When I purchased my last bike I was concerned about carbon especially with my weight and some of the bumps on the roads around here. I was told not to worry try to avoid bumps and curbs blah blah blah. But going to the LBS the other night and seeing Mountain bikes made out of carbon I guess I forgot about my own worries.

Gary Fisher

A carbon fiber frame will be fine unless you expose it to the ultaviolet rays in sunlight. Just don't take it outside.

Steel is real :)

Taken from another thread

Same thing can happen to steel when you get down to those .016" tube thicknesses (less than 4 times the thickness of a beer can).

I had a steel frame on a not so light bianchi that folded the down tube hitting a curb at 10mph.

Exposing any frame material to stresses they are not designed to handle can make them fail.

My old steel frame had a dent in the down tube for 8 years after a kid on a cycle path rode in to me. Eventually it was the chain stay that snapped all on its own due, I guess, to fatigue. The carbon fork was on the bike for 11 years, had who knows how many miles on it and outlasted the whole bike.

And that was 1990s carbon...

Ti is Fly ... :thumb:

As in flexible flyer??

Don't crash and it will last forever.

The reality is that although all frames may break, some break easier than others. CF breaks considerably easier than others.

The reality is you make some statement without support. That is ridiculous. What is the source? In other words, prove it

I'm a really big fan of vintage lightweight lugged steel, but if carbon fiber wasn't a suitable frame material then it wouldn't be exclusively ridden by pro riders in all major races.

Firstly lets be clear Stan, you can believe whatever you want. And you can buy whatever you want. But I will voice the opposing opinion where it's warranted, without fear of intimidation from those struggling with cognitive dissonance issues.

You bought it, you live with it. But to the new consumers my advice is . . . buyer beware, we're talking plastic versus metal.

Agian, all I'm asking is what is the basis of your statement.

:deadhorse::deadhorse2:

Or, Google "Boeing 787" for perspective.

Considering how many times this has been a topic maybe this is just a troll to build post count for the Forum owners?:notamused:

Stan, how elementary can a discussion get? Tell you what, when you can substantiate your apparent position that cf breaks at the same rate as metal, then I'll bother to substantiate mine. So let's just leave the statement in its complete and inarguable form, that is, some materials break more easily than others. End of argument. Adios.

Billy,

Never mind. I ask for proof. I didn't argue against your statement, and you said "So let's just leave the statement in its complete and inarguable form, that is, some materials break more easily than others. End of argument. Adios. " Again, all I aksed is something that supports your statement. That's pretty clear. Apparently you can't

Nope. Get horse. Shoot it. Beat it.

Nice to see we have mature, adult moderators.

:popcorn

I don't have time to really research into this, but here is a quick table: http://www.performance-composites.co...operties_2.asp

You might be able to find a better table that lists properties like tensile strength, compressive strength, Young's modulus, etc. This has all been researched and is part of Materials Science. But quickly, that table shows that carbon fiber is weaker than metals, especially when it comes to compressive strength. For some applications, carbon can be better at the same weight as the metal, but overall, carbon is more brittle than metals, which are ductile. This is pretty much known. Sure, some producers try to overcome this, but there is no standardization of carbon fiber production, and this is why engineers stay away from carbon, at least for now.

Also remember that steel becomes stronger the more carbon is added, but at the same time this additional carbon makes steel brittle.

There is some great hope in the future of carbon nanotubes, but that's still the future.

Today's CF is made pretty well when compared to older OCLV stuff. When CF finally does fail, it fails catastrophically causing massive failure. I've had steel fail slowly, bending and breaking at the seat post so the saddle was loosened. I rode several rides on it before I needed to replace it. CF would have snapped off and planted me horribly.

Life is a full contact sport. Let's face it, cycling is dangerous. Hell, find me a sport that isn't dangerous. I play softball, hockey, indoor soccer, baseball and cycle. Not sure when or how, but I will likely get hurt eventually - I already have been.

Depends... I just cracked my carbon fork in a crash in a crit, but that certainly wasn't the first time I had gone down with it. At the right speed, with the right angle, any frame can break.

So far, I gather, that Aluminum, Steel, Ti or Carbon frames can all fail, but when CF fails, it cracks and/or snaps into pieces.

Metal frames cracks, gets dented and/or bends, but never snaps into pieces.

Ti keeps looking better over the years and most durable......


Okay, I just made that one up. :D