daft question about storing my new carbon bike .

sibike

Not long had my new carbon bike which ive been keeping in the living room but the wife is not going to put up with this for much longer .Its going to get relegated to the garage in the next week or 2 . Ive currently got an aluminium bike in the garage which i keep on my minoura workstand . my qustion is , will it be ok to put the carbon bike on the workstand with jaw very lightly clamped on the toptube ? or will this put stress on the frame in other places .......did warn you in title it might be a daft question .

giant_man

Can't you just put it on the floor propped up against the wall? I know you can put a carbon frame in a workstand of course but why put it up in the air in the first place? Just a thought.

John.T

It won't bother it at all. More important is where are you going to put the other bike now.
Seriously, it is going to get far more stressed while you are riding it.

Wamas

Generally, you are better clamping your carbon bike by the seat post in your workstand. the seatpost is much thicker and is designed to be clamped.

plowmar

Why clamp won't it balance?

Must admit my carbon is in the kitchen and has been since I got it 4 months ago. The winter bike is in the garage hanging from a hook from the ceiling, cos I think there are animals in there inviting the fairy in.

Honest I even found two needle holes in a then empty 2 gallon pressure weed killer carton.

dennisn

sibike wrote:

Not long had my new carbon bike which ive been keeping in the living room but the wife is not going to put up with this for much longer .Its going to get relegated to the garage in the next week or 2 . Ive currently got an aluminium bike in the garage which i keep on my minoura workstand . my qustion is , will it be ok to put the carbon bike on the workstand with jaw very lightly clamped on the toptube ? or will this put stress on the frame in other places .......did warn you in title it might be a daft question .

Can I ask a question here???? Why would you even consider buying a bike, that you actually plan on riding, if you thought, for a minute, that clamping it in a stand, made for bikes, would hurt it? I wouldn't even get on a bike if I thought it was that fragile. What do you do if you see a slight bump in the road? Get off and walk??? :roll: :roll: :roll:
Or do you think that a bump or pothole in the road doesn't put any kind of stress on the frame but a clamp will? Where do these ideas come from??? Or are you just trolling?

alfablue

Lighten-up, its a fair question for a novice.

Will Snow

its not very often that when riding a bike you get a clamping force on the top tube... perfectly valid question

dennisn

alfablue wrote:

Lighten-up, its a fair question for a novice.

You're absolutely right. It is a fair question.
So are mine. Why would you buy a "fragile" bicycle? How could lightly clamping(his words) hurt it more than hitting a pothole??? Or does he get off and walk through rough sections of road? In essence, "Who the h*ll makes a bicycle this flimsy and who the h*ll
would buy it?"
Are those not fair questions?

Will Snow

people who want the fastest bicycles? Maybe to wring that extra bit of speed, they cant be strong as girders?

alfablue

dennisn wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Lighten-up, its a fair question for a novice.

You're absolutely right. It is a fair question.
So are mine. Why would you buy a "fragile" bicycle? How could lightly clamping(his words) hurt it more than hitting a pothole??? Or does he get off and walk through rough sections of road? In essence, "Who the h*ll makes a bicycle this flimsy and who the h*ll
would buy it?"
Are those not fair questions?

Yes, they are all fair questions, but their phrasing has a slightly condemnatory tone which might make people reluctant to ask (and the OP does acknowledge that it may be a daft question). I am of the "no question is too stupid" persuasion.

BTW, my son's expensive Cannondale (aluminium) xc mtb frame has such thin tubes that they bend with thumb pressure, yet when ridden the structure is obviously sound enough, but unusual forces may not be well tolerated.

dennisn

Will Snow wrote:

people who want the fastest bicycles? Maybe to wring that extra bit of speed, they cant be strong as girders?

