What are the disadvantages to a carbon frame?

[Eden]

When aircraft crash and the carbon-fiber burns... I would hope that is not relevant to bicycles.

lol.. only in the movies (thinking of the myth busters episode that showed how really hard it is to crash a car and have it catch fire or even more crazy, explode- but how it seems *every* crash in the movies results in an eye catching, but completely fallacious fireball)

I'd make a guess the carbon fiber on an F1 car isn't structural, but just an aerodynamic shell, so I can't imagine repairing it wouldn't be a safety issue, unless the repair could possible shatter or tear off under the pressure of the wind? I have seen carbon fiber bike frames fail - but as far as I know all the failures have happened during or after a crash which damaged the carbon. For sure care needs to be taken, as damage done may not be readily visible, but I wouldn't expect normal knocks to have any affect - there are carbon mt. bikes, so a pothole shouldn't pose a problem. I've also seen aluminum, ti and steel all fail too, nothing is invulnerable.