Big blokes on Carbon?

[OldFatTi]

Carbon bars are great, seatposts less so, still scared of frames.

MTB frames make no sense in carbon with all these rocks flying around! Ti or rust-proofed steel forever!

Even road frames in carbon scare me... also the 2 I've ridden felt dull despite weighing nothing.

 

[Agency_Scum]

The only thing that scares an engineer more than a fat bloke is a lawyer. I'm 18 stone and always look to see if there's a weight limit on components. With super-dooper carbon stuff there's longevity guaranteed ( almost! ) if they're not publishing a weight limit.

 

[haggis]

cheers guys i'll maybe give the bars a go then. def dubious about the seatposts though so i'm not having that

 

[REKIBorter]

I have carbon forks and seatpost on my road bike, and I'm 15 1/2 st. Have considered a carbon MTB frame but used the excuse of price rather than fatigue strength so far.

 

[MJN]

cheers guys i'll maybe give the bars a go then. def dubious about the seatposts though so i'm not having that

Why be dubiuos about seatposts but not bars,seatposts are just a straight shaft,bars,even flat ones have curves and snapping bars is even scarier than snapping seatposts.If you buy a reputable make ie Easton,FSA etc either should be pretty good just stay clear of cheap wingtangpingpong bargain stuff

 

[lewis1641]

my on one has s works carbon low ride bars and an easton carbon post. i weigh 17 and a bit stone and they are fine (i think!!)

 

[IbocProSX]

I'm a bit of a Clydesdale (more so now than back in the 90's) and FWIW my first carbon fibre (CF) frame and handlebars from 1992 are still going strong. The flat handlebars are now on my commuter and I use them every week.

Lately I'm also running a CF Spesh Enduro SL frame, and I have a CF bar on my Foes trail bike for over 3 years, including a few runs down the world cup downhill course in Kaprun, with no issues. That said, I have no CF seatposts as I don't like the pinching load in the clamp. Schizofrenic maybe as handlebars are clamped too, but it's my gut feel (at work I'd say engineering judgement).

The only handlebar to fail on me on a ride was aluminium, decent brand bought 1997, failed in 99, ouch that hurt. And let's not forget an impressive array of cracking aluminium frames, Dale's, Manitou's, Marin's and that's just listing my experience. Same goes for chichi parts, HO brakes anyone?

IMHO The crash that kills a CF frame will likely also kill a lightweight Aluminium frame. But with metal the rider is blamed for stacking it, or the welder stroke engineer for getting it wrong. With CF suddenly the material is to blame. Materials are not to blame for being abused, poorly designed or crap manufacturing, and that holds for aluminium and steel as well. It is true there's more to be engineered and more to go wrong with CF. But when designed for the intended purpose and executed proper it's perfectly OK. The advise about rider weight limits above does make sense to me, confidence in execution is important.

German BIKE mag did an impressive destructive test on CF hardtails and sus frames this spring. IIRC they destroyed 27 frames in all, 3 of each model and all the hardtails passed the test. Some of the sus frames passed too and the ones that failed did so on aluminium add-ons (alloy rockers, pivot points etc)

Apologies for a bit of a rant, just ENJOY!!

 

[ddidds]

i run carbon seatpost, carbon saddle, carbon handlebar and carbon cranks on my dahon jetstream and so far(1000km) i had absolutely no problems...i'm 1.85 and 210pounds

 

[samjacksonphotography]

If you go for some of the stuff such as Easton, FSA etc , the bigger brands have a lot more build and strength quality to them rather than your budget brands such as Bikehut etc.

Sam

 

[clockworkgazz]

I had a cheapo carbon seatpost and it snapped after a bit of a hard landing, scratched the feck out of my leg but could have been a lot worse- back to Al from now on.