Crashing Carbon

[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).

[Fredwina]

When I got by a car, my full carbon beauty was largely unscathed. some grinding on derailleur and messed up handlebar tape,.

[aicabsolut]

Some carbon stuff is probably a little more fragile than the metal counterparts (things like handlebars, those new fancy derailleurs, shift/brake levers), and you have to be a little more careful about not over-torquing anything that clamps onto carbon (stems, seatpost collars), but as far as frames go, a lot of accidents can cause major damage to all kinds of frame materials, and carbon is not necessarily more likely to be trashed. It really depends on the circumstances of the crash. I've had some crashes on my carbon frame with no problems. Some aluminum parts (shifters, rims) have had to be sanded down after being gouged up. The frames were fine... until I backed into something with one of them on my hitch rack. The bike swung into the steel post of the rack and was crushed.

I've seen an aluminum top tube ripped in half, carbon forks splintered, aluminum chainstays busted at the welds, aluminum crankarms snapped in half due to a flaw in the cast. I would treat all bikes and components carefully. Crashes and other accidents can damage anything.