How do I dispose of a carbon bike frame?
 

I have a high-end carbon-fiber Cannondale SuperSix frame that is cracked at the dropouts. It cannot be fixed according to the business I contacted that repairs carbon fiber bikes. So how does one typically dispose of a frame like this?

From my searching, it doesn't look like it can be recycled but if there's some place out there that does this, I'd love to hear about it. I think it's just too big put in the trash by itself. I'll guess I could get a permit from my local DPW to throw it away since it's that big. Or I guess I could try to cut it up. But is there any business out there that might have a use for the carbon fiber?

(Since the break is right on the dropout, I wouldn't even trust this as a trainer bike, even if I needed one).

There is some market for damaged frames on E-Bay.

If the fork is good, those are usually sold separately.

Landfill or yard art are your only options. Toxic from manufacture to disposal. Buy soda can or boat anchor next time.

Cut it up and toss it in the garbage, that's where carbon belongs.

Hacksaw, mask, and contractor's bag. 10 minute job.

You might want to try a few more repair places. https://ruckuscomp.com/repair/ for example claims they will repair dropouts.

I didn't believe any of this stuff was repairable but there was a GCN Tech video recently which toured a carbon bike repair shop in the UK and they were fixing all sorts of stuff I thought was impossible to fix.

Calfee repaired a carbon frame for me and did a stellar job. It wasn't cheap. Probably $750 with shipping both ways.

Cut it up. I had a neighbor who disposed of most of a VW bug that way. Or if you have a yard, maybe hang it somewhere and attach wind chimes or a bird feeder.

He was at the Philly Bike Expo one year. Seemed like a nice guy.

Our community recently gave us these huge garbage bins, that get picked up and emptied by a truck with a hydraulic arm. Driver never leaves the truck, so now if it fits, it ships. Disposed of a couple of bike frames that way, even a 62cm frame fits in that bin, no hacksaw required.
Tim

Boat anchor isn't quite as aerodynamic as I would like. :-)

Carbon fiber fabric itself is probably inert and non-toxic. The epoxy hardener (especially) and resin are toxic in their liquid forms, but once cured, it forms a polymer which is either non-toxic or at least far less toxic. It's true that there are different types of epoxy, with varying chemical makeups, so it's too difficult a claim to make in general, and I certainly wouldn't recommend licking the bike or eating carbon dust. However, restaurant table tops and bar counters are often clear coated in epoxy. I'd be more worried about the toxicity of paint and/or lubes on the bike than the carbon fiber laminate itself.

So while I'm not making any scientific claims, I've fabricated several carbon parts using several different types of epoxy, and those are my impressions. The curing can leave a "blush" residue, which may be toxic, but once that is washed off (with soap and water), the resulting laminate feels "clean" and has no smell, nor does it leave any kind of residue on my hands that I'd worry about needing to wash my hands after touching it before eating. It's also hard to affect cured epoxy with any solvent that I'm aware of. Sunlight will cause it to degrade over time.

Carbon fiber dust is nasty, and should not be inhaled. The fiber particles are sharp, and can get into your skin (and lungs) and cause irriation (at least), similar to fiberglass but worse.

Landfill or wall art..or wind-chime (like that one). Composites (carbon fiber + epoxy) are useless once their main job is over...similar to a fiberglass boat.

It wouldn't be considered toxic at this point as the molecules that were once considered toxic are cured into a solid polymer(plastic)-network. Beer, soda, and food cans are lined with an epoxy..a different epoxy, but an epoxy just the same. Once an epoxy cures, in most cases, it's pretty much inert.

To answer the question about recycling, nothing can be done with it from a recycling standpoint.

Also, I wouldn't trust a repaired carbon fiber bike, as someone who has fabricated some parts, played around with failures on scrap pieces, etc.. Maybe someone could add enough layers of new fabric to make a "patch", but it won't be chemically bonded to the old frame. Once epoxy is cured, new epoxy doesn't bond with it... the best you can do is a physical bond, using texture (like sanding). If the patch is strong enough by itself... I guess it's possible to make it safe, but it's still a weak point, and I sure as hell wouldn't ride a repaired frame.

That depends entirely on the repair. If it is done to make the frame "look like new", yes, I wouldn't trust it either. But if the repair was done like the bonding of cured parts like in sailboat construction, with full respect for secondary bonds, I'd have no second thoughts about riding it. I did a CF wrap around the chainstays & BB of a steel frame with both chainstays about to break. When I finished, that was the strongest part of the whole frame. But, I made no attempt to hide the repair. Instead, I did clean work with careful masking and simply painted the repair black like it was always that way. Now, whether I'd want to own and ride a CF frame with such an obvious repair, well I just don't know. I'll stick to steel and ti where simple tube replacement is possible and brazing/TIG torches can do a lot.

Boats have very important structural pieces bonded inside the hull. Bulkheads for one. Those bonds are entirely secondary. Yet those boats go to sea and come back.

I have only owned 2 bikes in my adult life, both of which I still ride regularly. One is aluminum from '98, the other steel from the 70's. Do any owners of carbon fiber bikes and products that support the carbon fiber industry have any ethical concerns? Bikes and parts utilizing toxic chemicals, gases, dusts produced and petroleum products. They're extremely limited in recycling and re-purposing possibilities and non-biodegradable. Has anyone chosen not to buy CF for any of these reasons? Or damn the torpedoes? Has this already been argued and justified in other posts?

I meant toxic to the environment. Although I'm sure the manufacturers are very careful with their workers' health. [end sarcasm mode]

The steel and aluminum industries aren't without downsides, including often large open pit mines, energy intense manufacturing. Use of fossil fuels, and incorporation of rare earth metals.

Plenty of damaged steel and aluminum bikes that are tossed, and many aren't recycled.

Should I ask if your steel bike was chromed?

There are carbon fiber recycling companies. But I probably would cut it up and throw it in the garbage

Actually, if you think about it, it's more aero than a soda can. But really, steel and aluminum can be built quite light, and short of running them into an SUV, are more durable than plastic.

That said, feel free to ignore me, and ride your own ride. Have fun with whatever you get next!

Carbon fiber can be recycled.
Well, what I mean is: Boeing has found someone to sell the scrap bits to. I don't remember who it is, but they had 5x5 bins scattered throughout the factory labled for such a purpose when I used to work there. They took a long time to fill up as there really wasn't that much waste to begin with...Mostly from automated drill validation processes.

What the buyer did with the scrap of industrial processes, I don't know. I think machined into smaller parts like washers, spacers, and such.

The rest? After it's cured it's inert. I wouldn't eat it. But, inert nonetheless.

This is true; no manufacturing process is clean. Aren't even bamboo bikes epoxied? At least metal bikes can be recycled, whether or not people do.

What kind of warranty did it have?

There are carbon fiber recyclers but they are strictly industrial quantity based, not 1 bike frame.

The actual carbon fabric will not harm the environment at all - it's carbon, like a piece of charcoal, except with different bonds between the carbon atoms, and in a different shape. The manufacturing process to get it into that form requires energy, but carbon is one of the most common elements and getting it pure doesn't seem that difficult.

Manufacturing steel, aluminum, and especially titanium also use a lot of energy. They have to be mined, smelted, welded... it's definitely not an environmentally friendly thing to make metal.

You may be right that the production of carbon fiber is more harmful to the environment production of metals, but that is not at all intuitive to me. If I had to guess, I'd guess it's the other way around. I am kind of curious about it though.

Epoxy now... that seems like it it's messier in terms of chemicals used. But is it any worse than production of regular plastics? I don't know... It seems like the average human goes through WAY more plastic products in their lifetime than an occasional bike frame or seat post.