Carbon angst

It will be fine. My fixie commuter had carbon forks and got hit by cars a few times and bounced down the road. Ive since sold it but it's still going strong without a failure, and these were fairly generic carbon forks fitted to an LBS's bike.

Any material can fail. There used to be worries about alloy bars snapping - got two pairs on my vintage bikes that are over 30 years old.

Luck of the draw really.

Carbon full sus and carbon bars here.

My last trail bike was carbon with carbon bars too. Got crashed loads. Had a massive rock hit the downtube too, and crack off the gel coat. I just shoved some epoxy in and it held up fine for a couple more years, hasn’t given up the ghost yet.

People just like winding other people up about carbon.

Yes it does fail catastrophically, but that tends to be a crack rather than a complete break.

Brands with decent reputations I would not worry - I have some Easton carbon bars.  I wouldn't use cheapo generic carbon parts anywhere safety critical

Had carbon bikes and components for years, no worries about it at all, in fact had my Epic frame repaired and was so impressed - good as new!

Life’s too short to worry about it, a bike can fail whatever it’s made of, carbon is no different!

My carbon gravel bike with carbon seatpost, carbon wheels and carbon bars hasn’t managed to kill me yet….

It gets some stick as well, doesn’t live the easiest of lives. I’ve raced road and CX for years on carbon bikes, have seen the odd catastrophic failure, but that’s tended to be when there’s been heavy contact. The failure never caused the crash was merely what happened during the crash. That was very very rare as well.

Either you go full aluminium, titanium or steel, or you calm the angst by making sure you are using a torque wrench properly when fitting anything carbon and using assembly paste. <br /><br />
I must admit that I had some similar thoughts and flashbacks to long, fast descents I have done recently on a hired full carbon bike. But as above life is too short to worry about the extremely rare incidents.

everything has the potential to break, carbon is no worse than steel, Ti or aluminium. as with those materials just keep an eye on them when cleaning etc for cracks or fatigue.

The ragley trig is a solid frame and as you will know steel. Only the forks carbon so you will be fine there. Not as light as alu but will be a nicer ride. I still ride older cromo mtb over lighter alu offerings as I like the dampening. Carbon of course nice also but then more delicate if really tough handling and touring etc.

My aluminium foxy cracked, so did the replacement rear triangle. I'm still riding an aluminium bike*. take from that what you will.

* And a foxy at that.

Hey, I'm in the cracked Foxy club as well!

I thought this was going to be a thread about reducing our carbon footprint.

I did worry at the noise of rocks cracking off the downtube when I got my first carbon bike but 7 years on same frame and still going. I have had 2 frames crack on me though, an aluminium Cannondale and a titanium lynskey.

3 heart attacks for the love of God I hope your OK.

I would suggest you've other priorities than will the carbon forks break !

Just avoid the carbon forks if it gives you even the slightest of worry given your health issues.

All the best

Meh

Yes anything can break and there's good and bad examples in all materials, but mode or speed of failure is very different between carbon and metals. Plus, the way carbon faults can be hidden whereas cracked welds are visible.

I've had three serious mtb frames. One carbon (actually damaged after I sold it), two steel.

Three that haven't: steel, ti and carbon. Of those, the (Santa Cruz Highball) carbon did the most kms, and was the least sturdy by  along way, yet did all the same riding.

As I said in the other thread I'm 105kgs, currently have carbon forks on a Cotic Cascade, carbons bars on a FS mtb, and have a full carbon road bike with carbon bars, seat post and cranks. All good, so far anyway.

Previously had carbon forks on a PX London road, frame developed a crack but forks are fine after quite a hard life.

I do wonder sometimes but like has been said, anything can break.

Only additional thing I'd say, is that if you're buying carbon parts, make as sure as possible it's the real thing and not a shiiite Chinese fake copy.   (Same for Alu, steel and Ti really, but fake carbon takes it up to 11).  

A mate got an 'Easton EC90' carbon stem for his road bike when he was changing the fit. No way on earth it's ever been within 1000 miles of a real Easton factory.  Dodgy as can be.  I don't think saving £50 is worth the risk of a faceplant, paralysis, or death.

I've a road bike and TT bike that are all-carbon. I'm fine with them.  The steel gravel bike has a carbon fork too. All happy.

The mountain bikes....all metal still. 

I have a carbon gravel bike. I weighed 125 kg when I got it.
i go camping on it,  I ride it off road,  it does everything that steel and alu bikes have done.
if it’s a regular branded carbon bike, I honestly wouldn’t worry about it at all.
And, for the record, i am a worrier by nature.

I've broken about an equal number of carbon and alu parts, I reckon. Including some pretty cheap stuff, but equally including some very expensive stuff, and I've cheap stuff that just keeps going. I just don't stress about it really. the most dangerous failures I've had were all metal and all from highly regarded companies but then, they were probably pretty hammered.

