Anyone actually broken a carbon frame?

[Zam]

Hey guys,
I have just recently changed over to a carbon frame mtb so have been doing some research about carbon frames and strength etc etc

Now while it generally appears to be stronger if treated well, it is generally weaker when treated badly.

So i was wondering, those who actually have carbon frames, have any of you actually broken one, and if so was it something silly you were doing or more theveesign or manufacturers issues?

 

[wilddemon]

Hey guys,
I have just recently changed over to a carbon frame mtb so have been doing some research about carbon frames and strength etc etc

Now while it generally appears to be stronger if treated well, it is generally weaker when treated badly.

So i was wondering, those who actually have carbon frames, have any of you actually broken one, and if so was it something silly you were doing or more theveesign or manufacturers issues?

no problems touch wood.

26" china hardtail I built up myself, put it around Appin for a couple of laps, now its my road trainer. I just try to refrain from overtightening anything on the frame such as front derailleur, but all the other stuff such as bb, seatpost, caliper threads and steerer tube are aluminium reinforced anyway. If you are nervous you can always get a torque wrench. Good luck
Demon

 

[skwiz05]

Now while it generally appears to be stronger if treated well, it is generally weaker when treated badly.

So is a piece of paper.......

Hmm......test of strength...how well something can withstand a punishing situation..........

Glass is also very strong when treated well too.


But ill take my alloy frame anyday...just incase I accidentally drop it......

 

[wilddemon]

So is a piece of paper.......

Hmm......test of strength...how well something can withstand a punishing situation..........

Glass is also very strong when treated well too.


But ill take my alloy frame anyday...just incase I accidentally drop it......

so do you have carbon frame?

 

[MARKL]

I recently had a big crash, ballpark 40km/h (cracked a couple of ribs, chipped patella, tore muscles and tendon in shoulder) on my carbon XC bike. Bike cartwheeled along the trail - result? No damage to the bike...does this prove anything?

Probably not much, except carbon doesn't fall apart first time you drop it - or throw it down the trail bigtime.

This was an accident that if it was an aluminium frame and it was damaged nobody would have been surprised.

 

[mik_git]

Mate of mine has a trek 9.8 that he got in about 03 or 04 second hand, rode the hell out of it, and its still going strong.

Any bike will be fine so long as you don't abuse it (well except old easton aluminium bikes).

Seen a lot of these threads recently over the web, with the vibe of "oh carbon is it ok for a bike" like its something knew. I can understand in modern DH, but they've been making carbon bikes for... a long time.

I lusted after a Kestrel CSX back in the early 90's, the trek 9900? and then on ot he Scott endorphin and kestrel rubicon.

Although, Nicolas Vouilloz picked the GT LTS over the STS, Mike King took the STS at the Worlds in Cairns, Nico won, therefore carbon is clearly slower...:very_drunk:

 

[trailsnail]

Years ago I was riding an XC carbon frame (Giant I think). a mate had given it to me because I had just snapped my aluminum frame through the joint between the headset and down tube.

I was using it to ride trials and some street riding while saving up for a new frame, it handled this style of riding very well even though it was clearly not designed for it.
I eventually snapped the drive side chain stay when i misjudged the distances between obstacles and landed on the chain stay (Against the corner of a steel tube from a bike rack).

Overall i would have no reason to doubt the strength of carbon fiber, mine failed because i was a moron on it, i am confident in carbon fiber as a material for MTB frames.
My personal preference is chromoly but that is a personal choice, everyone on here will have a favorite material.

If you like carbon, go carbon.

 

[Zam]

Thanks guys,

Personally, i am pretty confident in the carbon frames, i mean carbon fiber has been around a long time and used heavily in motor sports, where they do far greater speeds then MTBing.

It was more a question that there appears to be still a lot of people who dont trust carbon bike frames for strength and say they break easily etc etc, but i dont think i have heard of many stories where they have actually broken......

 

[sedifus]

Working at a store we've sold a lot of carbon bikes. I've only seen one frame back for warranty and that was because the glue holding the bb shell in wasn't cured properly and it had come loose.I myself ride a carbon GT fury and have had no troubles at all, and would recommend carbon any day of the week.

Manufacturers realise that bikes are going to be in crashes, and have designed them not to fail as quickly as people think. If you buy from a company with any sort of quality control you won't have any problems.

