guessing this chap wanted to make sure it was strong enough!
I am never buying a carbon frame ever. He hardly touched it!
I'm never riding through a hammer factory.
Well the alloy (was it alloy?) one hardly faired any better, one hit did that, two would have destroyed it!
he definately voided the warranty by doing that 😯
are you serious samuri? that almost convinced me carbon is better than aluminium.
I think that's a pretty good low tech demonstration of the characteristics of carbon fibre actually. Extremely strong until it starts to fail, at which point he can virtually rip the frame in half with his hands.
Don't think I'd be willing to smash up carbon without wearing a breathing mask!
It's the barbs. Straight to the heart! 🙄
Thats quite impressive. He was really clouting it before it started to flake.
Well here was I thinking of putting my Stumpy in the vice today & setting to with a lump hammer. Don't think I'll bother as its clearly not fit for purpose so I'll just ride it instead.
He has a toolkit like mine.
the doesn't really demonstrate anything about bike frame strength, other than they are not designed to be hit with a hammer.
yeah, I don't think he was hitting it that hard, or for very long. Is there a similar one showing him hitting an alloy frame?
edit: Aaah, yes, sorry, watched the whole video now. Fair enough. Still both are surprisingly weak.
There's a video somewhere of someone hitting some carbon and aluminium bike tubes against objects (walls, etc) and eachother... guess which fares better...
There's a video somewhere of someone hitting some carbon and aluminium bike tubes against objects (walls, etc) and eachother... guess which fares better...
The wall?
Still both are surprisingly weak.
That's a 2lb lump hammer there with something solid underneath it - I'm surprised they stood up as well as they did after being hit with it from that direction
agree, I think both did surprisingly well
yes but when the carbon one went he snapped it like a twig with only his hands
the ally one would not have done that
what a bullshit test/demonstration.
does anyone go riding and then stop to bash thier bike against a tree or rock?
that almost made me angry cause they ruined two what appear to be perfectly serviceble frames for NO reason.
loading never happens in that direction, the carbon NOR the ally is designed to take loading, let alone an impact, in that direction.
ever thrown an egg over a house?
that almost made me angry cause they ruined two what appear to be perfectly serviceble frames for NO reason
Apart from the fact that they both had no bottom brackets....at all !!
Top end steel and Ti frames would be very thin at those points so can't see them lasting any better.
Pointless video which proved nothing. Gee great!
another similar low-tech demonstration here -
Just wish carbon fibre was affordable, until then I'll stick with what I've got
[i]It's the barbs. Straight to the heart![/i]
It's doing well, this one. 🙂
Well one hit and Alu has crumpled.. and it has to be said many nackered frames are from hits on rocks ...... so that test is a fair one!
I had a great conversation with a mechanic the other day about my carbon frame.... I admitted I was a ted tentative with carbon.... He said was out with the Scott crew, one of the tech blokes came off and his bike went over the side of the hill bounced 20 odd times... they walked down and it had a hole it it, he was amazed when the bloke dusted it off and got on, the mechanic said wtf are you doing... he rode off for the day and that evening they patched it up... I think in a nutshell carbon frames are far better than they were 5-10 years ago and are very durable and easy to repair! because old ones had a bad rep people just have an irrational fear of them! but technology has moved on... peoples attitudes have not.......... all imho of course!
I have a carbon road bike & some MTB carbon bits - I don't worry at all about the strength of carbon
When it does fail however it's often catastrophic - best not think about it 😀
I'm a bit wary of carbon still but I would probably happily ride a carbon frame if they weren't so ****ing expensive. Decent strong ones don't seem to be mega-light either.
I was somewhat convinced though by the fact that Remy Absalon won the Mega on a plastic bike.
The carbon seems pretty tough but then it is pretty crazy how easily you can rip it apart once it fails.
won't somebody think of the children!
[i]fact that Remy Absalon won the Mega on a plastic bike.[/i]
yeah ,I think we should stop calling them carbon fibre which sounds cool and dynamic and start calling them by their proper name 'Burnt plastic'.
There's also the fact that you can easily and very cheaply repair practically any damage caused by riding to a carbon frame. a mate once used a company down south and they charge £40 per carbon repair. Repairing an aluminium frame with a crack in it tends to be a waste of time and money since they inevtably go again.
Halfords service team!
I bet on-one wish they hadn't given their Xterra rider a carbon road post for his Ti bike...
You know after the cold war ended and the American film industry couldn't make films with the Russians as badies? There was a big drop in the number of action films. So Hollywood lobbied the senate to declare war on some piss poor country with a facist dictator that would strum up anti-american feelings around the world and breed a new bunch of baddies for them to ridicule on celluloid.
Well burnt plastic is like that. Once purple anodising and bright yellow helmets had gone, there was nothing for us to hate so Burnt plastic was invented to give us some focus.
And another hammering video.
[url]
edit: oh sorry, it's already been posted. never mind
metal does fail just as easily as that but you tend to have more chance of spotting it before that point but that only works if you are looking for it. In fact there are a lot of applications in engineering where you want it to fail that way.
What a surprise; hitting bicycle components with a hammer ruins them 🙄
Just what is the point of any of these videos apart from showing everyone that there are some people out there with more money and time on their hands than is good for them?
When it does fail however it's often catastrophic
Exactly like most aluminium components then...
I am never buying an aluminium frame ever. He hardly touched it!
Exactly like most aluminium components then...
ooh, I dunno, I've had a couple of cracked alu frames that stayed together long enough to get home & - in 1 case - was OK for another ride
Which I've seen exactly the same for carbon... (thinking of an OCLV which was ridden into a tree 😯 and an old GT STS which broke at the BB, both of which were ridden home).
Would like to see the two forks off the niner video then put through stress loading test after hitting them with the hammer thats the only thing that would prove which is strongest rather that just whats visible....
I had a Diamond Back WCF 4.0 from 1996, Woven CF tubes bonded to Chromoly lugs, the downtube/headtune bond broke, but I didn't realise for a year or two, rode it effectively without a down tube without any problems.
errr ... the frames don't have bottom brackets! - just held together with a toptube hence pulling it apart.
"ah but when it fails its catstrophic"
to be fair if i do something which results in hitting my bike hard enough to cause a catastrophic failure i think im probably pretty ****ed anyway
this reminds me of stupid Gadget Show 'tests' where they fill plasma tellies full of water to see which is best, or on Top Gear where they drop caravans onto cars to see which conducts electic best, or something.
a bit crap and pointless in other words.
don't **** your bike with a hammer kids.

