon and it will be fine
>>970512
>quite country road
Was it fucking country or not?
>>974168
This.
I'm on decade old American-made carbon. Had a few falls over the years and still no issues.
>Using garbon
>Not even once
>>974218
Obvious Santa Cruz Labs style "just riding along" failure.
AKA, "it was on my roof rack and I drove it into the garage". That's the only time you see both the top tube and the downtube fail like that - and spoiler alert: steel, aluminum, & titanium don't fare any better.
>>974219
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xreZdUBqpJs
http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Blog/Archive/October-2015/RACELIGHT-T-CARBON-FORK-2003-2009-RECALL-NOTICE
