Voronoi

Hi everyone,

I (188cm & 85kg) need an advise regarding a new purchase. I got told by my favorite bicycle mechanic that I should buy a bike in my size since my position on beloved Daccordi Top Alloy is not really healthy anymore. Since I never looked out for new frames I am now at the point of where I feel that marketing takes instead of rationality. I am used now to a very light Daccordi Top Alloy (everything incl. it is <9kg). I basically do not really care much about the weight since I just love riding. I saw several bikes of steel, carbon, alloy, etc..
I am quite interested in the Wilier Cento10NDR (disc brakes). I saw however that the frame is in carbon. Since I never use carbon I fear that with age the stiffness of the frame gets more and more worse due to the resin and the effect of temperature change (hot summer). Is that true?

thanks for your help

WhyFi

No.

popeye

No.

Voronoi

Mhh ok. So what is then the difference between a carbon frame and a steel or alloy frame? Just the weight? Maybe I am too addicted to some hard materials instead of fibers, but I fear that I cannot ride the carbon bike as I would ride the hard-metal bikes.

ericcox

Serious answer - there are many differences. The reality is that there are different quality frames of any material - some steel and aluminum frames aren't great, and some carbon frames kind of suck. The frame you are looking at is a good one. Personally, I have had steel, aluminum, and CF bikes. I have a Carbon Orbea that is 15 years old and still rides well. I have a newer aluminum Ridley that is nice, but heavy. I have a new Carbon bike as well.

Typically a good carbon frame should be a little lighter and have a better compromise between comfort and stiffness, though this is not always true.

In short, there are good and bad frames from each material. A Wilier Cento is a very nice bike.

WhyFi

Serious question: are you open-mindedly looking information or are you looking for confirmation of your "hard-metal" bike bias?

zurgalay

I have recently purchased my first bike for many years and I was so freaking nervous while buying it

Bah Humbug

If carbon fiber can handle a Texas day with 104* air temperature over hot asphalt in blasting sun it can handle the brutal heat of Luxembourg.

Carbon fiber can of course handle temperature far in excess of what the human body can - I believe 100*C for the lowest grades available. This is a new "concern" for carbon.

There are plenty of valid reasons to get a metal bike, but temperature stability? No, that's not one of them.

Voronoi

No no, not at all. I just fear that I spend now >5000€ on a bike which might not last >15-20 years (as my old did). Since I read on some pages that carbon fiber frames are light but that (ongoing) heat and usage of the frame (like riding sometimes on gravel etc) can make the carbon break, I am totally unsure if spending so much money on carbon fiber frame is what I should afford. In my family I already know one which carbon fiber frame from KTM broke along the seatpost fixation.

That's exactly where I am. I am nervous about taking a bad choice, therefore I am looking for people who have carbon fiber bikes and who can tell me if they had problems, etc..

Ok thanks for that. I read that temperature changes affect the stiffness of the resin which holds the carbon fibers together. And with years heatchanges can influence the stiffness of the frame.

Maelochs

Plenty of people have 20-yearold CF bikes and plan to keep riding them.

smashndash

https://cyclingtips.com/2015/08/what...-carbon-frame/

The "problem" with carbon fiber is that it is not easy to make a good frame. Even worse, it's difficult to determine whether a carbon fiber frame is well made just by looking at it. Especially if it has a paint job.

The best designed carbon bikes (specialized etc) will most likely suffer no perceptible degradation over time, because the resin isn't actually doing any heavy lifting. It's just keeping the fibers in place.

The worst designed carbon bikes are just papier mache. They look a lot like carbon fiber bikes, but really they're just resin bikes with carbon fiber thrown in. These bikes would degrade over time, but they'd also just ride like crap when new. You'd have to look very, very hard to find such a bike though. And obviously, it's not black and white. There's a spectrum.

I would say that, if you're buying a carbon frame from a reputable brand, you have nothing to worry about.

Russ Roth

I gave up on my fear of carbon frames randomly failing this year. I've owned bars, seatposts, and cranks and never had a failure. My wife has been riding on the same carbon fork for 13 years now with no trouble and Carbon frames and forks have been around for decades. Sometimes there's a bad batch that could be a problem or fail but the same has been true with steel and aluminum frames. My first steel DeRosa (second road bike ever) was improperly plated and the rear stays rusted out from the inside out in just over a year and were replaced under warrenty, didn't deter me from another steel Italian frame. Worrying about longevity in the 80s and 90s seems reasonable, by 2000 it was less so, now I wouldn't worry about anything coming from most brands.


I can remember the trek representative bringing an OCLV frame into the store in a little box and showing how all the pieces fit together. We were told at that time the temperature that the resin that held the carbon tubes to the carbon lugs would come apart at. The interior of a car with all the windows up on a 100+ *F day where it got hot enough to start blowing out windows was about the temp where the tubes could come apart. So on those frames it was possible to overheat it enough to weaken the bonds if stored in the car but I have never heard of even one of those frames failing by having the joints come apart. They've been around around for over 25 years now and plenty still ride them. Carbon technology has only gotten better since and I can't imagine a name brand just coming apart.

Voronoi

Ok, first of all thanks for all your input. I guess I should just take the step and dig into the Wilier one

robertorolfo

A little late here, but don't feel bad about having these questions and doubts. Your current bike was made by one of the best, so it will have big shoes to fill.

I guess I'm just wondering why you are interested in a carbon bike bike? You said that frame weight isn't a big concern for you, so maybe consider something different? Daccordi is making some great frames from modern steel (check their website), and you know the quality and geometry will be top notch. Battaglin is also making very modern style frames out of steel (again, their website has all the info), and I'd bet the ride quality is amazing.

Ha, "specialized" etc... He is considering buying a Wilier...

Voronoi

Hi guys, just to report back: I bought the Wilier Cento01NDR, since it fulfilled all my minimum requirements (Shimano group set, disc brakes, "hidden cables" and long-lasting). I am eagerly awaiting for it when it should arrive in May/June. Thanks all for your input and especially thanks to robertorolfo for the Battaglin! (Now I need to ask my finance minister for a new bike

msu2001la

In relation to the original topic, I have read stories of car exhaust melting carbon wheels. This can be a concern with bikes carried on hitch-mounted racks that place the wheels very close to the exhaust pipe(s).
https://www.bicycling.com/repair/a29...carbon-wheels/

Exhaust is like 300-500F, so not exactly ambient air temps.

smashndash

I've done this before. The tire blistered and blew. The tire is more likely to fail than the rim (though I had alloy rims when I did this).