I have broken my Carbon Frame!!!!!

[George]

Yes indeed all this talk about if carbon frames are strong enough and the devil must have been listening all along

After the club ride before New Year noticed a little more play in the bottom bracket area than there should have been, on my new Bianchi steed

Whipped it back to Butlers and they confirmed one f***** frame

[huw williams]

George,

is it broken (as in cracked) or has it come unglued?

[George]

You guessed it Huw, Pete at GB's confirmed it's come unglued.

Bianchi are gonna replace the frame under warranty

Now I can get an 07 model

[huw williams]

Exactly the same thing happened to me with a Specialized - unglued at the BB. This is not uncommon with carbon bikes but usually takes about 5 years.

I had mine for 5 years before it happened and got it replaced with a brand new one in a size more befitting to me - excellent service. Hope you get similar

H

[Dr Frigo]

George I might ask you to race on my Look in 4.5 years before warranty expires

[huw williams]

Also - and you didn't hear this from me - we've got two featherweight riders in the oiffice who have had the same thing happen to them on Bianchis.

But don't panic - there's thousands more Bianchi owners who haven't had it happen to them

[Grahame]

[quote="huw williams"]Also - and you didn't hear this from me - we've got two featherweight riders in the oiffice who have had the same thing happen to them on Bianchis.

But don't panic - there's thousands more Bianchi owners who haven't had it happen to them

[Andrew G]

Scary, hope your new bike turns up swiftly.

I'm alarmed to hear that the frame becoming unglued is "quite common". I read unglued as falling apart and no use to anyone. Hardly the durability I would expect if I shelled out that much.

[Steve B]

Are we talking about carbon lugged frames here or monocoques also?
Is it the bottom bracket shell coming away from the carbon ?- scary !!

[George]

Steve yes its a carbon lugged frame, the bottom bracket shell housing has indeed come away/unglued from the carbon frame.

So this has happened to alot of other Bianchi owners hey, well I hope I don't get the same problem again with my new frame!

Still should get a new race bike just in time for the racing season.

I probably wont get a replacement frame for another 5 or 6 weeks, its gotta come all the way from Italy.

Looks like I'll be riding my other new bike now, its a Trek XO cyclocross, Marco I'm up for it bring on the dirt

[Dr Frigo]

Bummer I was looking forward to finishing the winter series with you George. Is that why you didn't go last weekend?

Maybe you could revive your old steel bike!

[jon avery]

I'm getting a bit worried about the latest i'm reading about carbon frames. I have a carbon Bianchi xl which i have had no problems with, but after reading about George and his bb falling apart and Huw's friends both having problems with Bianchi carbon frames, i'm wondering how safe they are and if i should get it checked out?

[huw williams]

Don't worry Jon - it's still the norm that they are ok - only a few rogue ones have come unglued, and you can say that about a lot of manufacturers.

Also they don't just fall apart under you and collapse when you'r riding, you'd notice a very gradual lack of stiffness in the BB area then the rear wheel would go out of allignment and you'd realsie something was wrong

[jon avery]

Thanks for that Huw that has put my mind at rest, i had visions of it falling apart like the clowns car at the circus!

[Jon H]

[quote="jon avery"]Thanks for that Huw that has put my mind at rest, i had visions of it falling apart like the clowns car at the circus!