GrandpaEd

I have been contemplating buying a new bike for some time now, and I thought I finally decided that I was going to get a new Cannondale Synapse. In the past couple days however, I've been reading a few articles talking about the carbon fiber frames breaking https://www.bustedcarbon.com/ .

Is this a real problem, and should I consider going in a different direction?

Thanks.

znomit

Does your use case for the new bike involve hitting a car at 35mph or jamming a bottle of Vodka through the spokes?

[Yes] > Get a solid steel bike with disc wheels

[No] > Get a crabon bike.

Ice41000

If you get decent bike made by reputable manufacturer like Cannondale you'll be fine.

v70cat

Is a Cad 10 a better way to go? Not because of Carbon strength but cost and weight consideration

pdedes

If you have to ask, carbon is likely not for you.

kelsodeez

ive heard people refer to cannondale as a "crack-n-fail".

jimc101

Much as Bustedcarbon was nice to look at, it's an old (not updated since 2011) site, where most of the failures were from crashed & non-riding impacts; with carbon, if you can break it, any other material would also fail, or have failed much sooner.

For Cannondale being crack'n'fail, that was the 90's, things have moved on a lot since then

Silvercivic27

I would definitely recommend against a carbon bike. They are awful and break a lot.

Homebrew01

I'm sure there are "witty" names for every company.

rpenmanparker 

I am going to run with that. Thanks!

GrandpaEd

I was thinking about the Synapse because of it's friendly, more relaxed geometry.

canam73

I think he was referring to the Caad mainly because it's aluminum only. The Synapse comes in carbon or AL so if it has the geo you want the stick between those.

I ride Al, carbon and steel bikes and would have no problem recommending carbon. Most of the relaxed geo frames tend to be a little heavier built than the race frames and are very tough.

I think a big part of carbon's rep for failing has more to do with the nature of how it fails. Steel and aluminum tend to dent or crack noticeable before they actually come apart. Carbon frames on the other hand can look fine until suddenly they are in multiple pieces. Often times it can be due to the actual damage taking place with an earlier impact and going unnoticed until a second, possibly lesser incident snaps it. So if you do go with carbon be smart about giving your frame a good inspection after any tip over or other accident (or have your shop do so). Google the "coin tap test".

merlinextraligh

I've ridden an Aluminun Synapse. Nice bike. The CF Synapse is nicer.

And you don't need to worry about CF frames failing at a higher rate than aluminum or steel.

In this test, https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/E...tigue_test.htm, now a bit dated, CF frames did better than steel or titanium, and they've only gotten better since then.

ultraman6970

If you are too worried then you wont ride carbon ever.

Sucks to have an accident I give you that, personally when I got my 1st carbon I was really scared but depending of what you are going to get, you will notice that carbon its ok for bikes, got a chinese knock off once and the bike felt ok for the price i paid, so can't really complain of the frame and fork.

As with every material you always find stuff that fails, there is people with bad luck too so it is a gamble if you ask me, even with steel if you have bad luck you can have a problem in a frame.

Good luck

eja_ bottecchia

Get it, you will enjoy it. Ride safely!

OldsCOOL

CF? Do you like levitating in a stiff crosswind?

topflightpro

Carbon can be repaired. Aluminum cannot.

Also, I've broken as many aluminum frames as carbon ones - 1 each.

GeorgeLeslie

i have had my carbon frame since 2000. Never a problem. Cannondale has a great rep and I see plenty of Synapses on the road - never heard a complaint. I say go for it.

bbeasley

Buy Carbon, they pop out of molds and are very convenient for the manufacturer. They also allow for cool shapes so you can have lots of decals advertising the manufacturer.

iamtim

I used to avoid CF like the plague, I wasn't even happy with the CF forks and seat posts which came on the aluminum bikes I bought. But then I came into an AWESOME deal on a 2000 Trek 5500; I was initially purchasing it for the component set as an upgrade to my then-current bike, but ultimately figured I'd first ride it until it broke.

Riding an all CF bike was... a revelation. Truly amazing, coming from nothing but aluminum and steel bikes.

Sadly, I quickly found out why the bike was so cheap: the frame and fork were both cracked. I only managed about two months of heavy weekend riding before I had to follow my original plan and move the components to my aluminum frame and fork, but they were an amazing couple of months. It really made me look at CF very differently.

Now, all that said, I have two CF frames hanging in my garage which are cracked: that Trek 5500 and my brother's old Madone. I have two other steel frames and one aluminum frame also hanging in the garage which were all ridden hard, hard, hard and aside of scratches and road wear could be ridden again. In my life I've never personally broken an aluminum frame, but I did break a steel frame (an old Bianchi Strada LX, right at the weld where the seat stay meets the seat tube).

Ultimately, if you've never ridden CF you should give it a try. I think that all frames can break, it's just more sensational and attention-grabbing when CF breaks. Because... OMFGCARBON!

canam73

Oh, yes, I see what you mean.

bbeasley

You're right , I guess marketing will find a way. But I'll take the bottom one.

Dudelsack 

Moved to P&R, just like the gun nuts threads.

Zero7

I did a lot of research on carbon too before buying the Wilier. It appears that most of the carbon problems a) happened when in the years carbon was first coming out, b) involve mountain bikes, and/or c) involve a crash. It would be surprising for a carbon road bike from a reputable manufacturer to break from even aggressive riding. Anything is possible, of course.

i can tell you that I bought a carbon frame, and couldn't be happier.

Cheers

Elvo

Rode my crabon bike and crabon helmet on a mountain ride a couple weeks ago. Crashed it and had to get flown out of the mountain to the hospital via helicopter. Crabon bike had a very small crack in the top tube and the helmet also cracked in the front. I highly recommend not crashing your bike.