Are carbon fibre and aluminium strong enought to make frames and forks from ?

[Rob3rt]

Are carbon fibre and aluminium strong enought to make frames and forks from ?

Since my accident * I often hear of CF and aluminium frames & forks snapping. I wondered if any organisation, eg the CTC, BSI, or British Cycling etc is doing any research into the frequency of such failures?
[attachment=5644:fork steerer snapped 2.JPG]
*I was out on the bike and had been doing well over 40 mph {down hill} andthen when I was, 'luckliy', doing less then 20 mph the aluminium fork steerer on my carbon forks snapped off just above the top headset bearing - see below - the handle bars came away in my hands and I fell off my bike, landing on my right shoulder and head, breaking my collar bone {clavicle} and my helmet was broken in several places - but my head was OK. I also sustained cuts and bruises. I was taken to A&E by ambulance, 'gas and air' and morphine en route. My accident was similar to George Hincapie's . . . .

see http://www.youtube.c...h?v=UZg1vrvGbdE



I've since returned to steel framed cycling !



Cheers,

on yer steel bike,

HillSpecial.

Of course they are!

apparently not all cf is the same, i.e giant get the actual fibre's from the same place as boeing and f1 teams. in other words they get the best available, then they weave it in house and produce the components in house and keep a tight grip on quality. apparently giant have the ethos of it has to be 'fit for purpose' (which causes passionate arguments at dealer meetings, dealers want cheaper bikes to compete) and not built to compete with 'boutique' brands on lightness (eg, pinarello, colnago etc etc) the boutique companies buy in the already woven cf matting and 'swatch build' their frames with the ultimate goal being lightness and stiffness (fair enough, horses for courses).

giant actually build and have their bikes tested to some crash test standards (craig said EN summat or other) and are heavily involved with improving the standards of all bicycle frames and forks. craig says he really believes the company (giant) operate a show all policy and gets monthly emails regarding failures and recalls. he reckons in all the time he's been a dealer he's not heard (not even on the grapevine) about any problems with giant cf frames or forks.

I'd take what he says with a pinch of salt. Giant are Taiwanese and are made in the far east, they are one of the largest if not the largest frame manufacturer in the world and build frames for many brands so I wouldnt be surprised if they are making some of the frames that budget brands label up. I would figure that they do whatever is the most efficient whilst maintaining a passable quality and prices. Other than their top spec bikes, Giant bikes look pretty lacklustre to me.

If we compare top spec bikes, most brands top spec bikes are using propriety layup techniques.

 

[Zoiders]

Entirely wrong about Giant.

Tiawan is not a backwards place - they are in fact technology leaders in the field of fabrication methods with carbon and have been for nigh on two decades now, there is also little that is "lacklustre" or just "passable" about their bikes.

Rob3t is just yanking your chain - don't rise to it.

 

[Rob3rt]

Where did I say Taiwan was backwards? You totally missed my point in that Giant cannot easily be distinguished from budget brands like Ribble etc on account of location etc (in response to cheap chinese frames) and/or technology, especially in their lower-mid range kit, as Giant make frames for many many brands as the worlds largest frame manufacturer. If they arent making them for Ribble, they are probly making them for a load of other budget brands, i.e. many bikes people are riding are made by Giant whether labelled Giant or not so they are made using Giants technology! Giant wont be using propriety lay-up technology in their lower end stuff, its going to be standard affair.

Also Giant's lower-mid range bikes IMO are pretty lacklustre and not very inspiring, its an opinion, its about time that you learnt to accept that people have them!


BTW I am certainly not "yanking" anyone's "chain".

 

[Zoiders]

You are still trying to yank the chain.

It's a non argument - you aren't actually saying anything other than trying to shoot on other peoples taste in bikes or their budget.

 

[Rob3rt]

You are still trying to yank the chain.

It's a non argument - you aren't actually saying anything other than trying to shoot on other peoples taste in bikes or their budget.

Zoiders, we both know thats not what I am doing, you are just looking for an argument.

No-where have I said that Giant are not good bikes, all I have said is that they are not particularly any better than many other brands.

 

[fossyant]

Give it a rest you two. FFS ! Get a room !

 

[VamP]

I'm tempted to start a thread about carbon fibre helmets with built-in headphones .

How about a scalping thread with said helmet?


Edit: Could kick off with the objective difficulties faced in scalping a helmeted head???


Right. I'll get my coat....

 

[Zoiders]

Zoiders, we both know thats not what I am doing, you are just looking for an argument.

No-where have I said that Giant are not good bikes, all I have said is that they are not particularly any better than many other brands.

No you said they made cheap generic carbon and implied that a boutique brand would be better engineered.

Which is simply not true, just snobbery.

 

[Rob3rt]

No you said they made cheap generic carbon and implied that a boutique brand would be better engineered.

Which is simply not true, just snobbery.

That is not what I said, nor what implied.

What I said (and implied) was that unless you start looking at the top spec Giant machines (like with pretty much any brand) you wont find propriety carbon layup technology (which was what bromptonfp's LBS man was implying Giant do across the board) as it is just not cost effective. In the lower-mid range bikes made by Giant, you will find exactly the same carbon layup technology as many many other brands, not least because Giant indeed make many of the other brands bikes.

 

[SportMonkey]

To be fair, from my previous life as a marathon kayaker, small boutique manufacturers were able to make carbon boats to far higher specification and lower weights, because they had that control over their process. You can't expect a manufacturer who makes 1000 carbon bikes a year to have the same processes as someone who makes a hundred times that.