Harold74

I agree, the minimal does look sexy. I've been eyeing up one on tradeinn.com which seems to be the cheapest place for me for anything they have in stock: Link. The page title says 1" but the commentary discusses 1" and 1.125" without an option to select. I might have to enquire with their help desk.

That option I did not discover on my own. Thanks for that.

Nooo... I tried that. Prior to tightening the cap bolt, the spacers were all shifty laterally. Unacceptable. My shim was only 38 mm long, same as my stem.

I have a true, 1" Syncros stem in my parts bin that came with the Zeppelin. I'm going to sit on it until 2050 an then sell it on eBay to finance my retirement.

Russ Roth

I would take some goo gone and verify that that it is not a crack. I'd peel off the sticker and clean it up with the goo gone and see if the line goes away. If it doesn't a new fork is a couple hundred and an ambulance trip is a couple thousand. Carbon does fatigue and carbon forks weren't really meant to last a life time.

Camilo

I think I must have used a shim sleeve below the stem too so the spacers wouldn't shift. OR.... maybe I used 1" spacers. At the time, they were easy to find on Ebay, I still have some I think

Harold74

Oh, there's no chance that the imperfection is just the edge of a decal. I think that the best case scenario is that it's a paint crack initiated by the presence of the decal but not a carbon crack.

Harold74

That never even occurred to me but might, on balance, be a better solution. The numbers should work out about right using three spacers, a 40 mm stem and two 40 mm shim sleeves. That's pretty much how it's set up presently anyhow.

t2p

wut

does this mean I won’t be forced to sell our beanie baby collection ?

edit: ughhh you are prob referring to 1” threadless ... darn

Camilo

You're bringing back my vague memory of this. I believe my spacer stack was about the same as the length of the shim, so I somehow made a shim work under the stem for the spacers. I do use a tall stack of spacers - 35-40mm

zandoval 

Just looked into how to evaluate cracks in Carbon materials. WOW... Holy Mackerel Batman... It's a bugger. Even with Magnaflux methods, Sonogram, X-Ray, and stress flexing there is really no guarantee.

I also called over to a friend of mine who is a retired structural engineer. He laughed as he told me that it is common for aircraft engineers to ditch some carbon composites and return to well know alloys for reassurance of predictable strength and inspection purposes.

So is the fork toast or not?

DUH? But failure could be catastrophic...

Camilo

I don't disagree with the cost of a new fork vs. an ambulance ride. But why do you say that CF forks aren't really meant to last a lifetime? Why not? And does this imply that steel or aluminum forks are intended to last a lifetime? Or are they all intended to last a good long time, but not a life time?

easyupbug 

Carbon fiber is not a crystalline structure like metals and so has no "fatigue life" which is a metallurgical term that just doesn't apply here. If it's structure is damaged from a load or event it is damaged goods, broken and should be taken out of service or repaired if possible.

Russ Roth

Although bikes often come with "lifetime" guarantees, there's a reason the warranty doesn't last past the original owner, most people who regularly use them won't keep them very long before upgrading to something new. I've even had arguments on frame failures where they argued being over 25 years old meant that it was outside the warranty period since they considered 25 years a lifetime for a bike. Companies also only keep replacement framesets for 5-10 years, and past a certain point you're often only getting a credit towards a new bike since the replacement frameset they might offer you isn't compatible with your old parts. I wouldn't trust an aluminum fork, particularly a bonded one any more than I would a carbon fork. I would trust steel far more but unless its a low mileage bike there's a point I'd relegate it to social rides.

You're right that it doesn't have a fatigue life but it does have a service life. Carbon does experience micro fracturing that can slowly build into cracks, they're meant to last quite a while but I wouldn't trust one with an unknown history or showing signs of stress. GCN covers this extensively

Atlas Shrugged

This really has not been fully discussed and opined on in the over 30 years carbon mass produced bicycles have been offered. This would be a good opportunity for the forums to freely discuss the merits and the negative aspects of carbon fiber used in bicycle products. Your comments are insightful and innovative and may save countless lives from inevitable death.

I also like where you going with have manufactures keep replacement frames on hand for multiple decades just in case, I see nothing problematic with that idea whatsoever.

SoSmellyAir

I agree that shimming the entire exposed length of the steerer is the way to go for a 1" steerer. I used a 60 mm long, 25.4 mm to 28.6 mm seat post shim: Amazon.com: Thinvik 60MM Bike Seat Post Shim 22.2mm, 25.4mm, 27.2mm to 25.4mm,27.2mm,28.6mm,30.4mm,30.8mm,31.6mm Bicycle Seatpost Tube Adapter-25.4mm Shim to 28.6mm : Everything Else

ShannonM

1" threaded steel fork... Available new, in qualities ranging from garbage to as-good-as-has-ever-been-made.

