Best carbon frame repairer

proto

Mate badly damaged his bike in a race on Saturday and needs some repair advice. Almost new (3 weeks) S-Works Tarmac SL2 now has a big chunk out of the top tube, about the size of a 10p coin, and is further cracked almost all the way around. The damage is approx half way along the top tube.

I've seen photos of repaired frames and I'm fairly astonished by what can be done, so I think it is repairable. However, I'm not sure which of the repair outfits to send it to. Anyone got any direct experience of having a repair carried out.

I know of the following:

Carbonology
HQ Fibre
Carbon Cycle Repairs

Any others?

He wants the best cosmetic repair possible, but it needs to be done right. Any suggestions?

PS the response from Specialized regarding a warranty replacement has been very good, they have made him a very generous offer, excellent customer service as usual, but sadly still an expensive route. Thus the exploration of any possible repair.

Carlos_SC

I don't think the carbon repairs are particularly cheap either. A customer of mine has had a couple of repairs done and I believe they were well into the hundreds of £
The frame really needs to be painted afterwards too, as the repairs that I've seen look quite awful in my opinion - the weave looks difficult, if not impossible to match to the existing weave - and it would probably offer more strength in a repair if the weave doesn't match too, because it's layered across existing weaves instead of going with the flow.
I'd seriously consider the new frame option personally.

parajba

I contacted the following (quote in brackets, all + VAT)

- Carbon Cycle Repairs (£200 + P&P incl. respray)
- HQ Fibre Products (£65 + P&P no respray)
- Atlantic Boulevard (£350 + P&P incl. respray)
- Carbonology (£120+ P&P no respray)

Have you used Carbon Cycle Repairs before? Would you recommend them for a carbon repair and respray?

Thanks for your valuable input.

coyot3

That's my broken top tube shown at http://www.carboncyclerepairs.co.uk/testimonials_5.html from a 2008 crash. The break was almost complete with just a few millimetres intact. Still using the frame without any problems or worries.[/url]

mmacavity

A big pot of glue and some string, job done..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WRDEu1rrcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s25hVcjj ... re=related

"RE-PAINTING
Modern frames not only have very thin walls, but have thermal and surface treatments that could be damaged when removing the old paint and preparing the surface for the new paint; moreover carbon frames could be subject to structural damage due to the possible damage to the outer carbon layer. This is why re-painting is generally not recommended and is prohibited for carbon frames. In any case re-painting,
even partial, voids the warranty and, if re-painting causes a structural failure, Pinarello would not be responsible."
http://www.ciclipinarello.com/else/gara ... ISHweb.pdf

But then again what do Pinarello know about bikes.......

parajba

Thanks all for your input, but I think Pinarello wants them to buy a new bike rather than fix an old one. And that they don't want a 3rd party company to work on their frame, for obvious reason. It is really that simple.

On a different note, the bike is a Cervelo R3 (2009) size 54, I'm planning on selling it on ebay once it's fixed. Do you guys reckon I should sell it like this or fix it/respray and sell it? Clearly I will state that it's been repaired. Which option would give me the greater return in your opinion? (The crack is a tiny 2cm zig zag (superficial) on the tub tube. The handlebars twisted and banged against it.)

derek48

Hi

I had my Cervelo R3 chainstay repaired and painted by Fibre-lyte.co.uk (01642713129). It wasn't as big a repair as yours as it was caused by a large sharp stone punching through the underside of the chainstay. They did a great job and the painted repair was almost invisible. Cost was about £120 if I recall correctly. I subsequently sold the repaired frame, obviously with the repair declared and the buyer contacted Fibre-lyte who gave him all the details of the repair and he was very happy with it. You could send them a photo and see what they say.