Carbon fiber bits

[Eddy Current]

As we know carbon fiber as an advantage in terms of weight and stiffnes over alloy. That’s nice. But on the real world, and I ask it because I’m never try carbon in a stressful way, how do you rate it?

Is something noticeable in every moment, is something noticeable when you push a bit hard*, or something a really noticeable when you push really hard*?

Got you any carbon fiber bit in your bike? Where do you think is more important for our trail/enduro/AM rides? The rims (?)the frame, handlebars?

Just say no to CF or just say yes anytime? Tell me about your opinion on carbon fiber if you tried it, worth it?

*while accelerating, absorbing on fast rough terrain, keeping the line etc

Thanks a lot!

 

[Al Boneta]

I have a 2020 S-Works Levo. It’s made of carbon fiber. Its has carbon wheels. It’s slightly lighter than my 2020 Comp Alloy Levo, it becomes lighter when I use a 500Wh instead of the 700wh one. The S-Works feels more lively than my Alloy comp and a tad more responsive. Is that worth the $5000 price difference? I don’t know, I hate the fork on my S-Works and I am going to change it. The fork on my comp is half the price and feels better. Most of the time I’d rather ride my Kenevo, even though the demo Fantic I have has the same travel and a longer range battery. I hate the mullet wheels on the Fantic.
I’d could tell you more, but you wouldn’t accept it. Then I would spend the next two hours responding to your never ending rebuttals.
I get a headache just thinking about. Time for another 6 month break from the forum. I don’t know how @Gary does it to be honest.

 

[wepn]

I’d could tell you more, but you wouldn’t accept it. Then I would spend the next two hours responding to your never ending rebuttals.
I get a headache just thinking about. Time for another 6 month break from the forum

That would be a loss & would diminish the available knowledge here. You don't need to respond especially if you feel a headache coming on.

 

[Rusty]

I hate the mullet wheels on the Fantic.

Agreed. Have rode 26, 27.5, 29, 29/26 & 29/27.5 - in very instance I prefer a matched wheelset and doing some tests on a rolling road a few years back we disproved the 96er concept as being no benefit.

 

[Rusty]

As we know carbon fiber as an advantage in terms of weight and stiffnes over alloy. That’s nice. But on the real world, and I ask it because I’m never try carbon in a stressful way, how do you rate it?

My clockwork bike is a Scott Genius Carbon. My last 4 conventional bikes were carbon and I found them nicer to ride than Aluminum bikes. Personally I detest Aluminum as a frame material on 29ers and find the large diameter hydro-formed tubes just big resonance chambers. To be brutally honest, the only reason bikes are made of Aluminum is ease of manufacture. Cost-wise a carbon steel bike and an aluminum alloy bike are similar, but mass production of frames is easier .... oh, and Chinese steel is shit-house for the most part.

Back to Carbon Fibre - the only real issue with it is that it is susceptible to knock (crash) damage.
Two bikes back I ran CF bars, seat-post, frame and rims. Wonderfully light and strong - but damned expensive. Also had CF shifter pod covers, brake lever blades, rear deraiileur arms and a few other bits - as well as many Ti fastners. Was kilos lighter than the bike it was built on but probably 2-3 times the price.

 

[Pdoz]

That knock damage thing - how do you know if a carbon part needs replacing? Say...after a bike was dragged down the road....wearing away the grips but no visible damage to the carbon bars....

 

[Rusty]

That knock damage thing - how do you know if a carbon part needs replacing? Say...after a bike was dragged down the road....wearing away the grips but no visible damage to the carbon bars....

Pretty hard to tell sometimes. With no budget limits I used to x-ray our crashed parts and go from there. At my level I use a magnifying glass and inspect closely.
This pic was some bars I nailed a tree with - you can see where they broke.
I have a pic that Giant claimed was a knock, but knowing I had not dropped the bike I had a friend who does F1 CF stuff and he claimed that it was just the top coat lifting & cracking - based on the size and location he reckoned someone had handled the frame without gloves before the top coat was put on. I will find the pic tomorrow as it is on my work PC.

