robow

What do you think is the most common carbon fiber failure seen on a bike? Would it be the blades of a fork, the steerer of a fork, seat post, stay of a frame or another component? Just curious how often this stuff occurs.

DocRay

Its very rare, but I've only ever seen cranks and frames break, the rarer seatpost, but no more than steel, Ti, or aluminum frames.

most common by far is bottle cages, and it was CATASTROPHIC. (I got thirsty)

botto 

+1 (from what i've read - never wasted my cash on them)

BigFloppyLlama

Zipp wheels

johnny99

Aside from water bottle cages, carbon bikes are most likely to break when you crash into something. Since you usually crash into something in front of you, the fork and front wheel will absorb most of the impact and thus sustain most of the damage.

Grasschopper

Err of course this is true for all bikes no matter what material it is made from. You crash a Steel, Ti or AL bike into a wall and it is fooked as well.

DocRay

I've never seen CF get damaged in a situation where steel or Ti would not have been damaged.

johnny99

I assume you meant something else.

DocRay

oops.

ViperZ

Carbon schmarbon... lets get back to the days of Steel and Aluminum

munkyv22

I busted a CF seat post. Snapped right at the collar.

bbattle

Mild steel and lugged aluminum. Real old school.

TheKillerPenguin

I say we carve bikes out of granite

BoSoxYacht

Most common failure? Failure to understand that all parts can fail, regardless of their material.

BoSoxYacht

I want mine made from Bamboo w/ real cowhorn handlebars.

alanbikehouston

1. The seat posts crack, for over-tightening, or from a sharp edge or burr on the clamp.

2. The seat tube cracks, for tightening the seat clamp beyond the torque specs in the factory manual.

3. The fork cracks from hitting a pothole, or running into something.

4. The chainstays crack because the chain cut into the top layer of carbon.

And, NONE of these problems are likey to occur with top quality steel frames, steel forks, or steel seat posts. But steel bikes weigh more than carbon, so they won't impress folks who buy bikes just to impress folks. And, for too many of our Forum members, impressing folks is what it is all about.

cydewaze

No, but they'll impress all your luddite buddies, which is apparently more important than buying something you like. And something that thousands of people ride everyday (and have been riding everyday for years) without any problems.

munkyv22

While we are at it, we don't we not move forward in any other technologies either? Let's get back to using sheet metal and lead paint. We should still be using asbestos, too.

CF is the future and the future is cool. Yeah, CF may have some issues that steel doesn't, but there is a great equalizer. The lifetime warranty.

If you want to ride steel, that's fine. Some people actually get a kick out of driving "vintage" cars. Whatever. Those of us that want to ride CF aren't all OCP dorks who just buy CF and Dura-Ace to say that we have them.

Well, OK. Most of us are, but so what? CF is freakin' cool.

GuitarWizard

1. Avoidable

2. Avoidable

3. Can happen with any material - I hit a big rock in the road at over 20 mph which caused me to crash after my front wheel went way out of true; OCLV carbon frame and fork had no issues at all.

4. They make guards/protectors for things such as this.

slowandsteady

And solid tires. Solid tires rock. They're heavy, they don't handle well, and they are really hard to put on. What's not to like?

banerjek

What's wrong with oak? It's easier to work with and repair. Also, it is slightly lighter.

eandmwilson

It generally floats better than granite too.

hiracer

I've busted a carbon fork in a crash that I don't THINK would have broken if metal. In fact, I didn't notice the separation of carbon fork blades from the aluminum crown until I was replacing the fork for other reasons months later (with another carbon fork). The separation was only visible from the wheel side of the fork. Never really know, of course, what would have happened if the fork was some other material.

I have four bikes, two with carbon forks, one with aluminum, and one with steel. I wouldn't ride carbon if I didn't think it was safe. But I will say that the carbon forks don't seem to me to be as crash proof as more ductile materials.

Carbon junkies hate me when I say that, but in all my crashes only the carbon fork has had to be replaced.

DocRay

So basically, CF is a bad idea in the hands of idiots.
Alan, you don't own a CF bike, you never have, you don't own CF parts, you never have.

I guess braze failures, stripped bolts and rust don't happen to 'quality' steel frames.

TheKillerPenguin

lol, Oak vs Granite is like the 17th c version of CF vs Steel.

-Oak is wood, and will rot quickly over a rainy ride. Don't crank too hard in the rain, your BB might break! Granite could be ridden for thousands of years before erosion destroyed the frame.
-Oak might float, but that means its easier to lose. Lets say you're biking next to a lake and fall over. Whoops, there goes your frame floating away! Granite won't ever do that to you!
-Ever seen an oak tree when it gets hit by wind? It bends like crazy! How would you like a crosswind to do that to your frame? Ever see wind bend granite? I don't think so.
-thin, easily ripped paper is made out of wood.

-Plus, granite is rock. ROCK.