1" threaded headset... Available new, in qualities ranging from garbage to as-good-as-has-ever-been-made.

1" quill stem... Available new, in qualities ranging from garbage to as-good-as-has-ever-been-made.

Remove and replace front end. Add a pound or so to bicycle. Ride not-significantly-heavier bicycle. Without having random "am I gonna die today?" thoughts drifting through your head.

--Shannon

biker222

I had a 2000 Zeppelin Airborne that ended up with crack on down tube near bottom bracket after 17yrs.
Had some scary high speed descent wobbles with that bike in Colorado. The new Dean Ti frame is big improvement in descending.

WizardOfBoz

As I said, I put the Ritchie Comp fork in. In looking at the picture (my bike is hanging upside down, which is why the pic has this orientation - also I held up the cardboard to block the distracting background). I think I'd like a think internal spacing tube to get better alignment of the spacers. But the setup works.

icemilkcoffee 

why don’t the spacers line up? Are you using 1 1/8” spacers on a 1” steerer tuber? You need 1” spacers to press down on the headset wedge correctly.

Crankycrank

^^^ Get some proper 1" spacers or you'll get slop which if isn't an immediate problem it might cause the fork race and headset cups to work loose after some miles. You need close fitting spacers to keep things flush and especially with a stack that long. https://www.jensonusa.com/Problem-So...t=All+Products

Harold74

I priced out all of those options previously and found them largely unpalatable relative to my perception of the overall value of the bike. I too have Google. In CAD, for quality stuff, the butchers bill for that list can be well in excess of $500 CAD. In the 1" threadless, procurable in Canada category, the options are very slim and quite expensive.

I'm probably going to replace the 1" fork on my Airborne this afternoon with either the Ritchey Comp or the Columbus Minimal. I'm only willing to do that now because I rebuilt the bike two years ago and, having spent some significant saddle time on it now, I finally feel that the investment is justified. The Zeppelin Airborne has an uncommon geometry with a front end that started off too low for me. It was very much in question whether or not I'd be able to get the fit dialed in with that bike.

I do have the odd "am I gonna die today?" thought when riding. And that does suck. That said, as a structural engineer, my days are filled with "am I gonna kill anybody in this building or on this bridge today?" thoughts. I'm quite used to digesting risk in high stakes situations.

Harold74

I agree. I see no functional issue with it so long as the spacers are providing reliable, uniform compression at the headset and stem interfaces which, I'm sure, they are.

shelbyfv

Hard to tell from the pic but is the stem one that could be flipped? You might be able to lose some of the excessive spacer stack and still retain your bar height.

Harold74

I've read reviews indicating weld problems. If I'm not mistaken, the Airborne is one of the cheapest Ti frames ever sold. This is one of the reasons that I've been reluctant to use mine on the indoor trainer.

One thing that I may have working in my favor is that I'm not a strong rider by any stretch of the imagination. I could probably use a Coke can for a bottom bracket and be alright.

I have read reviews of this being a problem and have actually experienced it myself. It was absolutely terrifying. Due to a lack of frame torsional stiffness as I understand it. I guess this was a non-issue with steel but, when we switched to other materials, it took a while before frames were designed for a specific torsional stiffness.

Was you bike set up with drop bars in classic road bike fashion?

I inherited my bike set up for triathlon use with aero bars and bullhorns. That's how it was when I got the speed wobble. A couple of years back, I rebuilt the bike as a drop bar setup hoping that would dampen lateral vibration of the front end a bit. I also went with wide, flared gravel bars to try to improve matters even more (Redshift Kitchen Sink). It looks quite ridiculous on a road bike. I haven't had speed wobble on the bike since I switched to drop bars but, then, I also haven't taken the bike over 50 kph since then either. The Airborne gives a lovely ride in my opinion and I'm currently using it for 90% of my training rides which are close to home and on rolling hills. I don't know that I'm ready to trust the Airborne in the mountains yet. I have a Lynskey as an eventual replacement for the Airborne.

sweeks

Hmmm... I've put about 8,000 miles on my Carpe Diem over the last ~22 years (it's just one of my bikes). I'm a heavier (~215 pounds) rider. My frame has held up well.
It *was* less expensive than some alternatives, but I was able to specify a lot of the features. I have no regrets, and no worries.


This has been a good bike for over 20 years.

Harold74

I'm glad to hear it. Hopefully mine gets a similar run. My Airborne wasn't ridden from 2005 to 2020 so she's only about eight years old in terms of riding time

I like that your seat stays meet up with your top tube concentrically. I think that would improve weld crack resistance at that joint which is where some cracking has been reported on the Airborne's

Camilo

Except what has been discussed is to use a sleeve inside the 1 1/8 spacers so there's no slop. The same sleeve that is used to adapt a 1-1/8 stem to the 1" steer tube. I've done both (used 1" spacers and 1-1/8 w/ sleeve). Both work.