I did have a rigid 29er fork that I was just a bit scared of... It never did anything wrong, it was just scary light, and so stiff that I thought "this will break before it bends" whereas the exotic forks I had bent like a banana and therefore I figured were less likely to snap. That's the only one I ever just couldn't get happy with, sold it eventually.

In 30 years of riding I’ve had sudden catastrophic failure of aluminium Handlebars, frames and cranks.
I’ve had zero catastrophic failures of carbon or steel components of any kind.
I do treat my Handlebars as consumables tho and would never entertain 2nd hand handlebars, after a particularly nasty Ali bar failure.

MRP Rocksolid carbon bladed fork

Id the same with the White Bros fork, and was skeptical initially, especially on rough ground and while braking, and you could feel it flex and judder. But you know how the day goes, you get into staying upright and enjoying the ride that I forgot about it, and just had a good day.

I think the difference with the planetX and the likes of white bros/mrp its a much better class of fork. Not made cheaply to keep the overall cost of a cheaper frameset down, that you see at the likes of planetX

Unless there's new versions that I'm not aware of, White Bros and MRP's rigid forks are both rebranded Exotic. Or possibly Exotic White Bros and MRP are all rebranded Mystery Manufacturer. All good kit mind.

Comments here reminding me, how often do we check kit for cracks or stress marks?

Not that long ago I found a 2" crack along the bend of an Al bar that I'd had on a gravel bike for 3-4 years. Good manufacturer, a wide flared bar that has some flex to it, a lot of miles on it and I expect sweat corrosion under the tape got into the surface and started the crack. A bar failure there could have been a sudden one as I might not have spotted it until it gave way completely.

Thanks all. Yes I just need to build, ride and enjoy it (I can't afford not to after splashing the cash). I'm sure it'll be fine.

Perhaps I should stay away from YouTube. I watched some videos on carbon expander bungs, as I'd never used one, and there seemed to be rather a lot of talk of steerer failure related to bungs (again probably exaggerated) and someone also mentioned the maximum amount of spacers allowed below the stem (I have 40mm, Ragley suggest 30mm). It seemed that if you didn't get everything exactly so, catastrophe would follow!

I have a torque wrench and some torque sleeves, so am good to go.

Whanging the carbon frame off the edge of the concrete block at the end may help alleviate any worries about carbon. Or it might just be an entertaining video to watch...

I have only broken 2 frames, one steel and one carbon. Anything can break though, so I wouldn't overly worry about it.  You have decent (not fake/copies) kit. Assemble it correctly and then don't worry. Enjoy your new bike!

I've had carbon FS frames in the past although I'm on alloy frames now - nothing to do with worries about carbon though.

Carbon handlebars on my MTBs with the idea they're supposed to be more compliant.

eXotic carbon monocoque fork on my gravel bike, complete with carbon steerer.

I'm not overly concerned.

I've never had carbon do this. Yet.

Perhaps I should stay away from YouTube.

Probably, you could find 'evidence' for anything on there. Like @tjagain, I tend to buy known names from places I trust for carbon parts and I've never had an issue, although to be fair, although both my bikes are carbon framed, neither of them has that many carbon bit and pieces, I've a carbon handlebar and a set of carbon crank arms (that came with the bike) and that's pretty much it.

Big fan of carbon bits, hated it before having it. Same with the ebike 🙂

Heavy rider now and I have smashed twice on the same big double jump landing on top of the landing. Pivot mach 6 and a Blue Flue rear rim. Nothing apart from a £1.5k plus dental bill.

Burgtec carbon  bars also.

Ebike spec Rim dented on the 2nd or 3rd ride, and I have no idea where I could have damaged it.

Not to the level you are talking about but I had a ‘fear’ of carbon on my off-road bikes despite using carbon road bikes for years. I have cracked an alu frame years ago but that was early MTB days.

I then took the plunge on a carbon HT MTB and despite the first time I took to a gravel fire road leading to the trail I heard the ‘tick’ (more hollow sound) of little stones pinging off the down tube, it was different to the ‘ting’ of metal. But as soon as I hit the trail I forgot about it, enjoyed the ride and never looked back. That was 3 and a bit years ago. <br /><br />In fact, after 3 steel gravel bikes in a row my latest one is also now carbon. <br /><br />

I am inclined to look to bigger brands with good warranty etc  

Watching the recent Cade Media video on cheap carbon wheels reminded me why. It is often the QC and warranty that makes or breaks (excuse the pun) purchases for me.  Others may view it differently but that’s my take.

Whatever you decide to ride, enjoy it OP, sounds like you deserve it 👍

How many fork non-failures have you seen reported? These events are extremely rare and rightly reported to identify recalls. The absolute risk is still incredibly small.

Carbon is very safe. But the weight difference is really only about a full water bottle over alloy and two for steel. 

