Would you buy used carbon parts?
 

• Seatpost?
• Bar?
• Stem?
• Etc.?

Would you buy a used one? Would you trust it not to be damaged (even though it might "look" fine)?

that's a negative.

I wouldn't buy anything carbon even if brand new.

How well could you trust the seller? Sure, they might say that the part isn't damaged, but can you trust that person to be honest enough to not put yourself in potential jeopardy?

Craigslist is chock-full of used carbon components. I wonder who buys these?

No.

Handlebars, seatposts, and 6 sets of wheels.

One of the wheelsets proved to be pretty beat but I still got quite a few miles. Another lasted years but had to be retired eventually. The rest are in service.

The handlebars have survived a number of minor spills and are doing fine.

I bought a used 650c road bike for my oldest kid which has a carbon seat post and full carbon fork. The bike is now been passed down to our youngest and it is 11 years old at this point, so it is older than the kid that is using it now.

I haven't thought twice about the fork since the day I pulled it and looked it over. It was solid looking and feeling then and has been the same each time I have checked it while cleaning or working on the bike.

Paint can hide issues in any material.

Nope on used carbon. I don't even buy used handlebars

I buy used Campy Ergopower shifters that are carbon; that's as far as I'll go with used stuff. I do have one set of Campy carbon aero wheels (with aluminum brake tracks) but I bought them new. I wouldn't buy carbon bars, stems, forks, cranks, pedals, seat posts or carbon railed saddles new or used.

Probably the same people we make fun of in the Craigslist thread.

Well my used carbon cross bike came with used carbon bars and a used carbon stem so I guess I would. I also then installed a old carbon seatpost I had left over from an aluminum mountain bike frame I crack jumping it. Also had a used steel mountain bike that came with used carbon cranks. The only carbon part I've ever broke was a new cheapo no-name chinese seatpost.

Yep.

I've bought a 8 wheels, handlebars, and a frame used.

The key is to know the part and the weak points. The handelbars, frame and one wheelset came from friends, whom I trusted. One wheelset came from CL, so I was able to inspect it before hand. The other wheels came from FB and eBay. In those cases, I knew what to look for, so it was easy to buy. And I've not had a single problem with any of these purchases.

In 2010 a customer had purchased Easton carbon bars, I think they were EC90 or something. Rode them for a year, crashed, and rode them for another 6 months before they cracked and he cracked his collar bone. No marks on the bar from the original crash, just a scuffed up right brake lever. The bar broke at that very lever, so the obvious crack was not visible to the naked eye. We inspected the bar, he did as well, but it turned out a visual inspection was not good enough.
DON'T BUY USED CARBON PARTS.

I don't like the idea but I did buy a set of used carbon handle bars for one of my mtbs

Knowing the seller may make you feel better but have to wonder how much that really matters.

Read an article from a place that refurbishes carbon parts and they said their two most common problems were seat posts and stems.

1 off examples dont prove anything as examples can show used steel and aluminum components also failing. Aluminum rims failing, aluminum bars failing, steel frames cracking, steel forks cracking, seat post clamps failing, etc etc etc.
A 1 off example from your shop that happened a decade ago is what you are using to declare no carbon parts should be purchased used?

Depends on the part. I bought a used bike last season that had a lot of carbon parts. Kept the Campy wheels and SR parts, but replaced the seatpost, stem and bars with new aluminum. I'm sure they're fine, but I ride a lot of long distance, and your ride is over when one of those fails. Carbon FD cage broke so I replaced it with the aluminum cage from a Chorus FD. I bought a used Easton EC90 sl crankset this season and it's been fine.

I dont buy them in the first place. Too expensive for what you get.

just dont do it

Yeah, so the conventional wisdom here is don't buy a used bike, or if you do, replace all of the carbon parts before using it?

I'm not that interested in CF generally. So, that would be a negative for buying used.

Nooop , but.. I did buy a Carbon Fiber Mandolin used..

I wouldn't use a new carbon stem, seatpost or bars, so used or not for those parts is somewhat irrelevant.

Used bars? Absolutely not, alu or carbon. I've had 2 failures of used alu bars, one of which was almost catastrophic. Used stems: ditto. You can buy a great road stem such as a UNO for like $25, so why bother with used.

Used carbon seatpost? Maybe, if I had the chance to closely inspect, and even better, test ride it before buying.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that a lot of carbon stuff sold used or new on Craigslist is fake/cloned. So the top-tier brands are being cloned cheaply, without the required manufacturing, materials, or especially quality control. I have even seen clones of top-end stuff being sold in retail stores, perhaps because the shop didn't know any better. Hopefully that this the explanation.

A challenge for shops selling top-end bars is the risk of customer refunds. Customer buys $300 carbon bars, and on the side mail-orders a set of $35 knock-offs. Returns the clone to the shop for a $300 refund - on a busy day.

Probably not. I am not really into used carbon. I mean if I know and trust the previous user maybe but most of my friends who I would trust with my life don't ride anything I want or need and really don't have much in the way of carbon. Though to be fair I am not a massive carbon fan and certainly wouldn't want to buy knockoffs.