I figured will all the CF discussions, we ought to consolidate all the failures into one thread and discuss them as a group. Road and MTB stories welcome.

Please note the one and only rule - If you are contributing a report, please only post about something you broke yourself, or something you actually witnessed. It does no good to tell us about your friend's uncle's neighbour's bike.

Cheers.

ok i have 2 failures i can report ( lucky me! )

1st was on a test bike that i was riding. this paricular bike i had seen out a local XC race and had witnessed people overtightning the post on it contrary to the reps instructions. anyhoo.... my 1st ride, about halfway through the loop and crack, there it went, splintering off at the seat clamp. now , i know that when i had the bike set up for me it was not overtightend and i watched the guy do it. somthing to thikn about if getting a 2nd hand ibke, or installing your own CF seat posts.

another is a friend of mine, ok i wasnt there at the time, but i saw the scars the next day. on a 2 year old big name brand carbon road bike, 5 minutes out of his house the front fork snapped through the steer tube into the crown. resulting in rider going down, some nice scars and a cheery walk home.

I crushed my MTB bars with barends, way before they were tight enough to resist the torque during tough climbing. I fixed it though.

Carbon handlebars hate being overtightened. They (as expected) can easily get crushed and then crack.

A stem that has a sharp edge on the clamping faces will require even less tightening to crush the stem. Bear that in mind if you buy some swanky new carbin bars - it might be a good idea to get a new stem at the same time.

Both completely as the result of mechanics error - I have seen this done on Easton MTB bars and Scud Road bars.

I also ride both bars with confidence on my own rigs.

One day a few years back ( late 90s ) I was browsing in Gregg's Greenlake Cyclery. A sales rep was there from one of the larger bicycle manufacturers, touting his firm's new carbon fiber frames. To show just how strong the material was he had a sample frame tube which he whacked smartly against one of the metal bike stands in the shop. "See, there's hardly a mark on it, it's actually stronger than steel !" The sales guy collared me, stuck the tube in my hand and told me to try it myself, which I did. Of course, the tube completely shattered.