Carnage

[throet]

I did something similar a couple of years ago although admittedly not quite that bad. Just rode it for a few months while regularly checking for softening and extended cracking. After I was convinced that it would be fine I covered the blemish with a custom sticker and haven't thought about it since. 

[Seths Pool]

my good friends Krys Brown owns and operates Cracked Carbon Repair in north Austin and does fantastic work and great pricing. call or text him 949-310-2011

[hurronnicane]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:30 PM, Seths Pool said:

my good friends Krys Brown owns and operates Cracked Carbon Repair in north Austin and does fantastic work and great pricing. call or text him 949-310-2011

Thanks for the recommendation Seth!  I just got my son's bike back.  Cracked Carbon Repair fixed us up. As you said, the price was great and he was easy to work with.  Thanks again!

[AntonioGG]

Paint that repair gold!

https://mymodernmet.com/kintsugi-kintsukuroi/

[hurronnicane]

On 7/26/2019 at 7:12 PM, mack_turtle said:

mountain biker logic- my kid broke an expensive plastic frame by letting it fall over in slow motion. Response- buy another expensive plastic frame.

No apologies for this perspective: bicycles should not be made from glue and fabric. Make bikes metal again. Now get off my lawn.

The expensive plastic frame was purchased used, ridden hard for years, and then handed down to my son when I got a new bike.  And when he cracked the frame, it was repaired with glue and fabric.  And he paid for it himself from his hard-earned wages and we supported a local craftsman in the process.  Hard to see much downside.  We are all happy.  And you should probably convert your lawn to a vegetable garden or wildlife habitat since maintaining lawns is a huge waste of resources, though we will be happy to stay off of it all the same.

[brentb]

6 minutes ago, hurronnicane said:

And when he cracked the frame, it was repaired with glue and fabric.  And he paid for it himself from his hard-earned wages and we supported a local craftsman in the process.  Hard to see much downside.

Word.

[mack_turtle]

Glad to hear it was fixed. Makes more sense than buying a new one, which is what most people do. More crabon parts in the landfill (stuff is notoriously resourse-intensive and hard to recycle) goes against the spirit of conservation that would drive one to not water their lawns. (Watering lawns is wasteful and selfish.)

My yard is a farm. I am raising rats' asses. people keep asking for me to give them some, but I am keeping them all to myself!

Edited August 23, 2019 by mack_turtle

[TheX]

My rats asses have been earned through years of bitterness. 

[throet]

21 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Paint that repair gold!

Another option would be to custom sticker it, which is what I did after RPR's granite gouged my top tube. I downloaded an image and sent it to StickerMule requesting that they change yellow part of flame to orange and red part of flame to blue so that it matches my bike. Specified size, and got 10 decals for around $11. Believe that special pricing only applies to new customers, and the larger sticker you would need will cost more. Still a cheap way to decorate.  

 

[CBaron]

1 hour ago, throet said:

Another option would be to custom sticker it, which is what I did after RPR's granite gouged my top tube. I downloaded an image and sent it to StickerMule requesting that they change yellow part of flame to orange and red part of flame to blue so that it matches my bike. Specified size, and got 10 decals for around $11. Believe that special pricing only applies to new customers, and the larger sticker you would need will cost more. Still a cheap way to decorate.  

 

So are you saying that you just covered it up....or you had it repaired and then covered it up?  I know that TT are not a highly stressed tube, but that impact definitely had some structural damage.

Later, -CJB

[throet]

6 hours ago, CBaron said:

So are you saying that you just covered it up....or you had it repaired and then covered it up?  I know that TT are not a highly stressed tube, but that impact definitely had some structural damage.

Later, -CJB

Initially I didn't want to do anything because doing so would void the crash replacement, which at the time was $600 for the front triangle. So I left it uncovered for a couple of months while riding it 4-5 times per week and monitoring it. Nothing appeared to spreading or softening; so I just covered it up and kept riding. It's been 1.5 years of heavy riding and still no noticeable change. Suppose there could be shit going on inside the layup, but nothing obvious. Probably time to pull the sticker off though and check things out again. At this rate, I've got at least a decade's worth of band-aids.  

