georges1

Apparently he is reputed but I don't think there that many people who do carbon frame repair in France.

big john

K2/Proflex from 1998. I did break a Trek 660 around the BB. It was a True Temper frame with Trek's own investment cast lugs.

georges1

Interesting thanks for the feedback

cyccommute 

A temporary repair is just that…one that gets you down the road far enough to get home where you can replace the frame. That holds for any frame and any frame material. A broken frame is compromised and should be depended on for long term use. Additionally, an aluminum repair is going to last further than 100 miles.

You say that steel is easy to weld and then say that welding a bike isn’t easy. That has been my experience. The machinist that welded my frame several times was a certified welder who welded pressure vessels for scientific research. He fabricated many pressure vessels for me that never had a problem…which is what one wants when using a pressure vessel. He also did fabrication of all kinds of other parts in any number of different materials. He knows his stuff. If he makes the comment that about being surprised at the thinness of the metal and how easy it would be to burn through it, I take it as he knows what he is talking about. Giving a thin walled bicycle frame to someone who is used to welding reinforcing plates onto a pick-up is probably going to result in something that is not any more reliable than the unheat treated aluminum frame.

That was my point. You can repair any frame at home with the proper tools and the proper experience. You probably shouldn’t try to repair any frame at home if you have no experience with repair bicycle frames at all. The results likely won’t be reliable.

Darth Lefty 

The first generation of that bike was True Temper. Unbranded as you can understand from "Kung fu" in the 2nd generation. Burmese tuna cans most likely

Even so it's a design escape, not a problem with steel per se, which was my original point. Choice of which steel is part of the design, and if they think it's ok to make that feature from the material they ordered, and it isn't, that is an error. The design was changed.

cyccommute 

Not according to this business. Compare that to the prices from Rodriquez Bicycles for steel repairs. All of the prices are without paint which adds significantly to the cost.

On that I fully agree…for any frame material. The idea that you can do a reliable repair of carbon fiber in your own home is on a par with the idea that any village smithy can make a permanent repair on a steel frame or use JB Weld as for a frame repair. ‘Tis a silly idea. Have a professional repair the frame if the frame is worth repairing. Few bicycle frames, however, are worth the extra cost of a proper, professional repair.

Eric F 

I get it now. You were just guessing about something you really don't know about. It seems like you expanded your knowledge a bit.

PeteHski

There doesn’t need to be that many. I’ve been riding carbon frames since the mid 90s and never needed to repair one yet.

georges1

Because you never crashed with them or maybe that you ride carefully and on a side note all your bikes in your signature are not dating from the mid 90's but are all 4 years old at least. So my question is why haven't you kept your old bikes??

Atlas Shrugged

This is why this whole subject becomes a ridiculous debate about how many Angels can dance on a pin. One minute it's UV degradation; next, it's repairability, none of which apply to a vast majority of cyclists. Carbon absolutely dominates the sport in the performance and premium categories and will remain so until a new technology supplants it. Ironically most of the people posting about the longevity of steel only have a limited number of years of cycling left in them. Much less than the lifespan of any material including Bamboo.

wheelreason

Pedalantic, adj, of or pertaining to a guy who takes cycling way too seriously and lives on the East coast... (please to note following thingy)

Eric F 

Same. The bikes I've broken have been aluminum.

Eric F 

Crashing on a CF bike doesn't always result in frame damage that requires repair. Same as any other frame material.

EDIT: I have a CF MTB frame that I bought new in 1999. It's been crashed more times than I can remember. I had never needed repair, still gets ridden regularly, and still rides great.

Maelochs

Dude, give it up. You have been proved to be talking about things you don't know about already .... don't keep doing it.

Just face facts. Most people never break a bike frame unless they crash hard, and in a hard crash any kind of frame might break. And most bike frames get traded or sold or thrown away after a lifetime of unbroken service.

How about YOU show some facts? You have told some lies, now post some facts. Where is your third-party-supported evidence that some sort of bike frame fails more often in normal use?

A lot of people have bikes less than four years old ... they sold or traded their old bikes or gave them to friends and got newer, better technology. Not because the bikes broke, but because they wanted more tire clearance, 12-speed or electronic shifting (or both,) or disc brakes, or just new bikes ....

All of the bikes in my signature are more than four years old ... my oldest CF bike is a 2015 Workswell which is still in excellent condition after eight years ... and sadly I have crashed a few times on it, and a few times on my other CF Workswell. Sorry for you, neither broke.

Maybe just learn the actual facts: CF, steel, aluminum, and even bamboo are all materials used Successfully for bike frames, and any bike made from any of those materials can last a very long time. Sorry for you .... but it is a demonstrable fact.

