PeteHski

Yeah we could all accept mediocrity in our hobbies. There are lots of things I don’t “need” but enjoy them a lot.

Any keen cyclist with enough disposable income is very likely to enjoy a high-end bike of their preference, whether carbon, Ti or steel.

PeteHski

Yep, very classy. Not the sort of bike I would choose personally, but I can certainly see the attraction. I very much doubt a 2010 Tricross would evoke the same kind of feelings and emotion!

seypat

That paint scheme really stands out. In fact, it makes that groupset appear super fugly. Chrome/silver would be so much better. Nostalgia at play here. Same colorway as on my 83 Centurion Turbo, even down to the chrome lug accents. What's old is new again and visa versa. I'll have to take a pic and post it.

PeteHski

Nah, I quite like the contrast of old and new here. Otherwise you might as well just buy a vintage bike or replica.

genejockey 

And you gotta love how clean the full internal cable routing is - provided somebody else did it for you!

joesch

I also have a mid 90s Colnago C40 that rides great, probably as good as when it was new.
The concerns with CF bikes are accidents and travel. Side impacts can damage the frame and reduce the structural integrity.

big john

I've broken 3 steel frames and one aluminum frame. My carbon framed mountain bike hasn't broken yet. I'd like to try a new cf road bike, haven't had one yet.

big john

A friend dropped her Team Machine cf bike and it landed on an electrical box which damaged the top tube. It made a sickening crunch sound. She rode it home and a shop repaired the frame and it looks great.

Eric F 

So...same as other materials. Both of the bikes I've broken were aluminum. Side impacts damaged the frames and reduced structural integrity.

This CF bike is old enough to drink. It's beaten up, and crashed pretty hard a few times (including one time that broke my collar bone). It's currently enjoying its second life as a singlespeed, and still gets ridden regularly...


The idea that CF bikes don't have a long life span, or are significantly more delicate than other materials, is just false. Your C40 is yet another example.

joesch

I recommend the trifecta and they will all be winners in your stable.
You can find bargains on very nice super bikes that are not even classics yet.

genejockey 

I suspect part of that - beyond the legend of asploding crabon - is that it's kind of all-or-nothing. Either it's fine, or it's broken. Metals dent, but CF basically is broken or not. When I was shooting bow'n'arrows we used to say that carbon arrows are either straight or broken, whereas aluminum could be bent and straightened if they're not kinked.

joesch

Right on, never going to hear about "cold setting" a CF frame

jonathanf2

Carbon gets a bad rap. It's actually more repairable than alloy. There's a local carbon frame builder/repair shop here in Los Angeles and he does an amazing job fixing carbon frames that would otherwise be deemed a loss. I know another guy who knew nothing about carbon repair, but was able to fix his broken non-drive side chain stay after a serious crash. Sure alloy won't shatter like carbon, but once it's bent the structural integrity is done.

tomato coupe

I don't think ease of repair has ever entered my decision making process for bikes.

Eric F 

Every material has their pros and cons.

tFUnK

I've definitely "cold set" a carbon frame with 130mm dropouts to 134mm without consequence😁

genejockey 

Or an aluminum one, for that matter.

rekmeyata

It is a waste of money if a person doesn't have the engine, and if they don't have the money other than putting it on a credit card. Even Grant Petersen said that the custom built Rivendell they use to make was only 2% better than the factory made in Taiwan Atlantis was, and this is not a one off thing, it is typical of bikes. The only differences you will feel immediately is tube type, steel vs aluminum vs carbon fibre, vs titanium, and geometry. But within those subgroups your not going to feel any difference. There was a blind test (the testers painted both bikes white so you could not see which bike was which) done where they took a very high end custom made steel bike made by Tom Kellog, and compared it a mid level factory steel bike with similar geometry but using different brand of steel, and the riders, could not tell if they were on the custom bike or the factory bike.

It is a well known FACT that CF bikes if ridden a lot every day will last between 5 to 7 years, google it, CF bikes that are ridden an average amount will last 7 to 10 years, again google it, but a lot of people have several bikes and may ride one once a week and others during the other days of the week, those could last 20 years.

