Are Carbon frames strong enough....?
 

Are carbon frames strong enough for big jumps and drops. I have a Demo 8 and love it. I'd love to upgrade to an S-Works but not sure about strength of carbon frames. I am a big guy. I am 215 lbs and 6'.1". I go big on my bike and only going bigger everyday. I'm not a down hill guy. I'm more about big drops, jumps and road gaps. Should I move up to carbon? Is it strong enough?

Would go with yes but a a cost; yes carbon fiber is plenty strong enough for just about any bike application, but for MTB's especially DH specific ones, we are still a long way from them coming in at sensible prices; looking at the Demo 8, you can get an 'i' model Specialized Bicycle Components for $100 more than the S-Works frame frame Specialized Bicycle Components.

If you have the money go for it.

Excellent demonstration of the proper use of safety glasses when pushing stuff to the breaking point!!!!

I will say their tests were impressive. However, at least with the first frontal test, there was sure a lot of popping with the CF frame at, and before 1400 lbs (failure for Al). Perhaps the idea was to simulate a single brief impact, rather than holding it with a continuous extremely high pressure, however, it might have failed at a lower pressure if the compression had been slower, or there had been repeated high pressures.

Certainly it shows some advantage of flex with the CF over aluminum rigidity.

Good carbon cost lots n lots of money....

I like the feedback of aluminum..

as in I can still afford to feed myself after I but an aluminum bike :P

It will be strong enough. Most World Cup DH teams are on carbon frames now and the stresses put on a bike on WC courses at the speeds they go with stiff suspension tuning would more than equal whatever you can throw it one.

Scary part of the cracking and popping is that you don't see it until it fails.

Not really, if you crashed big enough to break the frame, you would have probably heard your bones breaking first from the impact if you were still conscious.