want a carbon fiber bike, but nervous
04-09-21, 05:15 PM
#76
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04-09-21, 05:19 PM
#77
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04-09-21, 05:24 PM
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04-09-21, 05:44 PM
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My carbon bikes scare me to death. I keep adding more carbon just to try to make them safe, but I’m still afraid of them assploding.
Steel is worse because those welds might fail, and then the frame would just fall apart. Aluminum cracks, dents and bends.
I thing a wood frame would be best. But, it’d have to be a good, solid wood like Oak.
Steel is worse because those welds might fail, and then the frame would just fall apart. Aluminum cracks, dents and bends.
I thing a wood frame would be best. But, it’d have to be a good, solid wood like Oak.
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04-09-21, 05:58 PM
#80
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My carbon bikes scare me to death. I keep adding more carbon just to try to make them safe, but I’m still afraid of them assploding.
Steel is worse because those welds might fail, and then the frame would just fall apart. Aluminum cracks, dents and bends.
I thing a wood frame would be best. But, it’d have to be a good, solid wood like Oak.
Steel is worse because those welds might fail, and then the frame would just fall apart. Aluminum cracks, dents and bends.
I thing a wood frame would be best. But, it’d have to be a good, solid wood like Oak.
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04-09-21, 06:44 PM
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Why don’t you spend $1,000 - $1500 on an aluminum bike. You won’t have to go cheap Chinese, and will get much better components than a comparably priced CF bike.
04-09-21, 07:02 PM
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04-09-21, 07:15 PM
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04-09-21, 07:32 PM
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A few years ago when Trek introduced the Emonda ALR they also offered the Emonda S which was carbon. They have since discontinued the Emonda S and only offer the SL and SLR which are more expensive. This way they don't have an alloy and carbon fiber bikes competing against each other... the ALR was the better bike in that price range.
04-09-21, 07:50 PM
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A few years ago when Trek introduced the Emonda ALR they also offered the Emonda S which was carbon. They have since discontinued the Emonda S and only offer the SL and SLR which are more expensive. This way they don't have an alloy and carbon fiber bikes competing against each other... the ALR was the better bike in that price range.
Before I got the Tarmac, I actually had a BMC Teammachine ALR 2, with 105, but returned it because the seatpost kept slipping. The BMC carbon equivalent to that bike, the SLR, was about 1200 bucks more than the ALR. I could have got that but by then I'd lost faith in the fancy, internal, seatpost bolt system the BMCs have
04-09-21, 10:12 PM
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A few years ago when Trek introduced the Emonda ALR they also offered the Emonda S which was carbon. They have since discontinued the Emonda S and only offer the SL and SLR which are more expensive. This way they don't have an alloy and carbon fiber bikes competing against each other... the ALR was the better bike in that price range.
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04-09-21, 10:51 PM
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As far as the comment about being so afraid that I should avoid cars and airplanes. Well, I can't walk to work every day, and I can't walk or drive to the Caribbean for vacation. The alternative to driving and flying is walking, which is not practical. Here, we are talking about a different scenario: A leisure activity, and the alternative to CF is aluminum. Do I want a CF bike? Yes. Am I willing to accept the risks at this point in my life for this kind of hobby?
This might wreck you...aluminum bicycle frames break, too.
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04-09-21, 11:35 PM
#89
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I was also nervous like the OP but then I started talking to carbon in my body and they said "look at yourself, you will be just fine man."
Well, I have to see that when I crash on my upcoming Carbon bike
I have ordered my first Carbon road frameset (highend). Should be coming by end of next week.
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04-10-21, 06:50 AM
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In fact our bodies are made up of Carbon mostly if you exclude water percentage. Even with water, it is still the 3rd most abundant material. In fact all organic life is made of Carbon and it is what that gives stability to the bonding inside us.
I was also nervous like the OP but then I started talking to carbon in my body and they said "look at yourself, you will be just fine man."
Well, I have to see that when I crash on my upcoming Carbon bike
I have ordered my first Carbon road frameset (highend). Should be coming by end of next week.
I was also nervous like the OP but then I started talking to carbon in my body and they said "look at yourself, you will be just fine man."
Well, I have to see that when I crash on my upcoming Carbon bike
I have ordered my first Carbon road frameset (highend). Should be coming by end of next week.
04-10-21, 06:51 AM
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The OP's concern is not uncommon. By far most of the "Is this scratch / nick / cigarette burn safe to ride" threads on BF are for CF frames and parts. Even if one may not fear serious injury/death due to catastrophic failure, they may be adverse to the costs of replacement for what may be considered inconsequential damage on metal bikes. It is a valid concern.
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04-10-21, 09:42 AM
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No need - Link
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04-10-21, 09:46 AM
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Neither the OP nor I "hold a material [i.e., carbon fiber] suspect based on the [mere] possibility that someone, somewhere is building something crappy with it." We were both discussing <$1,000 carbon fiber bikes of unknown origins. Now of course we do not have industry experience (like you do) so perhaps the $1,000 point is not the threshold between safe and unsafe. But your next post (#65) seems to reinforce, rather than contradict, this concern.
Eh...I take that back - if someone is offering an unknown chinese frame from $50 then I'd avoid that like the plague.
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04-10-21, 10:48 AM
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And you ignore all the vids with aluminum and steel bikes failing? In any case they are all few and far between.
04-10-21, 10:59 AM
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Do you know the term "clickbait?"
There are millions of carbon bikes ridden every day, millions of aluminum bikes, dozens of titanium bikes ... all using carbon forks. Some of every kind of anything is going to have trouble. The are plenty of wrecked metal frames too, just no one is trying to scare you about them. Probably almost all carbon failures happen to something that was already damaged in a crash and usually showing signs of trouble. That part is always left out for dramatic effect - it asploded for no reason!
I'm about to take my carbon bike with carbon brake levers out for a scenic loop. Sure hope those brake levers don't break for no reason. They haven't for lots of years and people have looked at them wrong, so I hope I'm ok. If you never hear from me again, don't buy carbon.
There are millions of carbon bikes ridden every day, millions of aluminum bikes, dozens of titanium bikes ... all using carbon forks. Some of every kind of anything is going to have trouble. The are plenty of wrecked metal frames too, just no one is trying to scare you about them. Probably almost all carbon failures happen to something that was already damaged in a crash and usually showing signs of trouble. That part is always left out for dramatic effect - it asploded for no reason!
I'm about to take my carbon bike with carbon brake levers out for a scenic loop. Sure hope those brake levers don't break for no reason. They haven't for lots of years and people have looked at them wrong, so I hope I'm ok. If you never hear from me again, don't buy carbon.
04-10-21, 11:02 AM
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People have been using metal since the bronze age, it isn't new and mysterious. You're spot on about the fact that all frame materials fail, all very rarely. I think it's like how a lot of people are afraid to fly and drive instead. The facts are clear but people can't shake the feeling...
04-10-21, 07:33 PM
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04-10-21, 07:45 PM
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The OP's concern is not uncommon. By far most of the "Is this scratch / nick / cigarette burn safe to ride" threads on BF are for CF frames and parts. Even if one may not fear serious injury/death due to catastrophic failure, they may be adverse to the costs of replacement for what may be considered inconsequential damage on metal bikes. It is a valid concern.
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04-10-21, 08:34 PM
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