Cracked my frame

[Ghaleb]

Hi all,

During the weekened I was cleaning my bike and noticed that I have got hairline cracks on the carbon seat post stays, where they connect to the seat post tube (connection between the carbon seat post stays with the alu seat post tube). The cracks are on both seat post stays which raises my concerns even more!

Does anybody know if that can be fixed or does anybody have a spare frame they would like to sell/give away? (I would probably fit a frame size between 56 to 58cm)

Thanks all

[Jon H]

Try these guys:

HQ Fibre Products
5 Norwich Road
Lingwood
Norwich
NR13 4BH
Norfolk
Tel: 01603 713972

[John G]

Ghaleb, the guys at GB Cycles also repair carbon frames. I think they send em off somewhere. I was in GB the other week and some guy had dented his carbon frame in a plane flight. Different situation but GB cycles said they can help. Give GB cycles a quick call geeza!

[Andrew G]

+1 for HQ Fibre Products, they are the dog's danglies. Both George and I have had disc wheels repaired by them and you can not see where the repair is. They are the people who built Boardman's original Lotus super bike.

You would probably have to strip the frame down and post to them unless you want to drive there, but you'd probably have to strip down to send it away anyway.

The HQ service is excellent, my wheel was back to me within a week and they charged £50 which is their minimum charge.

[Ghaleb]

Thanks for the info guys ....hope I get this thing fixed

[John G]

I was looking to get Carbon in the future! What do you all think? should I bother? I have seen plenty of cases where they break etc

Thanks

John

[Phil H]

Everything breaks if subject to enough stress. A lot of the carbon sceptics have carbon forks - and I don't know about you but if there's one part of my bike that I'd rather not fail, it's the forks. If it was a regular feature then a lot of companies would've been sued into oblivion by now.

Saying that, if I got a touring bike I'd go for something a bit more comfortable.

[Andrew G]

Vanishing post? The guys at HQ are the top dogs and I'm sure their repair would be as good as new if not better quality. The repair danger for me with carbon comes from crash damage where you may see a crack and get that fixed but not know if there was any other structural damage that you couldn't see, say an internal fracture, as carbon tends to shatter when it goes and metal normally bends or crumples so being less catastrophic could give you a bail out option.

Re a new frame I didn't get carbon as I don't like most frame designs and I was buying a "keeper" and wanted something that I knew could last, carbon may do but I'm personally not convinced by the test of time on the bonding etc. Probably nonsense but I'm also an old buffer and like a bike to be made of metal with some craftsmanship. Too many modern carbon frames are for me not good designs (seat tube has too steep geometry for everyday use, too race focused, fine if all you do is race on it) and are not road bikes but race bikes. The geometry only has to be fractionally slacker to make for a far more comfortable bike which 99% of people wouldn't know the difference on if they raced on it.

I got a titanium Burls from Justin ([url]http://www.burls.co.uk/tiRoad.php[/url]) where you get a completely custom build to your exact specifications (tube profiles, geometry, everything) for a lot less than the majority of mass produced carbon frames. The biggest issue with the vast majority of carbon frames is they are hideously over priced. burls frames are made in Russia by the same factory that made the Colnago titanium frames (titanium welding is rather specialised and tends to be better from the good old war factions so the US and Russia are rather good at it). It rides like a dream, handles excellently and is perfectly responsive when you push it in to a bend or accelerate out of one.

[John G]

[quote="Andrew G"]Vanishing post? The guys at HQ are the top dogs and I'm sure their repair would be as good as new if not better quality. The repair danger for me with carbon comes from crash damage where you may see a crack and get that fixed but not know if there was any other structural damage that you couldn't see, say an internal fracture, as carbon tends to shatter when it goes and metal normally bends or crumples so being less catastrophic could give you a bail out option.

Re a new frame I didn't get carbon as I don't like most frame designs and I was buying a "keeper" and wanted something that I knew could last, carbon may do but I'm personally not convinced by the test of time on the bonding etc. Probably nonsense but I'm also an old buffer and like a bike to be made of metal with some craftsmanship. Too many modern carbon frames are for me not good designs (seat tube has too steep geometry for everyday use, too race focused, fine if all you do is race on it) and are not road bikes but race bikes. The geometry only has to be fractionally slacker to make for a far more comfortable bike which 99% of people wouldn't know the difference on if they raced on it.

I got a titanium Burls from Justin ([url]http://www.burls.co.uk/tiRoad.php[/url]) where you get a completely custom build to your exact specifications (tube profiles, geometry, everything) for a lot less than the majority of mass produced carbon frames. The biggest issue with the vast majority of carbon frames is they are hideously over priced. burls frames are made in Russia by the same factory that made the Colnago titanium frames (titanium welding is rather specialised and tends to be better from the good old war factions so the US and Russia are rather good at it). It rides like a dream, handles excellently and is perfectly responsive when you push it in to a bend or accelerate out of one.

[Ghaleb]

For a quick Fix I have found a viking frame for around £100 see link below,

[url]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120770088123?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648[/url]

Does anyone know if they are any good?

Cheers