How Long Does A Carbon Bike Frame Last In Years? (Answered!) (bikefinest.com)

That is why professional race teams get rid of their frames after just a half of a season, if they haven't been crashed, and that swapping is with the bikes they race on which don't really see that many miles! Not talking about training miles, those miles are done on a different bike, I'm talking about actual racing miles which is between 1,200 to 1,500 miles a month, with a five month season and the racing bike getting swapped for a new one only two 1/2 months into the season, or with less than 4,500 miles on the bike. Why is that? Because they know enough about CF that they don't want to risk the wellbeing of a rider to continue to use that bike for an entire season; back in the days of steel bikes they could have a bike for as long as two seasons! Even after that they sold the bikes to the general public, now most racing bikes after their half season of use are shredded, Canyon takes their bikes back and has them ultrasound for defects, if none are found they are sold without a warranty. Not only that but CF is the only material that you must use a torque wrench to do anything on it, overtightening anything and it can crack or crush the CF.

How to Tell If Carbon Bike Frame is Cracked? [Answered 2022] - Cycling Revolution


This story on the website below is similar to what happened to an acquaintance of mine as well, he was going down the road with about 6 of us when for no known reason the bike, a almost new Trek Madone SL7, literally exploded underneath him, carbon fiber from the wheels, the frame, and the fork went everywhere, the damage was great it was never determined what failed first. My acquaintance was knocked unconscious and ended up in a coma for 9 days, he still can't recall to this day what happened, that was last year the accident occurred. We all heard the bike fail, a guy next to him just missed getting involved, said he heard a crack but couldn't determine afterwards what the crack sound was from. The road was a typical road, with no potholes in that section, did he hit something prior, a pothole? he says no, but something happened, it could have been a factory defect, but there was no way to prove what broke first.

Why Carbon Fiber Bikes Are Failing (outsideonline.com)

I also saw a guy that was riding towards me, I wasn't really paying too much attention since he was across the street when suddenly he veered off the road and into some bushes, I immediately headed to him and found out the bushes broke his fall and he was fine except for some minor scratches from the bushes, but his CF handlebar broke causing him to lose control.

EFBe Frame Test: how NOT to test a Bicycle (tomsarazac.com)

This is my last response on this, you can argue about it more if you like but I will not respond, this subject is very emotional to people and they very angry, so to prevent that I'm simply not going to respond. I gave a lot of websites, but I find that the vast majority of readers won't even read the stuff because they rather bury their head in the sand then to read well known facts, or at least get some education besides all one sided. Sort of like going to public school, and all they teach is evolution, yet as the years have gone by they are disproving a lot of the evolution theoretical claims, yet schools just keep going on and on with it, and don't even bother to bring in other theories as to what might have happened. A true science teacher will teach all the various theories concerning a subject, and let the students decide which appeals to their brain.

Cyclists falling victim to an undetected danger with their bikes | The West Australian

Eric F 

How many w/kg @ FTP do I need to have to qualify for a high-end bike? Or is it based on max power? If a high-end bike is able to get the best performance from a high-level racer, wouldn't that bike also be able to give this old, ex-racer my own best performance? If riding a high-end bike excites me, and encourages me to ride more, isn't that a good thing? I don't know what differences you're sensitive to or not, but there are definitely differences in my two CF road bikes that I can feel - stiffness and handling traits. I have an aluminum road bike, too.

Here's a couple of things to consider...
- There is no perfect frame material
- All frame materials break...even titanium

CF bikes and bike parts have been around long enough that they aren't new and mysterious any more. It's a proven material for the application.

Those first two links are a joke. Mediocre AI.

RCMoeur 

There is a certain repeat customer that likes to comb through the Pile of the Damned at the co-op and pick out frames for... experimentation. We have warned him that some frames were compromised or at risk of failure, which did not seem to deter him. It's now a situation where if a frame is deemed to be critically compromised, we will oftentimes deliberately destroy that frame to prevent reuse (and possible risk exposure). Such as stomping on aluminum frames to create 0 mm rear overlock, folding, twisting, sawing, spindling, mutilating, etc. And yet we've seen our friend take the resultant sculpture and ponder "could this be made into anything?"

PeteHski

It’s written in caps so must be true 😂

”ridden a lot every day” is not very scientific and doesn’t really add credibility to this “FACT”.

Are all CF bikes exactly the same? Sounds very generic to me. Probably complete BS.

PeteHski

I only read the first one and I totally agree. Low grade junk.

genejockey 

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tomato coupe

The writing is about 8th grade level, and some of the logic is astounding:

georges1

The best american carbon bike made frame alongwith the GT LTS