Bought my first carbon bike today..

[ColinJ]

It will go up anything, though, with 39 x 28 gearing. When did we all go soft? A 23T on the back was considered girly in the early 90s, and 13-21 was the standard race bike cassette.

These pro/top amateur male riders were obviously very 'girly' then...

The ride up Mytholm Steeps demands low gears and high stamina. It’s little more than three kilometres in total but the first section of the ride is a real test as you gain 150 metres in height in just a kilometre along the road. It’s astonishingly steep in places and in Simon Warren’s Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs it was rated 10/10.

The Milk Race came up this way some time back in the 1980s but the route choice wasn’t a complete success. Not all the riders had low enough gears to get up the steepest part of the hill and so some of them just ground to a complete halt. This was the era when riders’ shoes were strapped to their pedals which meant they couldn’t easily put a foot down when they stopped. Instead they simply toppled over sideways bringing down with them most of the rest of the peloton. Once they’d stopped many couldn’t get started again on such a steep ascent and so the spectators at the top of the climb were entertained by the sight of many cyclists trotting up the hill with their bikes slung over their shoulders.

 

[Milkfloat]

BB30 suffers from creaking when the axle begins to fret inside the bearing inner races. The cure is to pull it apart and apply bearing fit compound to the axle where you can see the early signs of wear and metal erosion. Most people wrongly think the creaking is coming from the bearings moving in their sleeves or even the sleeves moving in the frame and they fiddle about without realising it's a simple fix.

This can be a reason for a creaky BB30 and yours was a really bad (or good depending how you look at it example) but certainly the majority of the creaky BB30s I have fixed have been down to crappy frame tolerance. Actually to be fair, the majority of creaky BBs I have resolved have actually been, seatposts, QRs, pedals etc.

 

[rogerzilla]

BB30/PF30 is generally fine as long as you never get it wet. Then the problems start.

 

[faster]

My carbon bike is the one I ride least. It feels a bit dead. It will go up anything, though, with 39 x 28 gearing. When did we all go soft? A 23T on the back was considered girly in the early 90s, and 13-21 was the standard race bike cassette.

Is that what it is? We've all gone soft?

I'd always assumed that people had wised up and no longer let elitist nonsense and machismo b*****it get in the way of having appropriate gears on their bike. Funny how people see things differently.

 

[steveindenmark]

I have a Koga Solicio carbon roadbike. Its about 5 years old, I think. I treat it no different to my other bikes and it is still as good as the day I bought it. It was not expensive.

I think if you buy a carbon bike from a known brand. It wont shrink in the rain, melt in the sun or snap if it falls over. They are good solid, all round bikes. Not as comfortable over long distances as steel. But usually faster. They can be made to be comfortable with a good stem, seatpost, tyres and saddle.

 

[Broadside]

BB30 suffers from creaking when the axle begins to fret inside the bearing inner races. The cure is to pull it apart and apply bearing fit compound to the axle where you can see the early signs of wear and metal erosion. Most people wrongly think the creaking is coming from the bearings moving in their sleeves or even the sleeves moving in the frame and they fiddle about without realising it's a simple fix.

What is a good beating fit compound to use?

 

[Broadside]

This can be a reason for a creaky BB30 and yours was a really bad (or good depending how you look at it example) but certainly the majority of the creaky BB30s I have fixed have been down to crappy frame tolerance. Actually to be fair, the majority of creaky BBs I have resolved have actually been, seatposts, QRs, pedals etc.

What are you doing to cure the problems? Is it just a general clean out and reassembly or are you putting anything in there to actually cure the problem?

 

[mustang1]

If you don't like carbon then you probably don't wanna fly on a Boeing 787. Or have any carbon tub BMWs. Say, don't formula 1 cars have carbon tubs too?

I suppose one could argue that the carbon used in bikes isn't the same as that used on a Boeing, but I'm sure the bike you have is fine.

Oh, and congrats!

 

[Levo-Lon]

Just hope it doesn't develop a squeak in the pressfit bottom bracket

All 3 of my carbons are screw in bb.

Enjoy the bike, treat it same as any other

 

[MichaelW2]

Ground crew have special instructions not to drive their luggage carts and maintenance vehicles into carbon fibre bodied aeroplanes. Drivers likewise need to be especially careful not to drive into carbon fibre bicycles.
My loaded steel tourer once fell against the corner of a brick wall resulting in a nasty scratch. Carbon composite is strong but lacks surface toughness. Ride hard but handle with care.

 

[Globalti]

Any bearing fit compound will do the job. Smear it on the BB axle at the right hand end and inside the inner race on the left side of the bike so it stands the best chance of not being wiped off as you insert the axle.

Think of a carbon tube as like a cardboard postal tube - it's an extremely strong structure unless you create a stress riser by creasing it. The difficulty is to build it into a frame in such a way that stresses transition smoothly into each end of the tube.

 

[Velochris]

I'm guessing the bike is secondhand, so these tips may be of less use.

Use frame protector tape (look for "helicopter tape") on the frame where any cable will rub against the frame.

I also put the same tape under the fork arch, below the rear brake bridge and also where the chain stays meet the bottok bracket. These are areas prone to stone chips, particularly when you ride on a freshly dressed chippings road.

 

[Broadside]

Any bearing fit compound will do the job. Smear it on the BB axle at the right hand end and inside the inner race on the left side of the bike so it stands the best chance of not being wiped off as you insert the axle.

Think of a carbon tube as like a cardboard postal tube - it's an extremely strong structure unless you create a stress riser by creasing it. The difficulty is to build it into a frame in such a way that stresses transition smoothly into each end of the tube.

I was interested in the specific bearing compound you have used because I’ve got a similar problem on my bike which I am trying to solve. I’ve never had need for bearing compound before so need to buy some and there are obviously lots available.

I've searched and found stuff like Loctite 641 which is a medium strength. Then there is the stronger Loctite 638, I’m guessing each will give different results. What I’d really like to know is what people have actually used that sorted it out. If you can help I would appreciate it.

 

[Globalti]

I really don't think it matters. You just need something that will form a microscopic layer to quieten the fretting. The hardness is irrelevant, you just want to be sure it won't squidge away and go black as the metal erodes. Use grease and the creaking will return within a few weeks and you'll see it turning black.

 

[rogerzilla]

It needs to be dismantlable, so don't use one of those grades that requires 200 deg C heat to get it apart (I last used that for some Airlite hubs where the flanges were a bit loose on the barrel; spoke tension keeps them in place when the wheel is built, but these were loose enough to potentially squirm and fret).