Carbon Frame Virgin

[VinceLedge]

Just about to get my first carbon frame bike - any genuine things NOT to do with a carbon frame?

Cheer!

[markjohnobrien]

Don’t load it up with 40kg of luggage and use as an ersatz touring bike.

Sounds silly, but I had to talk one of my friends out of it.

[VinceLedge]

Interesting, hadn't planned to do that, although I know people do bikepacking on carbon MTBs!

[Bonzo Banana]

Worth pointing out it is the carbon fibre forks that are the most dangerous not the frame. If the forks fail they can break off without any warning, this could be at high speed or amongst busy traffic face planting you at very high speed or under a HGV etc. So its good to have a safety regime for the forks, regular inspection, very careful maintenance and if in doubt just replace. Remember the material properties are very different to metal its like glass fibre except the glass fibres are replaced with carbon fibres so much stronger but still very vulnerable to impacts especially at the wrong angle against normal use i.e. a road accident or the bike falling over.

Luescher Technik on youtube provides a lot of great info on carbon fibre frames and forks. He is a huge fan of carbon fibre and even makes his own carbon fibre frames and forks but still provides lots of info about safety issues and manufacturing defects that are common to many CF frames and forks.

If you look at a instruction manual i.e. download from Giant's site they provide a lot of important information about carbon fibre that they have to include as required safety text from the EN/ISO certification.

It's easy to get misled by bike marketing as they are so keen to sell you the product so worth looking at the important info you only get when you have actually purchased a CF bike.

Basically its a performance material with many compromises a bit like a buying a sports car you don't expect it to be as reliable or strong as it is optimised for performance.

[Jamesh]

Probably the most obvious is not to clamp it by the seat tube in a bike maintainance work stand.

Best to clamp it by the seat post instead.

I have found carbon to be no more brittle than Alu or steel tbh.

I've had two Alu frames fail despite riding less on them than the carbon frames.

Cheers James

[mcshroom]

I'd suggest getting a torque wrench. It doesn't have to be anything special, but carbon fibre frames and components can be crushed if bolts get overtightened. Normally you'll be fine if you don't attack the bike like a gorilla, but it's good piece of mind to do it to the correct settings.

[VinceLedge]

Thanks for info! I have already got a bike torque wrench , otherwise just be careful not to clamp anything hard on the tubes !

[foxyrider]

Always, always use a torque wrench and carbon fitting paste. Never clamp anything to any tube unless its supposed to, ie a front mech. A metal seat post is the best solution for holding in a work stand.

Modern carbon frames and forks are very robust and take quite some effort to damage if the bike isn't abused or crashed. You don't need to treat it with kid gloves, just be sensible.

[bungle73]

Always, always use a torque wrench and carbon fitting paste.

That's not quite true. The advice is not to use carbon paste on the stem/steerer tube interface.