carbon frames

horizon1967

Bought a cayo at christmas full carbon frame,how long will a carbon frame last.Will i get 5 years or 10 years.I know its a silly question but i was just curious.

Smokin Joe

Unless you damage it it will last the same time as an alu or a steel frame, till you are too old to ride it.

horizon1967

Sounds great,thanks Smokin Joe

vision267

Carbon should last longer than aluminium focus cayos are cheap.I dont know what grade carbon focus use.I hope it last a long time as i have a focus cayo as well

Infamous

Smokin Joe wrote:

Unless you damage it it will last the same time as an alu or a steel frame, till you are too old to ride it.

Alu doesn't last very long compared to steel or carbon.

bomberesque

Infamous wrote:

Smokin Joe wrote:

Unless you damage it it will last the same time as an alu or a steel frame, till you are too old to ride it.

Alu doesn't last very long compared to steel or carbon.

not sure what "last vey long" means (actually I think I do, but I'm being obtuse)

My first "proper" bike frame (in this case an MTB) is a 1990Cannondale. I have ridden it in 8 countries (that I can think of) on 3 continents over the last 18 years, It's been my local forest Single speed for the last 2 years. Can't break the thing. Finally gave up and am passing it onto my brother as a town bike, I expect he'll get it nicked before he breaks it.

I suspect Infamous' reasoning is that Alu work hardens, so the welds on the frame should become brittle with time. The implication of this is that the welds would start to crack. This makes some sense (Alu certainly does work harden much faster than steel) however I've never known someone with mysterious cracks appearing in their frame for no other reason than that the frame is past some arbitrary age where alu majikally becomes as brittle as glass and falls apart at the first turn of the pedal.

What I mean is that I think the whole "alu doesn't last as long etc etc" is a bit of a myth.

OTOH, I have no idea whatsoever about the longevity of carbon (sorry OP) although I certainly hope it lasts forever as I recently got an Ibis Tranny (to replace the venerable 'Dale), which was bloody expensive and had better last a lifetime (or at least till I'm bored of it and have saved up for something shinier, if such a beast exists)

grats on your new bike. Ride it well, don't crash it and it should last at least until it no longer owes you anything.

horizon1967

Thanks bomberesque

Anonymous

As long as you don't leave it out in the sun, rain or overnight during a frost you should get a reasonable length of time out of your carbon frame, otherwise they have a tendency to explode catastrophically.

This man got his fork wet going through a puddle -




Make sure you put the top back on your water bottle properly or splashing could result leading to this -




This rider sneezed at high speed -




The owner of this Pinarello left his bike in the garage overnight and the the freeze-thaw action resulted in this cracked frame -

redddraggon

bomberesque wrote:

Infamous wrote:

Unless you damage it it will last the same time as an alu or a steel frame, till you are too old to ride it.

I suspect Infamous' reasoning is that Alu work hardens

I suspect that age hardening does more to the microstructure than work hardening does.

steerpike

not sure I can help with this question but here is a picture of someone called barry I found on google:

majormantra

NapoleonD wrote:

As long as you don't leave it out in the sun, rain or overnight during a frost you should get a reasonable length of time out of your carbon frame, otherwise they have a tendency to explode catastrophically.

This man got his fork wet going through a puddle -




Make sure you put the top back on your water bottle properly or splashing could result leading to this -




This rider sneezed at high speed -




The owner of this Pinarello left his bike in the garage overnight and the the freeze-thaw action resulted in this cracked frame -

You sir, are a bad man.

Matthew

Infamous

bomberesque wrote:

not sure what "last vey long" means (actually I think I do, but I'm being obtuse)

Well, the lifespan of steel frames can be 50 years plus, carbon frames can last as long as that unless you crash, alu frames are often quoted to have a 5 - 15 year lifespans. As reddddddddddragon said, it's stress fractures that build up or whatever, i'm not a metallurgist.

So relatively, alu doesn't last as long as steel or carbon. It's still a good material for bike frames though (I bought an alu frame last week).

GavH

Don't put your Carbon and Alu frames next to each other. I made this mistake and awoke the next day to find they'd had a fight over who was 'hardest', resulting in damage to both. Sorry.

horizon1967

Thanks for the replies guys,some of the replies are frightening but sh*t not going to stop me from from cycling.Riding a carbon bike is so much fun there must be a down side. :roll: anyway if this bike lasts 10 years I will be much to old to cycle it anyway

Anonymous

This is what Independant Fabrication had in mind when they tried to mix steel and carbon -





This is what happened when they made it -

It wasn't a chemical plant it was the independant fabrication secret development plant used to fuse steel with carbon. The 'chemical plant making rocket fuel for the space shuttle' cover was used because the US public. would not actually allow such a dangerous mix of materials...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KuGizBjDXo

micken

GavH wrote:

Don't put your Carbon and Alu frames next to each other. I made this mistake and awoke the next day to find they'd had a fight over who was 'hardest', resulting in damage to both. Sorry.

I have a Cannondale six13. On most rides the carbon and aluminium components regularly fight with each other, part company, sulk, make up and get back together before the end of the ride. So far the bike's still in one piece overall and so am I, I'm happy to say.