Originally Posted by ljsense

Yeah, I agree -- there are a ton of carbon bikes out there in the world. The guy I mentioned on YouTube is compelling because he says some of this freak of nature accident stuff can be predicted.

All that I wished for in terms of more information looks like it's on his YouTube channel -- it's Luescher Teknik. He does a video with a Specialized Venge fork and shows its voids along the steer tube, both by using his ultrasound machine, and also with the old school tapping -- but he uses a small thing I'm going to call a tuning hammer.

He has another video where he talks about paint cracks and how they may or may not be anything to worry about.

It's difficult to watch his videos and not come away with apprehensions about carbon fiber, which really should be the opposite of his message. Carbon is a great material to use in cycling, and he builds his own bikes from it. Aircraft that use carbon fiber have much longer maintenance intervals than aluminum. It's a great material, he says. But the way he shows problems in manufacturing or use (such as crushing steer tubes with stem bolts) is kind of a horror show.

His business, of course, rests on selling the idea of having carbon professionally inspected, and if necessary, repaired.