State of carbon frames/wheels on Road Bikes/TDF

[Jakkals.]

Not all bikes are built like a Santa Cruz

[Iwan Kemp]

I will go as far as call BS on that whole article.

[fanievb]

I'm no expert but aren't these tests putting force in a direction that the bike is designed to take during riding. What happens with something random, like in a crash, say a rock smashing into the top tube? Isn't that what the article was getting at?

 

just shared the vid, I'm no expert sorry

 

PING Bogus (our resident carbon expert) please give us your thoughts

 

if it has two wheels, at least 2x9 gears. a comfy saddle i ride it.

 

Unless you bought some cheap piece of junk or a rip-off you have nothing to worry about. Ride it like you stole it.

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/93073-where-has-your-bike-taken-you-today/page__st__2480#entry2376496

[Kranky]

I will go as far as call BS on that whole article.

 

Agreed. An elaborate trolling attempt

[Iwan Kemp]

just to trow another spanner in the works.

 

alu breaks easier than carbon, but I agree when carbon snaps it does so properly

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xreZdUBqpJs

 

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz-bicycles-test-lab.html

[Iwan Kemp]

 

http://www.thehubsa....80#entry2376496

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/93073-where-has-your-bike-taken-you-today/page__st__2448#entry2368350

 

[rouxtjie]

kekekekkee hit some nerves I see.

 

Look there aint no perfect material, buuuut if I were to be on a bike where there is a failure. I can only hope it will be on the steel one.

[fanievb]

kekekekkee hit some nerves I see.

 

Look there aint no perfect material, buuuut if I were to be on a bike where there is a failure. I can only hope it will be on the steel one.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Cricket-Abdominal-Guard.png/220px-Cricket-Abdominal-Guard.png

[rouxtjie]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Cricket-Abdominal-Guard.png/220px-Cricket-Abdominal-Guard.png

hahahaha....

 

Good one, but in all seriousness, classic case of your strength is also your weakness and vica versa

[fanievb]

hahahaha....

 

Good one, but in all seriousness, classic case of your strength is also your weakness and vica versa

 

yip, I've never seen a bike break but I have seen how carbon breaks and really does so spectacularly in that it sort of shatters when it reaches the point of failure.

 

i think the point the article is trying to make (which everyone has thinked about at some stage) is where do you draw the line? How safe is that 900g frame really compared to a 1.4kg steel/alu frame?

Edited July 28, 2014 by fanievb

[rouxtjie]

yip, I've never seen a bike break but I have seen how carbon breaks and really does so spectacularly in that it sort of shatters when it reaches the point of failure.

 

i think the point the article is trying to make (which everyone has thinked about at some stage) is where do you draw the line? How safe is that 900g frame really compared to a 1.4kg steel/alu frame?

I have broken a couple and seen a couple of frames break(alu and carbon..both brand names, but that is not the point)

 

So my alu frame failed on the rear chainstay...about a 3rd of the way from the BB(not on a weld). It didn't fail catastrophically ie snap in two but rather cracked and horizontal forces no doubt caused it and worsened it. Luckily I still managed to finish a stage race with it and only noticed it afterwards. Friend of mine's carbon frame also failed in the same place...but this time it sheered right through. Now I know you can't compare the two failures directly saying that carbon will also snap and alu will rather sheer / tear and crack...its just shows how these materials handle stresses in directions they werent designed to....They key is THEY DON'T.

 

You might be able to shape fancy rockers and frames using molds and hydroforming but they don't handle stresses outside these complex designs....some food for thought.

[camelman]

Frame and Enve rims in carbon

Handlebars, stem, seat post and crank in aluminium please.

[rouxtjie]

Also that SC test is the biggest load of kuk under the sun....testing a frame's extreme failure point in one direction and two points on the frame doesn't mean jack...they even admit that riders won't ever encounter these forces on the trail....they mentioned something about it being 800lb realistically

 

A better test is to see what forces gets applied when the frame is stresses while riding and then emulating these over and over and over with a robot. Then see which material fails first under which forces and directions and how many cycles did the robot take to induce the failure and then probably the most important how does it fail.

 

We don't ride trails in 2D like their test

[JanJan]

That article was full of fluff and contained no technical information.

 

However, it does raise a concern to UCI's weight limits of frames. What safety considerations did they include to come up with a magical figure of 6.8 kg's? I doubt they included a 'crumble zone/aborbtion' factor when they considered carbon fibre frames.

 

Therefore it could be possible that a 600g steel/aluminium frame is is 'safer' during a crash than a 800g carbon frame, but for general riding induced stresses, the carbon will perform better.

 

Unfortunatly like all engineering fields, safety aspects only get some exposure when some horrible accident happens (read Contador crash).

[HappyMartin]

My understanding is Contador was undone by an energy bar. Bike broke in the crash not a crash because the bike broke.

 

Watching these pros and how they hammer those bikes bunny hopping and powering over cobbles I am amazed how seldom bikes do break. It is reassuring to me

[Pure Savage]

If you are worried about your carbon bikes breaking, I have a steel Trek 800 that I will gladly swop it for. A land rover reversed into it at Knysna and came off second best.