[throet]

On 8/23/2019 at 6:22 PM, throet said:

Initially I didn't want to do anything because doing so would void the crash replacement, which at the time was $600 for the front triangle. So I left it uncovered for a couple of months while riding it 4-5 times per week and monitoring it. Nothing appeared to spreading or softening; so I just covered it up and kept riding. It's been 1.5 years of heavy riding and still no noticeable change. Suppose there could be shit going on inside the layup, but nothing obvious. Probably time to pull the sticker off though and check things out again. At this rate, I've got at least a decade's worth of band-aids.  

So after another year of heavy riding, the frame damage I incurred a few years ago is finally starting to show itself. I was preparing to do some upgrades and decided to peel my band-aid sticker off and take a closer look. The top tube is clearly starting to crack all the way around with softness and even some movement along the crack. Intense offered a new front triangle in a different color for around $600. Since I love my original Primer so much, I opted to pay an extra $500 and just get a complete, new frame in one color. Since most of my bits are orange flavored, things should still come out looking nice on that red/orange colorway.  

[TheX]

Really like that frame, and color.

[AustinBike]

Smart move. I did the different colored rear triangle on a Gary Fisher years ago. The best day of my life was the day I cracked the front triangle because that was also the day I was picking up my new bike. GF gave me a free front triangle and I didn't mind waiting the extra time to get one that matched my mis-matched rear triangle. As soon as I got that bike put back together I sold it and never looked back.

[throet]

3 hours ago, AustinBike said:

As soon as I got that bike put back together I sold it and never looked back.

That is something I really hadn't thought about until @Chief mentioned the possibility of me doing something similar. I could order a complete new bike in a low-to-mid range build, then move my DT Swiss Carbon wheelset, XX1 drivetrain, and XTR brakes over to the new bike while building out the replacement frame with a mix of new and old parts to put it up for sale. Definitely something I can still be thinking about while waiting on my replacement frame. Just not sure how long folks are waiting these days for new bikes to arrive. Would you be willing to pick up one of these for me when you go over to Germany?

[ATXZJ]

That bike bike looks pretty cool in a euro version of guerilla gravity meets YT kinda way. 

Your biggest issue getting a bike is going to be components. You can actually get frames, but parts are near non-existent. As a tinkerer by nature, I'm always looking to improve or upgrade from my (fill in the blanks) current condition. Modding the primer or frame upgrade would be my choice. IMHO, suspension has come a long way since the older VPP design bikes. Seems like I was always chasing mid-stroke wallow issues with those.

Seen any of these?

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/welcome-to-the-2020-pinkbike-field-test-cross-country-bike-edition.html

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/recapped-the-complete-2020-pinkbike-field-test.html

Edited March 28, 2021 by ATXZJ

[throet]

Replacement frame from Intense is starting to take shape thanks to the expert help from @Chief. Frame is wrapped with InvisiFrame, new fork, stem, bar installed, bottom bracket and cranks moved over. Still waiting on the rubber grommet kit from Intense that finally shipped last Friday, and then will be able to have the shifter, dropper, and brake cables, housing, hoses, etc routed.

The bad news is that Chief brought to my attention that both of my carbon rims are cracked! Waiting to hear if DT Swiss will give me any sort of a break on some new ones, but looking at cheaper options at the same time in case they don't. Will definitely lose the orange rim decals either way, as I agree with Chief that I've got enough orange bits already with my fork, seat trim, pedals, and grips, all popping nicely / subtly against the orange frame accents. Chief is recommending the DT Swiss XM 481 hoops, which would look really nice with the red, grey, and white accents / lettering that come standard on those. Any recommendations from folks on new carbon hoops that 1) come in a 28-hole option to pair with my DT Swiss 240s hubs, 2) are affordable, 3) have good replacement warranty, and 4) look nice?      

[ATXZJ]

Looking good buddy!

Unfortunately affordable & carbon are pretty subjective. We are one, Santa Cruz and Zipp are the first thing that comes to my mind involving carbon, but not sure on warranty policy of complete vs build your own. The second thing is the actual benefits of carbon vs aluminum. Seems odd to me that people get too hung up on rim weight and buy light hoops, only to throw minions and cush cores on their bikes. And coming from someone with extremely stiff carbon wheels, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

(IF) I were to do again, would probably choose zipp or santa cruz. In your case, chief is on point with the 481s. They are really, really good hoops. 

