Carbon frame repair
Discussion
My best bike got broken in a car accident. A large crack in the carbon fibre down tube.
I've been googling about and trying to find opinions on repaired carbon frames and I didn't see what I expected. I thought it would be a bit like with the generic Chinese frames, folk would be saying they'd never ride a repaired frame, but I'm not seeing much of that at all.
Would you ride a repaired frame? or get rid and buy a shiny new bike?
I've been googling about and trying to find opinions on repaired carbon frames and I didn't see what I expected. I thought it would be a bit like with the generic Chinese frames, folk would be saying they'd never ride a repaired frame, but I'm not seeing much of that at all.
Would you ride a repaired frame? or get rid and buy a shiny new bike?
Money isn't an issue really. Insurance or self financed doesn't come that far into the equation. Maybe an insurance cheque happens, maybe it doesn't.
Is repair viable... really?
Did you have a frame repaired but it was never the same again? Did you find it easy to sell a repaired or broken frame?
Did your repaired frame feel just like new?
Is repair viable... really?
Did you have a frame repaired but it was never the same again? Did you find it easy to sell a repaired or broken frame?
Did your repaired frame feel just like new?
Edited by idiotgap on Monday 17th October 21:16
Fake! 
Sincerely, thanks to all for the notes and views. That outfit in Surrey have done a bit of work for wiggo personally and team sky which is reassuring, as is, not entirely unexpectedly the heft of their quote compared with others.
It's just great to hear that it is possibility.
The insurance aspects of this are a little complex. I didn't get details of the driver to begin with and had to stake out the crash site the next day at the same time to get them, initially they wanted to settle with me directly in cash but changed their mind when they found out the likely costs which were based on an LBS declaring the frame dead and my assessment of how much I'd need to get something similar 2nd hand.
I am dealing directly with their insurer now, but it's not settled yet. I could end up with enough to buy a new bike (particularly while there are still some run out 2016 models around), I might not. They have said they don't want the bike though.
I have a £200 2nd hand 2009 specialized allez i bought to get started on the road back in 2014 that I can get about on in the meantime while they take their time and I work out what I am going to do.
Regardless of payout or not, I'm fundamentally in the same position in that I have both a broken carbon framed bike and a desire to have a working carbon framed bike. I'm just assessing the panoply of options at the moment. Understanding if carbon repair in general is viable helps with that.
- repair it, ride it and buy n+1 (enduralgroad?)
- sell it as is, add proceeds to any payout and buy something else
- repair it, then sell it
- Repair the frame, harvest the 105 gruppo for my allez, have that resprayed in gulf colours to recognise it's Le Mans heritage and make it a nicer winter bike, buy campag group and wheels for the repaired frame
I read an interesting thread the other day, I forget which forum, I think mostly US contributors on it. The gist was that carbon repair is so popular that crashed carbon has been going for over the top money on ebay, such is the competition for a 'bargain'. By the time you actually do the frame repair and paint you may as well have bought a non-crashed one.
Sincerely, thanks to all for the notes and views. That outfit in Surrey have done a bit of work for wiggo personally and team sky which is reassuring, as is, not entirely unexpectedly the heft of their quote compared with others.
It's just great to hear that it is possibility.
The insurance aspects of this are a little complex. I didn't get details of the driver to begin with and had to stake out the crash site the next day at the same time to get them, initially they wanted to settle with me directly in cash but changed their mind when they found out the likely costs which were based on an LBS declaring the frame dead and my assessment of how much I'd need to get something similar 2nd hand.
I am dealing directly with their insurer now, but it's not settled yet. I could end up with enough to buy a new bike (particularly while there are still some run out 2016 models around), I might not. They have said they don't want the bike though.
I have a £200 2nd hand 2009 specialized allez i bought to get started on the road back in 2014 that I can get about on in the meantime while they take their time and I work out what I am going to do.
Regardless of payout or not, I'm fundamentally in the same position in that I have both a broken carbon framed bike and a desire to have a working carbon framed bike. I'm just assessing the panoply of options at the moment. Understanding if carbon repair in general is viable helps with that.
- repair it, ride it and buy n+1 (enduralgroad?)
- sell it as is, add proceeds to any payout and buy something else
- repair it, then sell it
- Repair the frame, harvest the 105 gruppo for my allez, have that resprayed in gulf colours to recognise it's Le Mans heritage and make it a nicer winter bike, buy campag group and wheels for the repaired frame
I read an interesting thread the other day, I forget which forum, I think mostly US contributors on it. The gist was that carbon repair is so popular that crashed carbon has been going for over the top money on ebay, such is the competition for a 'bargain'. By the time you actually do the frame repair and paint you may as well have bought a non-crashed one.
Coincidentally, I got my frame back from LondonCarbonRepair today. I elected not to get it painted as I'm going to build the bike back up and see how I feel about it, so went for minimal outlay. I might get it painted at a later date if I decide I'm going to ride it a lot. I might still buy another bike/frameset and keep this one as a spare.
A bike frame would be subjected to a good deal less stress than components in an aeronautic application, I would imagine. Do you think this is a significant issue?
It looks quite similar to other repair images I've seen so I didn't find it so alarming.
It looks quite similar to other repair images I've seen so I didn't find it so alarming.
Edited by idiotgap on Friday 9th December 16:57
JustinF said:
This might be of interest to a few of you. Cutting open carbon frames.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZbg5hCRyvs&t=...
Cheers J, I watched that the other week. It does demystify the carbon frame a little and illustrate the progression over time. Most surprising to me were the manufacturing defects and voids in the layups some of the frames and forks have from new.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZbg5hCRyvs&t=...
AyBee said:
Did the insurance pay out in the end?
Yeah they did. I don't strictly speaking need this frame, but it seemed a shame to bin it and I haven't bought anything else yet.Sadly I don't see you in the bike park anymore, they fixed our building up so we have our own, plus my firm got bought so we're moving over to Liverpool st. next year.
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