Originally Posted by
bakes1
Anyone with a shred of common sense has known this for quite some time.
Cf is and will most likely continue to be a very viable material for high end bike frames.
Mainly because of weight and marketing and the obvious desire for many recreational cyclists to simply own what they perceive to be the latest and greatest.
That being said, it is overall considerably more fragile than other popular materials when used in the making of a bike frame.
Common sense folks.
Comparing its use as a bike frame to its uses on cars and jets is quite reedonkulous and lacking any of the aforementioned common sense though imo.
Silly analogies though are just what keeps marketing departments rolling along and 14 mph rec riders feeling groovy
The CF frame may be the difference between a 14 MPH rec rider and a 13 MPH rec rider
CF is just different than other common frame materials (steel, aluminum, titanium). Bamboo? The CF does have high fatigue resistance, but apparently cracks when other materials might dent or bend. Maybe one of the issues is that CF will return to its original shape even if damaged when steel might have a visible bend that would otherwise indicate an unridable bicycle.
I have no doubt that as more CF bikes age past 20 years old, there will be discussions of age related damage. But, this still will be highly variable because it will also be related to heat and sunlight exposure.