2006 Canondale Six13 - reliability and realistic lifetime?

[benhanley77]

Hi,

I have a 2006 Canondale Six13 bike, which is my pride and joy. Really nice to ride and still looking amazing! The only thing is that I have niggle I have in my mind as to the durability of the bonding between the carbon and aluminum... The top and down tubes are carbon - the rest aluminum.

As is usual with these bikes, there are few patches where the lacquer has discoloured. I have researched this and it's a common and purely cosmetic thing. I am more concerned whether the frame is structurally ok. I have not done crazy miles on it, maybe 10k miles in total and the frame shows no obvious signs of having problems.

Has anyone else had any experiences with these frames and can advise if they are generally safe to keep riding 13 years on!?

Here's a link to the bike: https://www.theproscloset.com/products/ ... -bike-2006

Thanks
Ben

 

[xerxes]

Re:

There are plenty of bonded framed bikes still about and still going strong that are considerably older than your Cannondale.

90s Raleigh Techniums, which were steel lugs bonded to titanium tubes, some 90s Specialzed used steel and titanium lugs bonded to carbon tubes and 90s Giant Cadex's which were aluminium lugs with carbon tubes; one showed up on the forum recently: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=399905

If it feels OK when you ride it, I'd say carry on, but if it starts to feel "off", have a close inspection of the bonds.

If you think about it a full carbon frame is just a whole bunch of threads bonded together with glue, so the whole frame is one giant glued or bonded structure.

 

[benhanley77]

Re:

Thanks for your response. I suspected that I was being a bit paranoid. Going to get it looked at by a professional bike repair shop just to be sure!

 

[hamster]

A320 aircraft have had mixed carbon fibre and aluminium wings and tails since launch in 1986. Similarly the Lotus Elise chassis is bonded. I doubt there is much to worry about, but regular inspection won't do any harm!