Read the advertisements. Every year every bike gets stiffer and stronger than last years
offering. By now they must be as strong as girders.
In any case where does this carbon fiber paranoia come from?
Also bikes aren't fast. People are fast. Most bikes won't even move without a human on them. :roll: :roll:

Will Snow

whatever man, if you cant be bothered to be civil then forget it. Its blatently obvious what I meant, if some bikes werent faster than others then world champs would ride on shoppers from 50 years ago. Save em alot of money...

dennisn

alfablue wrote:

dennisn wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Lighten-up, its a fair question for a novice.

You're absolutely right. It is a fair question.
So are mine. Why would you buy a "fragile" bicycle? How could lightly clamping(his words) hurt it more than hitting a pothole??? Or does he get off and walk through rough sections of road? In essence, "Who the h*ll makes a bicycle this flimsy and who the h*ll
would buy it?"
Are those not fair questions?

I am of the "no question is too stupid" persuasion.

BTW, my son's expensive Cannondale (aluminium) xc mtb frame has such thin tubes that they bend with thumb pressure, yet when ridden the structure is obviously sound enough, but unusual forces may not be well tolerated.

Never said it was a stupid question.

So what happens with your sons bike if some slips with a wrench and bumps into one of
those thin tubes? What if the bike accidentally slips from his hands, falls over and hits
something hard??? Is the frame trashed?? I can't believe these things are that fragile??
And if they are, that someone puts their faith in them for actual riding, or that a manufacturer would even put his name on something that cr*ppy, or that a Pro rider would even consider using a bike that wouldn't stand up to a bit of abuse.
All I can say is you've got to be kidding about a bike not being able to withstand being "lightly clamped". And will someone please answer me as to where this carbon paranoia comes from.

Buckled_Rims

I agree there's no such thing as a stupid question. At the end of the day, nobody is born with the knowledge. You may know the answer but I bet you were told/read/shown it previously.

So IMO the OP question is valid if a little hard to understand why he can't just lean it against the wall.

As for "fragile" carbon bikes, there's a posting recently on here on the MTB forum where someones foot has worn the top layer of carbon off the chainstay and he needs to repair it!

dennisn

Buckled_Rims wrote:

I agree there's no such thing as a stupid question. At the end of the day, nobody is born with the knowledge. You may know the answer but I bet you were told/read/shown it previously.

So IMO the OP question is valid if a little hard to understand why he can't just lean it against the wall.

As for "fragile" carbon bikes, there's a posting recently on here on the MTB forum where someones foot has worn the top layer of carbon off the chainstay and he needs to repair it!

I'm not arguing whether or not carbon / aluminum is good, bad, or so-so. Just trying to determine how someone could trust a bike, if in fact they were that "not so well built" "not able to take a bit of use or abuse"?

alfablue

Dennisn, I am not saying the frame cannot be lightly clamped.

Dennisn I am not saying that you said the question was stupid (though your response suggests that).

I was saying that I think no question is too stupid - different point.

I am saying that the tube wall thickness on some lightweight aluminium frames is very thin and thumb pressure can make it bulge inwards. If he whacks it with a wrench or a rock in the wrong place, then yes, the frame will get dented. Not rocket science.

I expect an average carbon framed bike will fare better in a clamp than this particular cannondale alu frame - my carbon bike certainly seems tough enough.

I do not have "carbon paranoia", but I don't clamp my carbon, steel or titanium bikes around their main tubes, there is just no need to do so.

Will Snow

if you really want to learn more about different materials and their properties, and what makes them suitable for the applications they are used in, might i suggest google as a good place to start?

dennisn

alfablue wrote:

Dennisn, I am not saying the frame cannot be lightly clamped.

Dennisn I am not saying that you said the question was stupid (though your response suggests that).

I was saying that I think no question is too stupid - different point.

I am saying that the tube wall thickness on some lightweight aluminium frames is very thin and thumb pressure can make it bulge inwards. If he whacks it with a wrench or a rock in the wrong place, then yes, the frame will get dented. Not rocket science.

