Crashing Carbon

[tzvia]

My first carbon bike lasted about 7 months. When I crashed, the guy behind me ran into me, and I think it was his pedal that gouged into my downtube, causing a noticeable amount of damage to a very small area, about a quarter in size. There was a big scratch which was cosmetic, but you could see the carbon in the area had changed color from very dark grey to off-white, as if something had delaminated or something. It was crash replaced, and I payed the difference and got the frame model up. If I was not run into after crashing, the frame would have been fine.

I paid a percent of the value of the frame; don't know exactly how much as I don't know the value of the frame separate of the whole bike, guessing about 20~30%. So I still had to come up with a fair chunk of change for the new frame; the labor to move my parts over, new shifters and a new saddle. It was just a freak thing- survive the crash only to get skewered by another rider.

[Aggie_Ama]

Miranda- I know Cannondale and Specialized have some sort of crash replacement programs. Only because we own those brands but I bet they aren't the only ones. That being said carbon isn't a glass bike. I think the reputation of being fragile is over played. Mine fell over changing a flat and had a knick in the fork. I flipped out, the LBS assured me 100x it would not break from this tiny scratch in the clear coat. 3,000 miles and some harrowing descents later they are still right. The worst damage I have personally seen was an aluminum frame, it was scary how messed up it was! He broke the top tube and rear triangle, didn't know him just saw it in the shop but wow.

[Miranda]

Thanks for those additional posts. That is good to know. I had one lbs mechanic tell me that sometimes with wear there can be slight cracks in the paint job. He said people will bring it in freaking out that they have a crack in their frame. It's not. It's just in the paint.

[Kiwi Stoker]

My seat stay cracked right through on my Specialized Ruby.
The bike flipped, landing on the saddle (which was ripped off the rails) and the seat stay must of taken all the force. Rear wheel was buckled as well

I took a lot of damage as well (seriously broken bones).

Whole bike was written off. Specialized only honour the frame replacement in the USA.

Thank goodness for insurance!

The bike had survived being dropped and slow speed crashes (falling at traffic lights etc) beforehand. I don't think any bike would of survived this crash anyway.

[sundial]

Ouch Kiwi! Good grief! Glad you are still with us.

[emily_in_nc]

My most serious crash on my carbon Aegis Swift fractured my pelvis from my right ilium to my sacrum, as well as sit bone fractures. My pelvis by far took the brunt of the fall and actually protected the bike from hitting the road with strong force. The bar tape had a small gouge, and the right brifter was turned in a bit - an easy fix. The frame itself was absolutely fine, no harm done at all (I did have it checked out by a good LBS).

In this case, I would have happily sacrificed the frame rather than my bones -- sometimes, breaking a frame is better than the alternative!

[Miranda]

Holy Injury Batman! On those carbon crash stories...

Glad the punch line wasn't then next a semi-truck came along and ran you over to boot. Yikes. Nice you are here to tell about it.

Sounds like the carbon is tougher than the fear. The crazy stories I heard about the instant trash was a direct hit to the chainstay at just the right angle... like by another rider impacting. I feel the same way about driving in bad winter weather... I'm happy to creep along at slow speeds on bad icey roads... it's the rest of the crazies that fly (and hopefully not into you as they pass).