I have an old wheel thats probably about as old as me from the early 90s and its made with some type of carbon composite bladed spokes. I am just wondering is it safe and what is the strength of this wheel? I have gone down a steep grade hill fast and when hitting the intersection at the bottom that was flat I felt the rim compress and the spokes I could see bowed out, it felt like I had a front shock on my TT bike. Now I know it sounds like a near death experience but it all seems fine still after. I've paid a pretty penny and had this wheel as a decoration for many months before building up the courage to ride it. I wonder if I should just leave it hanging on the wall?

"CARBON" or CFRP is constructed with carbon fibers molded into or impregnated with a plastic resin usually epoxy. The carbon fibers have a very long shelf life but over time the plastic binder deteriorates from age and environmental exposure.

"from the early 90s" means that the wheel is at least 25 years old. That these wheels and spokes never became popular speaks volumes! I've never seen them but that's just me.

Italian made Fir rims had a good reputation BITD.

The front wheel is a hyper critical part of a bike and highly stressed. Given all of that information, I wouldn't risk saving a few bucks to ride an old bastardo wheel. Carbon fiber products have the propensity to fail catastrophically without any prior indication!

Food for thought:





A rim or wheel only has to fail ONCE! Consider the consequences if one does while you're riding.

That wheel will look good on your wall!

There should be a separate cyclist's category for the Darwin Awards!

verktyg

oooooo ... An assploding crabon thread. goodie gumdrops!

verktyg

The prevailing myth is you are merrily riding along along and your crabon wheel, fork, frame, bars, whatever, spontaneously assplode.

The reality is you got into accident and because of the accident, your bike broke. Also contrary to the assploding crabon myth is that crabon can be repaired in some cases and steel/aluminum cannot be repaired in some cases.

So, will your wheel assplode? Probably as likely as the crabon fork and frame pictured with the wheel will assplode.

I'm too lazy to post any more of the thousands of assploding steel/aluminum pics. So enjoy this one.

But the spokes are intact

Never saw that Giant branded wheel. The test is not the spike run but the terminations at the rim and hub.
the sensation of the wheel “giving” is my guess the rim deforming, too few spokes? Not a stiff enough rim?

I liked the concept of the Madfiber all carbon wheels, never bought a set and a quick scan of eBay seems that they is still demand for them. Or the sellers think there are.

given the age of the wheels...
the fact that carbon designed stuff was just beginning to be understood
the sheer terror (and nightmare injury/death) of having a front wheel fold up under you at any speed...
going down at speed, from front end problem... terrifying - been there... hopefully never again.
any one watching the Vuelta ? and yesterday's stage 14 with the Jay Vine incident, the VanMarche/Navarro shunt, and all the other crashes from races and years past?
riding stuff you know is sketchy and questionable is hardly worth the 'cool' factor...
...I would sell to a 'collector'
Thx
Yuri - I have lots of bikes/stuff but don;t consider it wall art, I don;t hang my surfboards, skis, skates, et al, although I prolly have 'collector's' stuff
my bikes are for ridin... old or new

Mike Burrows designed, heavy but reliable enough.

popular pages on instagram would ask for $300 for one of those!