I expect an average carbon framed bike will fare better in a clamp than this particular cannondale alu frame - my carbon bike certainly seems tough enough.

I do not have "carbon paranoia", but I don't clamp my carbon, steel or titanium bikes around their main tubes, there is just no need to do so.

I think some of my questioning goes to a post or two a while back where someone wanted to know if it was safe to put his carbon fronts forks into a car roof rack clamp. All I could think of was "My god, if it breaks being on a roof rack how do you justify riding it over anything larger than a pebble?".

alfablue

I think it may have been a different thread.

OT but there is some discussion about the durability of Cannondale lightweight alu road frames here - I like the analogy of the coke can - easy to squeeze in from the sides yet very stiff if you try to bend it holding each end.

dennisn

alfablue wrote:

I think it may have been a different thread.

OT but there is some discussion about the durability of Cannondale lightweight alu road frames here - I like the analogy of the coke can - easy to squeeze in from the sides yet very stiff if you try to bend it holding each end.

I don't have an aluminum bike(or carbon for that matter) but if what you say is true
about a Coke can(and I'm guessing it is) I'm going to have a really hard time giving up a bike I trust(steel) for one that a lot of people seem to think simply won't tolerate anywhere near the use / abuse my lugged steely will endure. Weight be d*mned.

Will Snow

i think if you think ally bikes are made out of the same stuff as coke cans then you probably shouldnt be allowed a bicycle

dennisn

Will Snow wrote:

i think if you think ally bikes are made out of the same stuff as coke cans then you probably shouldnt be allowed a bicycle

I think he was saying that aluminum tubed bikes could collapse in the manner of a Coke can. Not that they were make from Coke cans. Then again, when recycled with the right additives and heat treatments, who knows?

Will Snow

you kinda did say that. you cant trust an ally bike because coke cans arent very strong... still, if you wanna ride around on a steel frame whack away. Just be terrified of all those ally cars surrounding you incase they implode like too many trodden on coke cans, or the myriad of other aluminium things you use

Mister W

Hmmm, this thread is getting a bit heated.

Bike tubes are designed to be strong in certain directions, hopefully the direction the expected load is coming from. They may also be strong in other directions but I don't think we can assume that. We've all seen how bike tubes can bend catastrophically when subject to a load in an unexpected direction.

So the original poster's question was valid. There's no reason to assume that a tube designed to take the forces applied when cycling will cope with the forces applied by a clamp. Our experience suggests that it probably will but he may never have owned a carbon frame bike.

dennisn

alfablue wrote:

Lighten-up, its a fair question for a novice.

This guy has been on the forum since 2005. Novice????

dennisn

Will Snow wrote:

i think if you think ally bikes are made out of the same stuff as coke cans then you probably shouldnt be allowed a bicycle

So tell me the difference between Coke can aluminum and bike frame aluminum.

keef66

You don't get a ring-pull on the bike?

dennisn

Mister W wrote:

Hmmm, this thread is getting a bit heated.

Bike tubes are designed to be strong in certain directions, hopefully the direction the expected load is coming from. They may also be strong in other directions but I don't think we can assume that. We've all seen how bike tubes can bend catastrophically when subject to a load in an unexpected direction.

So the original poster's question was valid. There's no reason to assume that a tube designed to take the forces applied when cycling will cope with the forces applied by a clamp. Our experience suggests that it probably will but he may never have owned a carbon frame bike.

Never said it wasn't a valid question. My question was. If YOU think these frames are so "flimsy", WHY buy one? I don't think they are "flimsy". Everyone else seems to though.
Hence my carbon paranoia statement. To be honest, I wouldn't buy a bike IF I thought(and I don't)that it wouldn't take even a light clamping.

ballspondroad

Just to add some more fuel to help the fire storm along - some of those butted steel tubes can be wafer thin in their central sections.

dennisn

keef66 wrote:

You don't get a ring-pull on the bike?