 

[throet]

31 minutes ago, ATXZJ said:

Looking good buddy!

Unfortunately affordable & carbon are pretty subjective. We are one, Santa Cruz and Zipp are the first thing that comes to my mind involving carbon, but not sure on warranty policy of complete vs build your own. The second thing is the actual benefits of carbon vs aluminum. Seems odd to me that people get too hung up on rim weight and buy light hoops, only to throw minions and cush cores on their bikes. And coming from someone with extremely stiff carbon wheels, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

(IF) I were to do again, would probably choose zipp or santa cruz. In your case, chief is on point with the 481s. They are really, really good hoops. 

 

Thanks man! I think for me the single biggest consideration is low-maintenance. As you know, I don't like to do shit on my bikes, and the fewer trips to the LBS or other trusted source for spoke replacement / periodic wheel truing is what I want most. Seems I've had far fewer broken spokes / flats riding carbon rims than I've gotten riding aluminum. In fairness, the aluminum wheels I've had the problems with were the Bontrager Dusters that came on my 2014 Remedy. Not so much on the Stans' that I replaced them with. Might be that the higher quality of the DT Swiss 481s coupled with Chief's expert wheel building would be enough to help keep me out of the shop.    

[AntonioGG]

3 hours ago, throet said:

I agree with Chief that I've got enough orange bits already with my fork, seat trim, pedals, and grips, all popping nicely / subtly against the orange frame accents. 

Is this is the equivalent of a friend telling you, "I couldn't really tell you at the time but she was no good for you"?

[Chief]

This is the reality of carbon wheels here in Central Texas, they WILL eventually be structurally damaged at some point. I have a rock strike on my rear carbon wheel that is basically a hole in the rim wall. Moving back to aluminum.  

When I built my carbon wheels the rims were $280 for the pair the same rim is now $260 for one if I wanted to replace it. Got aluminum hoops for $260 for the pair. DT Swiss XM481. 

[Barry]

Very different story from me. I spent years on various alloy rims like Stan's Flow, I9 Enduro and many others. I never taco'd one, but I couldn't get more than a few hundred miles out of a rim without cracking it, denting it, or bending a bead. 

But I'm nearing 12,000 miles on my SC Reserves, and over 3,500 miles on ChamoisHagar's ChiCarbon EIE wheels without any damage whatsoever. I assume my luck will run out eventually (preferably on the free replacement Reserves!), but so far they've been great. 

[Bamwa]

I had to replace a spoke recently on my stans crest wheelset I got in 2011. People overthink wheels.

[AntonioGG]

5 hours ago, Barry said:

Very different story from me. I spent years on various alloy rims like Stan's Flow, I9 Enduro and many others. I never taco'd one, but I couldn't get more than a few hundred miles out of a rim without cracking it, denting it, or bending a bead. 

+1

I'm one of the most gentle riders on equipment.  I don't do drops or anything like that, but I cracked a Stan's Flow within a month while riding down St. Ed's.   I also have bent beads on other Stan's rims.  I am the 2nd owner of some Nox wheels and they look like hell but they are still going strong.  The previous owner rode these hard for many miles and now I've put several thousand more miles on them.   BTW, when I got these the rear wheel had something like 7 spokes that were not the same kind as the rest (sapim race) and I started popping spokes.  I replaced them all with the proper spokes and tensioned it perfectly and have only broken one of the original Sapim spokes since then at Lake Georgetown.  I don't think I would have felt confident riding on an alloy wheel that had had 10 spokes replaced at one time or another.

I have a feeling some aluminum DT rims would do better based on everyone's recommendation, but I'm definitely not a fan of Stan's at this point.

Edited April 26, 2021 by AntonioGG
inserted "alloy" to clarify.

[Barry]

2 hours ago, Bamwa said:

I had to replace a spoke recently on my stans crest wheelset I got in 2011. People overthink wheels.

Reminds me of a conversation I had with a fellow riding at Brushy a couple of weeks ago. I was complaining that it was really time for a change of tires on the 5010. Dude, said, "yeah, this rear tire is nearly 20 years old. How old are yours?" I replied... "Oh, uh...I'm going on 10 weeks."