Buying second hand carbon frame, ok?

The carbon tubes themselves aren't the problem -- unless they get subjected to extreme stress in a direction that they weren't designed for, or are mishandled in a way that causes the epoxy in the fibre layers to delaminate, they'll last a very, very long time.

The place to look at would be where the carbon tubes are joined together; early carbon bikes were lugged in a way which wasn't exactly the best.. but I'm thinking more in terms of late 80s/early 90s frames rather than a couple of years' old ones.

Things have come a long way in the last 5-6 years, both in the construction of the CF tubing itself, the lugging, and also monocoque construction (where the whole frame, or most of it, is made as one big piece -- e.g. Giant's carbon frames have a monocoque main triangle). I wouldn't have any hesitation buying a 2-3 year old, scratch free, carbon frame.

I agree, as long as there are no scratches (or cracks), and the price is right why not? I would make sure to give it a thorough inspection before I plunk down any coin.

thanks guys, i will have to wait till i get there to buy a second hand bike then... (need to save the $$$ esp since the tcr carbons are not overly cheap)

thats if its not to wet and cold to ride:eek:

Also (i am in Australia so giant felt etc are easy to find, and mostly shimano) but in the UK are they more Euro branded bikes? eg giant in AU make a tcr Euro etc from my quick web look, the giants overthere were not so shimano based

cheers

CF itself does last long. But I heard that a carbon frame/fork might have issues internally after a crash and you can't distinguish from outside. The real problem is that it looks fine but might fail anytime you are in nomal riding.

You might like to read a similar thread here (talking about carbon forks):
bicycle-forum.netbest carbon fork 400881.htmlOpen ↗

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[font=Arial]> > I have a True Temper Alpha Q CX fork

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I had a major high speed crash with it. The handle bar was bent, and turbed
90? on the steerer, the wheel got hit so hard that the skewer could not hold
the wheel in the fork and the wheel came out of true (it was tightly
secured!), the rider (196 lb with a 8 lb Camelback) was badly beaten up, but
the fork was in perfect shape! I am using it daily.

Erik,

Well, you had better check it VERY carefully.

My friend, too, had an Alpha Q fork, BARELY tapped it crossing a
railroad track, and both fork blades collapsed in a "catastrophic"
failure. The only history on the fork other than being ridden 20,000
miles or so by a 125 lb woman was that she had two crashes on the
bike--in both cases the fork appeared to be "perfect" and she used
subsequently "used it daily." Until now, that is. As mentioned below,
this is what Jobst Brandt would definitely describe as a "failure
while riding around."

That's pretty scary, and illustrates how there's no telling the condition of a
carbon fork, short of X-raying it or something (which is what they do with race
car and aircraft parts). Thus, it's probably important to know a carbon fork's
history. If it's been crashed, retire it.

The big advantage of a steel fork is that it "wears its heart on its sleeve."
Any damage, or lack thereof, is immediately apparent.

Matt O. [/font]

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