Carbon fibre

[Lucky Luke.]

I just cracked my alu frame at the BB in under 7 months - pure wear and tear. This is the 3rd one in a row (but 7 months is a new record - not bad considering I ride mtb as well).

 

Changing to carbon.

[Balsie]

It has been scientifically proven that the lifespan of a carbon frame is inversely proportional to the size of your wallet.

 

100%

[Minion]

Some famous cyclist, who's name escapes me now, said that weight, price and durability is the three factors in any bycicle purchase.

Keith Bontrager, I think.

[AndreZA]

The reason by carbon frames and I'm sure alu frames will follow soon only has a 5 year warrantee is:

1. if a 2000 frame cracks it then gets replaced with a 2010 which is the worth more then 10 times of the original frame

2. warrantee only covers original owner and who these days have a bike for more then 5 years anyway.

 

This is what I was told anyway.

[Christie]

Agree with most posters, any statement of "frame of material x will become unsafe / start to flex etc after y amount of time is BS.

 

Some grades of carbon are vastly superior engineering materials compared to metal - for example M60J fibre has a tensile strength double that of most steels, about 90% higher stiffness, at 25% of the density. It out-performs metals on fatigue life too, the top scoring frames in EFBE fatigue tests were carbon frames from Scott, at some point.

 

The key thing is design integrity & quality, savest way to be sure of this is to stay with frames from the bigger manufacturers, some of them will back up their work with a lifetime warranty.