Evaluating a Carbon fibre frame after a collision

[gxaustin]

I should have thought that the fork needs replacing at the very least. The consequences of a failure are likely to be life threatening.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I got wiped out by someone driving straight into me side on, a couple of years ago, The bike is a Carbon fibre Boardman, I still ride it, it’s fine.

[The utility cyclist]

So: once a wonderful light expensive cf frame has had a knock it is best to discard it? €€&?
What about steel or titanium frames?

Sorry I wanted to quote Brucey: "the only safe thing to do is probably to scrap it and replace it"

Can the cf material be recycled/reused?

Doesn't it depend, given how some frames are massively more resilient than others it's a bit like other materials in many respect, if you were in collision with a vehicle at speed with a high end/thin walled steel or alu or even ti frame then the damage would also be an issue.
CF can be and is extremely resilient in certain types of impacts, more so than other materials such that they are more likely to be able to continue to be used were others materials are complete write offs.
I was rear ended in a hit and run and the carbon fibre seat stays shrugged it off, that was over 6 years ago and the bike is used 5 days a week, including loaded (heavily), the alu part of the frame also shows no sign of damage and I've come off (trying to descend in compacted snow covered road) and knocked off a couple of times since, again without any issues to the carbon stays or CF forks or CF seatpost or CF bars.

Yes have a frame inspected thoroughly but this notion that because a CF frame has had a knock immediately reduces it to the skip is garbage/fallacy that just keeps on being propagated.

[irc]

As there has been an injury it’s a legal requirement to report the accident to the Police.

For the driver, yes, Not the OP.

[tim-b]

Hi
CF has remarkable strengths in use in certain directions because it's designed and manufactured that way. Catch it from a direction that isn't so resilient and you are more likely to have damage, and that damage may not be visible at the surface.
There are several tests that engineers can use on CF parts, none of which mean anything if you don't know what a satisfactory result should be in the first place. Get an honest estimate from a bike shop that understands this

"softlips wrote:
As there has been an injury it’s a legal requirement to report the accident to the Police.

For the driver, yes, Not the OP.

Just to clarify, there isn't a legal requirement to report an injury accident to police providing insurance details have been exchanged (link)

Regards
tim-b

[Marcus Aurelius]

It’s a nigh on impossible question to answer really. Even if you get a full ultrasound done, on all bits of the bike, there could still be something that causes the frame / forks / other key components to fail. When they do go, it’s generally with not much warning, and it’s scary when something gives out. If in doubt, throw it out. I personally don’t mind taking the risk, thus far, it’s not had any consequences, I know an awful lot of people who really don’t fancy taking the risk though.