 

[Kingfisher]

I have always preferred a CF handlebar, as I feel (and this may be completely subjective) it gives more vibration damping.

 

[outerlimits]

Well yesterday my bike done 4 cart wheels followed by 6 barrel rolls down a steep rock strewn trail. It’s alloy so just a few deep scratches, but nothing too serious. How would a Carbon frame stand up to such a gymnastic display ? Would it of done more flips or less ? ?‍
I did bail before it put on a display. I run down the trail a bit under the influence of gravity arms and legs going full spaz. Came to a stop by hugging a tree to see the bike overtake me. ?‍

 

[Zimmerframe]

Came to a stop by hugging a tree to see the bike overtake me.

Brilliant, brightened up my day no end ! Take you're ok though ?

I’d could tell you more, but you wouldn’t accept it. Then I would spend the next two hours responding to your never ending rebuttals.
I get a headache just thinking about. Time for another 6 month break from the forum. I don’t know how @Gary does it to be honest.

I disagree .. and agree .. I almost forgot - you are so wrong !

Don't forget that @Gary often signs onto the wrong forum. 9 times out of 10 he thinks he's on the karmasutra assistance website, hence his vast knowledge of Geometry, Body Positions, springy things, rubbery things, bottom brackets, grips and his understandable reluctance to wear a back pack and only wanting to carry emergency supplies in his small pouch.

 

[RickBullotta]

Yes to carbon frame, seatpost, and bars. Maybe to wheels (I've built and ridden a few carbon wheelsets and only really prefer them on my fatbike). No to anything else.

 

[steve_sordy]

My first experience with carbon fibre was when I swapped some alloy Renthal Fatbar bars for the exact same size and geometry carbon fibre Renthal Fatbar Lite. I didn't do it because they were 110g lighter, I did it because of the alleged vibration damping.
When I first rode my alloy bike with the CF bars, it felt as though every single rock had had its edge rounded off just for me! Riding over gravel felt like riding tarmac! The vibration damping is a real thing. Well it is for Renthal CF bars; I have read that some CF bars are so stiff that they don't actually provide any damping.

I have owned three CF framed bikes (YT Capra, Whyte T130, and my current bike the Focus Jam2 9.6 NINE). These three bikes were all available in alloy, but I chose the CF version quite deliberately. After the success of my CF bars and seeing how robust they were and also after watching the Santa Cruz workshop video showing them trying and failing to destroy a CF frame against the corner of a wall, I felt confident about a CF frame. That's when I bought the YT Capra. My residual fears about robustness etc were put to rest and I then bought the Whyte T130. I did miles and miles on that bike and crashed it more times than any other bike I have ever had. Still no damage to the frame (components yes, but not the frame). So it was an easy decision to go for the 1kg lighter CF framed Jam2 bike. This time I needed a lighter bike.

In all the above bikes, I never had the option to test ride the alloy version vs the CF version. The Jam2 test bike I rode was alloy but it was the 650b x 2.8" version. I loved it, but I love the CF 29er even more!

 

[Rusty]

Can't find the best pic - but this will do.
I understand that the Giant importer threw the frame into the bin - where one of the staff rescued it. After having it x-rayed he stripped the top coat back around the issue then applied fresh top coat. Was still riding it the last I heard.

 

[outerlimits]

Brilliant, brightened up my day no end ! Take you're ok though ?
.

I stayed upright on my feet the whole time, so yeah I’m ok. Got a bit of a sore shoulder, but that was from rolling around in bed. It’s the reason I got myself into the position that I felt the need to bail.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I stayed upright on my feet the whole time, so yeah I’m ok. Got a bit of a sore shoulder, but that was from rolling around in bed. It’s the reason I got myself into the position that I felt the need to bail.

You got the birthday special from the Mrs, over did the acrobatics off the wardrobe and your disappointing performance was the reason you decided to randomly eject yourself from the bike later ?

