Well this is controversial

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I have a hockey stick made out of carbon fibre, it gets thumped multiple times every Saturday, by a hockey ball and other carbon fiber sticks.

Can any of you CF naysayers explain why it hasn't shattered?

Is it hollow like a bike frame?
 

TheDoctor

Noble and true, with a heart of steel
Moderator
Location
The TerrorVortex
For your consideration. Assume for purposes of discussion that there exists a bike manufacturer that can make 4 identical bikes. They all have the same geometry, aerodynamic features, weight, group set, etc.. The only difference in each bike is the frame material of construction. The materials are steel, CF, aluminum and titanium. They are also, priced the same.
Which one would you buy and why?

They weren't the same weight (although there was less in it than you might think) but I've done this.

1990 531ST tourer - still going strong, still a great ride. Will be electrified when the Swytch Go++ kit arrives
1993 Raleigh Dynatech 401 Ti road bike. Still going strong, as a SS / fixed these days
2008 Carbon road bike. Delaminated in 2015 around the BB area, as revealed when the front mech fell off.
2015 Ribble alloy bike. Still looks like new, replaced an earlier one where the paint came off after about 15 years

I'd probably go aluminium as representing the best value, but that's just me.
 
As have the vertical stabilizers on a number of conventional all-metal aircraft. Not sure what your point is.

Flying Cessna planes like the 150 I slammed the rudder clear to the stops several times in cross wind landings, and the vertical tail section DID NOT break off, like the CF tails on French Airbus's!!!
 

Mr Celine

Discordian
Flying Cessna planes like the 150 I slammed the rudder clear to the stops several times in cross wind landings, and the vertical tail section DID NOT break off, like the CF tails on French Airbus's!!!

I'm not a competent pilot either but I wouldn't expect an aeroplane with a max take off weight of 170 tons to handle or be flown in the same manner as one with a max take off weight of less than a ton.
 

DaveReading

Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
Location
Reading, obvs
Flying Cessna planes like the 150 I slammed the rudder clear to the stops several times in cross wind landings, and the vertical tail section DID NOT break off, like the CF tails on French Airbus's!!!
Ah, but that's just the French ones. The Airbuses that are built in Germany, China and the USA don't have that problem ...
 
Arguing that failures in cf mean the material is no good ignores the fact there's failures in metal so metal is also no good.

You can't use an argument against cf if it can be used against metal. That would mean you can't build anything. You need to understand how materials and products made out of them are designed, made tested and used. You can then make good design decisions for the use of both material classes.

BTW cf isn't one material just as aluminium alloy isn't. It doesn't make undertaken it any easier it seems from posts on here.
 
"Well this is controversial" Not really, i have seen loads of articles like this written about carbon fibre
At nearly seventy one and not doing the long rides i used to do if my ten year old Giant Defy CF bike broke today i would probably just buy an alloy bike as the price of CF bikes has shot up.
 
OP
OP
Venod

Venod

Eh up
Location
Yorkshire
i would probably just buy an alloy bike as the price of CF bikes has shot up.

I have nothing against CF but I agree with you on the price issue, you can get a decent second hand motor for the price of some bikes nowadays, I sold two CF bikes last year, my fair weather road bike is now a 33 year old steel frame, it's a pleasure to ride. I have an Aluminum MTB, a Ti CX, and a Ti all rounder, I can't see me buying a new CF frame or bike, but if a second hand bargain came along I might be tempted.
 
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