Carbon frame repair . . . recent experiences? Costs?
 

A few weeks ago, my OPEN U.P. dismounted from an indoor trainer. (The rear thru axle backed itself out.) In the resulting crash, the trainer flywheel sliced two cuts in the left seat stay and the left dropout got "boogered up." OPEN made good on crash replacement but let me keep the damaged frame.

Now that I've recovered from the trauma, I'm considering having the damaged frame repaired and building it up as a single-speed, MTB-geared, go-straight-up-mountains bike. I've read several threads in the forum recommending carbon bike repair services, but no photos or costs -- and very few experiences -- are in any of the threads. For those who have had carbon frames repaired professionally, who did you use? How did it go? Are the repairs holding up? Is there any advice you would give? Anything you wish you had done differently?

(And . . . how much additional cost is a full frame repaint rather than having them match the OEM color?)

Thanks in advance.

My buddy's seatstay was repaired by Ruckus Composites in Portland. Unnoticeable w/ clear coat, ~$350 + shipping IIR.

I've never heard of a CF repair that failed or had later problems.

I did it myself w/ $40 kit. Good result but didn't try to match the paint exactly.

To get it done professionally you have to completely strip the frame, then pack, ship, & later put the bike back together.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c06fd41aa1.jpg

Thanks for the reply. That repair looks amazing. I would think the clearcoat-over-weave repair would be impossible to make completely invisible. That's a great job!

In my instance, my frame is already completely stripped and boxed -- and I enjoy building up bikes myself, so having to put the bike together is a plus. As nasty as the damage is, I'm not going to try to fix this one myself. And ideally, I would get the whole frame re-painted so that it's not identical to my other OPEN.

Calfee has a good reputation for repair. One of my friends had his seat tube cracked near the FD mount earlier this year. They did an excellent job. I believe the cost was about $400.

I happened to be in Portland & picked up the completed frame.

I was impressed with Ruckus Composites. Bunch of high end frames sent from all over the place.

Amazing ability to match paint finishes, decals, etc.

Carbon frame repair isn't that expensive....Shipping to/from and paint costs more than the repair.

Contact Broken Carbon. They are based in Boulder. I've had a few repairs done through them. The work has always been good and I've never had an issue with a repair.

I cracked my seat stay in two places and took it to Spyder Composites In Scotts Valley. That was over a year ago and the frame is holding up just fine. They did a great job of matching the original paint color and you can’t even tell where it was broken. It cost $300, which seemed a bit steep but still cheaper than a new frame.