Of course, any bike can be broken, no matter what it is made of ... if you get hit by a car, run over by a truck, lose control on a very high-speed descent, hit a hole or a deep ditch or whatever .... you can break whatever you are riding.

Facts: .... There re are bikes. Bikes demonstrably exist. Bikes can be made from many different materials. This is provable. Those bikes can all last a long time and this too is provable.

PeteHski

I’m not a C&V guy. Simple as that. I tend to keep bikes about 10 years and then move on. My first carbon frame was a 1996 Cadex, which I rode hard for about 10 years and then sold to a work colleague. It was still fine at that point.

I rarely crash too, which always helps.

Atlas Shrugged

Keeping these old bikes in is not the issue what is a reality is these old bikes are not ridden for any distance or regular frequency. Most keepers of C&V bikes have numerous bikes, and the acquisition and ownership is the goal, not riding one particular bike. Go to any place cyclists frequent or mass participation events, and the number of older bikes is very few to nonexistent. Sure from time to time there are show and shine type of gatherings where the key purpose is to display their rides.

Camilo

I couldn't decide on emoji for this

Maelochs

Troll feeds popcorn to corpse of horse while yelling at clouds.

cyccommute 

Crashing of any kind seldom leads to enough damage to break a frame. Frame breakage is about the accumulation of fatigue and that comes from use. As I pointed out long ago in this thread, every “new” material that comes along has had someone say that it is going to shatter in to a thousand pieces with the slightest touch. Usually it’s the steel guys that say that. It’s a very silly argument.

cyccommute 

I have to disagree with much of your statement. Yes, most C&V owners have many bikes. And acquisition is certainly part of it. But most C&V owners enjoy riding their bikes. Some C&V owners (like me) are more accidental C&V owners than collectors. Keep a bike for long enough and it becomes classic and vintage. My old bikes serve a purpose and most of them see regular use. I’m not sure what “place[s] cyclist frequent” are since riding a bike isn’t really a single “somewhere” that people frequent but more a spread out parade.

And, since most C&V riders are retrogrouches by definition, they probably aren’t likely to attend most mass participation events.

Garfield Cat

Is there any way to know the quality of the carbon frame? I mean not the knockoffs. Even the major brands, even those brands that appear in the Grand Tours.

What I see is the price of frames with the major manufacturers. A company such as Specialized has different price levels, as do many other brands. The guesswork is to look at what are being used by the teams in the Grand Tours. Even then, the manufacturers may have done something special for those teams that they support.

Maelochs

Here is a simple rule of thumb .... Don't cut your thumb off.

On to bikes .... where the "rule of thumb" might be, "If it broke, they are getting sued and going out of business."

No one ever knows or ever has known anything about the specific frame on thee specific bike s/he bought. No idea if there was an electricity surge and the robot welder didn't penetrate or the hand-welder was hung over, or whatever. No one ever knew, and no one knows now.

However ... there have been recalls, when a certain number of a certain model of frame or fork failed in large numbers ... so stuff happens.

If nothing ever went wrong there wouldn't be recalls. But there are. Why? ... to avoid lawsuits.

If a manufacturer produced a lot of frames or forks which failed in an unreasonable fashion, said manufacturer would be facing class-action lawsuits. Said manufacturer would go broke (or declare bankruptcy to escape form paying.) So ... if you are buying a frame from a company of which you have heard, it is probable that you are buying a frame which will suffice for all your cycling needs.

Seriously ... do you know what the frame of your car is made of? Do you question if the frame is sufficient? When is the last time you thought about it?

I am not saying that you should not waste your whole life worrying about nonsense. You are free, and may waste your life in any fashion which suits you. I am poking fun at people who go on and on about baseless imaginations with illogical and fact-free thinking.

I didn't ride today ... my legs were sore from yesterday. I am looking forward to riding tomorrow. I am well aware that as it happened today, it is my physical failure, not my biker's which is likely to limit and one day end my time as a rider.

Type less, ride more,. Don't worry, you can still obsess over imaginary dangers while you ride, so the time won't be totally wasted. Difference is, when you get back, you might be too tired to share your obsessive worries with us.

We will soldier on. Don't worry.

PeteHski

This is where you rely on brand reputation. The different price levels of carbon frames within the reputable brands is mostly about weight and stiffness, not quality and certainly not safety!

If you buy a carbon frame from a well known major brand like Specialized you can expect it to be safe and of reasonable quality. The higher end frames are simply lighter and sometimes stiffer.

Atlas Shrugged

I find it amusing that those most concerned about the longevity of carbon are pretty far along themselves. A 60 year old bemoaning that carbon is only good for twenty years or Di2 parts are going to be difficult to source in their 80th year