YouTube. I watched some videos on carbon expander bungs<br />

I recently looked into this quite a bit and I’m not convinced it’s much of an issue. A steerer bung is not a particularly robust item. If you are relying on  one to keep your fork from snapping I’d not be particularly confident in the fork

On a recent thread I asked if the bung had to cover both stem bolts. 2 observations I made. Both my giant bikes came with bungs shorter than the stem. And secondly, when setting up the fit of the bike, the recommendation from any manufacturer is to not cut the steerer until you know the height of your stem. On my giant tcr this meant I was riding the bike with 2 cm of spacers above the stem, meaning roughly only half of the stem was supported by the stem. 

far more important is use correct torques. And remember the torque value is the MAX safe torque

i have a set of carbon bars that I crashed so will no longer use. As an experiment I’m going to see what kind of torque they can handle before cracking. I’ll report back

I have Renthal Carbon bars that I cut down with a pipe cutting tool.  Apparently that is a big no-no??

Been riding them for a year now, but not died yet.

watching a shouty man on YouTube talking about expander bungs and imminent steerer catastrophe

Is easily solved by

Perhaps I should stay away from YouTube

Especially if the shouty man in question was Hambini who is an utter cockwomble.

My carbon gravel/CX bike has done several Three Peaks CX races with no issues at all, that's more wear and tear in a few hours than most gravel bikes get!
Admittedly anecdote does not equal anecdata... If you look around enough you'll find that anything can break. But equally, it could last 10 years of use with no issues. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Think about how many carbon road bikes are out there working perfectly well year after year.

I recently looked into this quite a bit and I’m not convinced it’s much of an issue. A steerer bung is not a particularly robust item. If you are relying on one to keep your fork from snapping I’d not be particularly confident in the fork

Stem, steerer and bung need to work as a system, that's all. Carbon  can be very strong stuff but metal edges can weaken it, e the Specialized steerer/headset problem that meant a recall not long ago.

I think the point generally is there's variability and carbon can be very tough stuff but it can be damaged or made poorly in a way that it becomes prone to sudden failure. I don't think of it inherently safe, I think of it being part of a safe high performance system if you acknowledge there's a range of safe use or tolerance and what might influence that range or take you outside of it. Like, you can whack a star nut into a steel steerer or clamp a stem to it to the point where the stem threads may strip - that's a wider range than carbon steerers generally.

Think about how many carbon road bikes are out there working perfectly well year after year.

In risk assesmment you look at rate of incident X outcome. There aren't many failures but there are some very serious outcomes.
All I'm saying is, we only use carbon stuff to save a bit of weight that we don't really need to save or gain a bit of performance that doesn't really make or break.. sorry, isn't really vital to the ride. And it's used so commonly in the industry now. That shouldn't lead to complacency about it's use though because of that mode of failure point. (I think it's a topic worth discussion from time to time and it's why I'm on the cautious side of the opinions)

White Bros and MRP’s rigid forks are both rebranded Exotic

I think thats the other way around, for White bros at least. As white bros were out long time before exotic came to the market.

I recently looked into this quite a bit and I’m not convinced it’s much of an issue. A steerer bung is not a particularly robust item. If you are relying on  one to keep your fork from snapping I’d not be particularly confident in the fork

One of the more videos I watched talked about some forks needing the expander bung to support the steerer against the crushing force of the stem and the advice was to check with the fork manufacturer as to whether this was the case. There was also a suggestion that it was critical to tighten the expander to a specific torque. Ragley seemed quite happy for the bung to be nipped up enough to preload the stem.

It was also suggested that the bung needed to extend beyond the bolts on the stem.

I have no idea whether any of this is true, but I did notice that the very short FSA bung I'd bought actually sat between the clamp bolts of my Thomson stem so I ditched it and bought a 7cm Deda one.

Ragley are quite happy with the 5.5Nm recommended torque for the stem and I assume that the EC70 AX bars will survive the 4Nm recommendations for the 4 faceplate bolts.

Especially if the shouty man in question was Hambini who is an utter cockwomble.

Thankfully it wasn't, I give him a wide berth, but there seem to be a number of shouty types out there and I'm not smart enough to know whether their proclamations of doom are correct or not.

what about age, can carbon fibre become weaker over time? I ask because I have a set of Pace RC31s from 2006 on my commuter bike. It is just that, it doesn't go off road anymore but the forks are, lets say well used. All I do these days is ride it round the lanes, around town and it gets popped over the odd kerb.

I have read the article on the other thread and am now slightly concerned about my aging carbon forks!

Especially if the shouty man in question was Hambini who is an utter cockwomble.

Had to ditch an interesting channel recently as he was promoting this dickhead's products. Genuinely surprised. 

You don't need to worry about the fork on the Trig OP, plenty of us have guinea pigged it for you already.

I keep forgetting I'm not on my MTB when I'm riding mine, and it's still intact.