If someone offered you a Carbon Fibre Giant circa 1998, with modern kit on it for £450 would you be put off byt he age of the frame.

The bike in question has Reba’s, Hope Discs, XT etc,, its just the frame is from 1998.

It appears to be in good nic!

IMHO i would never buy a carbon frame for mountain biking unless i was an XC racer.
Carbonfibre is ok if you never fall off or drop it or bang it, as carbonfibre will weaken if it gets dropped unknown to you untill it fails big style, believe me i know!!
Thats also why you should never tighten the brakes or shifters up on carbon bars because it will seriously weaken them, again i Know.
Stick to good old alloy thats my opinion.
Id love an Ibis Mojo SL but its carbon, and Ibis says if you smash or crack the frame they will sell you another frame for half price, thats just the nature of Carbon frames.

I wouldn’t be put off by the fact it’s carbon (I’ve ridden carbon frames for 8(?) years and I’m over 15 stone). I would be put off by the fact it’s 13 years old though, unless the value of the other components effectively means the frame is free.

Mythoughts exactly 5thElefant!

believe me i know!!

Really? How do you know? Have you personally had failed carbon bikes?

I had a 6 year old carbon DH bike, had plenty knocks and crashes. Eventually killed it in a big crash – carbon was fine, an aluminium part cracked.

I have seen carbon bars fail catastrophically though (some easton monkeylite DHs). But that doesn’t stop me riding some easton carbon bars on my XC bike…

I had a 6 year old carbon DH bike, had plenty knocks and crashes. Eventually killed it in a big crash – carbon was fine, an aluminium part cracked.

That’s how my last 7(?) year old carbon frame went. Snapped the only aluminium component on the frame. I had a headache for a week so it was a big small crash. I made sure my new frame was all carbon fibre.

I’d approach it with the same caution as any frame that age. Also make sure the frame was originally designed for the type of riding you intend to do with it – are the forks a lot longer than it was designed for?

Would you buy an aluminium frame that old without checking every weld and giving it a good test and listening for creaks? I know I wouldn’t. In fact I would be more wary of an aluminium frame.

Price up the rest of the build and see what the value of the parts are out of that £450 and make sure you won’t lose out much if the frame does fail – again this would be my advice for aluminium or titanium (as you wont get the usual lifetime guarantee buying a 2nd hand titanium frame). Steel is a safer bet but you still need to check it over.

I had a headache for a week so it was a big crash

I was taped to a bed in a neck brace in intensive care, and only stopped having chest pain from the crash a year later… it was also a big crash…

I was taped to a bed in a neck brace in intensive care, and only stopped having chest pain from the crash a year later… it was also a big crash…

😯 My post edited for accuracy 😉

deep_river – Member

If someone offered you a Carbon Fibre Giant circa 1998, with modern kit on it for £450 would you be put off byt he age of the frame?

only if it looks as old as it is… (scuffs, dings, scratches, etc)

i’d be more put off by the prehistoric geometry.

13 years old? – things have moved on a bit since then.

unless you’re buying it for ‘retro’ purposes, in that case the old-skool handling will be part of the charm.

for example; i’d love a 1996(?) kona firemountain – the green one. it’s the bike i most regret not buying.

IA – Member

believe me i know!!

Really? How do you know? Have you personally had failed carbon bikes?

I had a 6 year old carbon DH bike, had plenty knocks and crashes. Eventually killed it in a big crash – carbon was fine, an aluminium part cracked.

I have seen carbon bars fail catastrophically though (some easton monkeylite DHs). But that doesn’t stop me riding some easton carbon bars on my XC bike…

ANSWER

I have had a carbon frame yes and admittingly i did do silly things on it and it snapped at the BB and eneded up in 2 complete seperate halves
Also i spent £150 on some carbon bars and after 4 months snapped them in half doing a not so big 4ft drop off, so my experience of carbon is not good

P.S how do you quote someone on here?

ragleyrider – Member

“I have had a carbon frame yes and admittingly i did do silly things on it and it snapped at the BB and eneded up in 2 complete seperate halves”

I snapped an aluminium frame in half earlier this year, perhaps I should switch to carbon.

If the bike was originally crafted by good workmen who understood the important features of the material they were working with and nobody has twated it with a massive hammer to demonstrate how strong it is then I would have no problems saying go for it.

I wouldn’t avoid a carbon frame made by a decent mfr like Giant.

not sure a 13 year old frame would but it these days…give it a test ride.

ragleyrider, I suspect the problem is you and not the carbon.

Also if you are going to make claims then back them up by stating what make/model the parts were, what you were doing on them, if they were installed correctly (sounds like you overtighten stuff).

PS Eastons new Haven carbon bars are the strongest they have ever made and under 200g. And they make some pretty strong aluminium bars.

Cant we have just one day where we dont have a carbon argument?

Read this http://www.singletraction.co.uk/?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=105 and I can testify that the owner, Sam Briggs, does crazy stuff on a bike and certainly did on his old carbon Lotus. I suspect crashing off the highest ladder drop at Glentress finally did it in.

Im not getting into a massive discusion about what i had and what i have done with it ect ect ect, all im doing is giving you my opinion and i have had bad experiences with carbon so no i would not buy a carbon frame, let alone an old carbon frame

I’d be more put off by a 13 year old Aluminium frame than a 13 year old carbon frame.

Very interesting article on that Lotus frame. Would like to know what happened in the end.

As for comments without any evidence to validate them, well that just makes the comment completely meaningless.

@ragleyrider – if you snapped an aluminium frame in the same way, would it put you off every buying/riding and aluminium frame again?

I snapped a gravity dropper in half leaving a big jagged apple coring device. I must admit it did put me off buying another, so I can see his reasoning.

I’ve snapped just about everything there is going. The frame material is (to me) irrelevant on an old bike, but the general condition is vital. You can tell if a bike’s been abused fairly easily. 🙂