 

[outerlimits]

You got the birthday special from the Mrs, over did the acrobatics off the wardrobe and your disappointing performance was the reason you decided to randomly eject yourself from the bike later ?

Nothing I do is random, and performance is never disappointing.

 

[Pdoz]

So...first carbon fibre experience....anyone remember " tuff" bmx wheels, the carbon rather than plastic versions that exploded into shards after a 360 ? I might get the microscope out and inspect my carbon bars....

 

[Pabs]

A set of Enve carbon bars will be my first big change on my e bike, purely for the comfort and chatter reduction reasons. Carbon testing videos on youtube help to understand differences, they are stronger....when tested in the intended load directions.

 

[Gary]

Fwiw I'd never run carbon bars.

On any bike.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Fwiw I'd never run carbon bars.

On any bike.

They went through a phase of using plastic and composite show jumping poles. These had the unfortunate nature of sometimes snapping and turning into deadly spears. The approved ones now have a steel bar through the middle which is foamed in place. Wonder if you could do the same with bars with a cable foamed in place ?

 

[outerlimits]

They went through a phase of using plastic and composite show jumping poles. These had the unfortunate nature of sometimes snapping and turning into deadly spears. The approved ones now have a steel bar through the middle which is foamed in place. Wonder if you could do the same with bars with a cable foamed in place ?

Why not just run alloy bars with foam inside them ?
I use Spank Vibrocore bars and they do work for vibration dampening.
A lot of people use carbon bars for vibration dampening.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Why not just run alloy bars with foam inside them ?
I use Spank Vibrocore bars and they do work for vibration dampening.
A lot of people use carbon bars for vibration dampening.

It's all giberish to me.. but I loved how you had spank and vibro in the same line... ?????????

 

[RickBullotta]

Fwiw I'd never run carbon bars.

On any bike.

I had an early set of carbon bars snap off at the end of the grip on a 25+ MPH descent. It wasn't pleasant. I shied away from all carbon parts for a few years after that. Now I'm very confident in handlebars and seatposts. The production methods and forming methods are very different, and I think most people now know not to gorilla tighten clamps onto carbon components.

 

[outerlimits]

It's all giberish to me.. but I loved how you had spank and vibro in the same line... ?????????

I knew you’d find the humor in the name of them, as did I. ?

 

[Zimmerframe]

I didn't realise you were so rude ..... Do you keep your spare beads in them ?

I forgot to say happy birthday after your wardrobe extreme love bedroom base jumping accident.

Other than @Rusty , doesn't anyone else run balsa wood handlebars ?

You'd think with all these heavy e-bikes, people would upgrade to a nice walnut bar ..

 

[Pdoz]

Other than @Rusty , doesn't anyone else run balsa wood handlebars ?

You'd think with all these heavy e-bikes, people would upgrade to a nice walnut bar ..

get with the times, the modern eco aware enthusiast uses bamboo
Booomers Bamboo Bikes

 

[2unfit2ride]

I've snapped or cracked steel, alloy, carbon & ti frames but never had as much pain as when my carbon seat post snapped, I was very happy with the comfort levels until that point but now I think twice three times before using it, although I do have some EC90 bars on my rigid 29er.

Cheers.

 

[Mcharza]

I had an early set of carbon bars snap off at the end of the grip on a 25+ MPH descent. It wasn't pleasant. I shied away from all carbon parts for a few years after that. Now I'm very confident in handlebars and seatposts. The production methods and forming methods are very different, and I think most people now know not to gorilla tighten clamps onto carbon components.

And I've snapped couple of alloy bars. Everything can break

 

[RickBullotta]

And I've snapped couple of alloy bars. Everything can break

Precisely. I’ve broken frames of pretty much every material and design. Though each year stuff gets better and more reliable.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I don’t think I could tell a difference in the actual ride characteristics between alu vs carbon frame if all other components were the same.

I bought a carbon bike because it looked better!