Originally Posted by Expatriate
Bento box boy! Thanks for that info. What happens when we use those materials for bikes? I know you're a fan of plastic, but help me out here. I know they can use it for F1 cars and aerospace applications, but why does it seem to be the material most likely to fail suddenly? In road bikes, no less. Surely there's a reason we don't see too much on the MTB side.
[disclosure] titanium rules!
It's a lot about quality control and care. Fatigue life is one property of materials, strength is another. In those two areas, CF excels above almost every other material used in bicycle applications. However, CF has an issue with notch-sensitivity. Additionally, it is very difficult to produce a consistantly high-quality CF structure. The labour costs can exceed those of working with other materials. Some companies cut corners and that leads to integrity problems. Early on there were issues with CF frame productions as the material was fairly new and people were still learning how to work with it... especially in the areas of bonded lugs. Early aluminum frame shad the same issues. A CF frame can be made to last as long as a frame from any other material. "It's the design, stupid!"
Another thing to keep in mind: not all CF are created equal. CF is a generic description for a vary large family of materials.