Watch Out On The Carbon Rear Triangle!

[Ted]

I have about 800 miles on my 2019 S-Works and just noticed that the crossbrace between the right and left seatstays has taken a beating. It sits just above the tire near where the shock mounts to the rear triangle. I guess that rocks come off of the tire and hit the crossbrace. That area is seriously pitted and scratched. I covered it with some inner tube rubber held in place with zip ties. It barely fits. I don't know if the same problem occurs on aluminum rear triangles. Check it out.

 

[SmackIt]

Picture?

 

[wepn]

I think protection is justified on expensive bikes whether carbon or metal.

Some really good options available which will help protect it.

Like Invisiframe
Home Page

Bike Frame Protection Kits. Wrap Your Ride with RideWrap.

LEVO 2019 (Carbon) - TURBO LEVO / KENEVO - SPECIALIZED - ROCKGUARDZ

 

[wepn]

From the Ride Wrap website:

RideWrap doesn’t like dirt. A low surface energy means that less dirt sticks to your bike and adds 10 Hp.

 

[Mikerb]

It is an issue on both carbon and ally frames but less serious on ally. With ally it is usually just paint damage. I made my own back mudguard which fits behind those crosd sections rather beteeen the cross section and tyre because there is so little clearance beteern the two. That means of course those crosd sections are not protected. So I use both frame protector and mrtal tape to protect them.
With carbon the crosd section can be seriously weakened if the damage is deeper than the surface epoxy. You would hope that the composite on those sections included something like a kevlar layer rather that just UD 80 or similar. If not a protector with more impact resistance than frame protector is needed.

 

[wepn]

It is an issue on both carbon and ally frames but less serious on ally. With ally it is usually just paint damage. I made my own back mudguard which fits behind those crosd sections rather beteeen the cross section and tyre because there is so little clearance beteern the two. That means of course those crosd sections are not protected. So I use both frame protector and mrtal tape to protect them.
With carbon the crosd section can be seriously weakened if the damage is deeper than the surface epoxy. You would hope that the composite on those sections included something like a kevlar layer rather that just UD 80 or similar. If not a protector with more impact resistance than frame protector is needed.

Yes metal tape would be fail safe! Or possibly carbon kevlar surfboard rail tape which can be used with epoxy resin.

 

[steve_sordy]

I used to have a Kona Dawg Supreme with the Scandium dosed aluminium alloy frame. I started using Continental Rubber Queen tyres (later renamed Trail Kings to stop the Americans complaining). The feature of the RQs was that they were a larger diameter than the expected 26" and if a stone got stuck in the tread it was carried round and struck the seat stay cross brace. Three layers of bike tape provided adequate protection for the alloy cross brace for several years.
I take @Mikerb 's point and I'm not sure what I would have done if it had been a carbon fibre cross brace, but how common is that on mtb? I've had three CF bikes before of different brands (Whyte, YT, Focus) and the rear triangle was always alloy. Maybe I wasn't spending enough money?