 

[3viltoast3r]

Santa Cruz trying to break carbon frames:
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/243228/

 

[Steve-0]

I've seen a lot of the earlier giant anthem carbons and a few top end carbon treks fail every couple months....

However carbon construction is improving and they were top end lightweights. A carbon bike these days built for punishment will take a lot of abuse!

 

[PJS]

Where do those Anthems fail? Talking 2007-09? (just bought a 2010 )

 

[Ridenparadise]

I've seen a lot of the earlier giant anthem carbons and a few top end carbon treks fail every couple months....

However carbon construction is improving and they were top end lightweights. A carbon bike these days built for punishment will take a lot of abuse!

Who gets to see enough frames to see one fail every couple of months. Do you work at a garbage dump?

 

[thecat]

Broken every light weight (and a few heavy duty) Al frames I have owned. I Own couple of carbon frames and they are still going strong, the first being a 09 model GT marathon that has copped an absolute caining including being dropped, crashed, hucked and cased. I'd go well build carbon over Al every time

 

[pharmaboy]

Thanks guys,

Personally, i am pretty confident in the carbon frames, i mean carbon fiber has been around a long time and used heavily in motor sports, where they do far greater speeds then MTBing.

It was more a question that there appears to be still a lot of people who dont trust carbon bike frames for strength and say they break easily etc etc, but i dont think i have heard of many stories where they have actually broken......

Within my riding group of a dozen, there have been 3 carbon frames returned under warranty - thats about 50% of the carbon frames in that group. none have failed catastrophically though, but with cracks found when servicing and cleaning the bikes.

That includes a scott,2 cannondales and another that i cant remember. All very light xc bikes - aimed at the sub 10kg range.

In the same time period there have been 2 dead alu bikes from a far greater base of bikes (most riders have a couple of bikes)

The cold hard reality is, people are willing to pay big $$'s for light weight and dubious benefit - this is driving stupid light designs, that only teach the manufacturers by mistakes what to do next time. It maybe that the fundementals of carbon might not be overly suitable for mountain biking. My bikes get dents in them from impacts - aluminium shows its impacts whereas carbon can hide the damage - road bikes get great advantage from carbon in the way of damping and flex - adv's that are lost with mountain bikes due to big volume low pressure tyres

 

[Jimass]

i think the thing is with carbon, and why people are hesitant, is the fact there is no give with it. It's either broken or not.

 

[---Matt---]

i think the thing is with carbon, and why people are hesitant, is the fact there is no give with it. It's either broken or not.

Isn't that the same with all materials though? Would you knowingly ride a cracked aluminium or steel frame?

 

[MtbDjRidaSachaz66]

Santa Cruz trying to break carbon frames:
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/243228/

I too have just dropped my doubts on carbon frames. Like those people said in the comments, I would love to see a test on the carbon V10!

However, it all really comes down to construction and design of the frames, as well as the consistency of the quality of the frames that are built. Like someone said a long time back about carbon frames here on Rotorburn, they can be constructed to have the same if not more strength than that of an aluminium frame. Captain obvious strikes yet again.

I can now see myself riding one in the years to come.

 

[Steve-0]

Who gets to see enough frames to see one fail every couple of months. Do you work at a garbage dump?

A pair of anthems that kept failing every few months, 12months being the longest they got out of them. Cracked carbon anthems were common. But that was no doubt poor construction. Another guy snapped his trek a handful of times before he settled for alloy. I know of a few other stories of lightweight xc carbon bikes failing but its a combo of poor design and heavy riding rather then purely carbons fault. Aluminium versions were rock solid though.

I love carbon but a carbon bike made sparingly will have little tolerance for abuse in my experience.

 

[Xavo.au]

Isn't that the same with all materials though? Would you knowingly ride a cracked aluminium or steel frame?

No, I think the point he was making is that when you damage a carbon frame (or anything made from carbon basically), it often doesn't show in the forms of cracks or dents. It could mean that the stuff inside the carbon fibre (for lack of the technical terms) becomes really weak/broken. Then eventually you get massive damage that means a whole lotta moola to fix.

It's the same in the aerospace industry with all these new composite airliners coming out. If they accidentally bump the catering truck, or the de-icing truck they have to do a big writeup about it and some fairly heft inspections just in case the internals are damaged, with no obvious damage showing on the outside.

I read the above in a Flight Safety magazine, that I don't have with me atm.