British Eagle Pro-Carbon project

[N+1+1]

Looking good ! I’ve ridden mine hard (well quite hard!)
Why most likely a death trap - are you worried about the Alu work gardening or the adhesive or...?

 

[pazaudi]

Looking good ! I’ve ridden mine hard (well quite hard!)
Why most likely a death trap - are you worried about the Alu work gardening or the adhesive or...?

The adhesive, I've seen some horror stories on these. Although this frame feels solid I'll only use it reasonably gently to be on the safe side.

Did you get the decals done in the end?

 

[N+1+1]

Ah I did wonder about that - had an ALAN racer that snapped clean through under the front mech band due to severe frame flex and work hardening (not gardening!!).
Mine’s still in storage but your post jolted me to get the decals sorted out.
Where have these failed then?

 

[pazaudi]

I shared this on Facebook and someone posted a photo of theirs where he is basically holding the whole front end in his hand...the rest of it was somewhere in the background. On the other hand a mate of mine back in the day had one too and that got thrashed with no issues at all. I guess all bikes have their failure rates.

 

[N+1+1]

True, I suppose some serious front end shunting could pull the lugs off the top tube+.
Still modern carbon frames are susceptible to ‘catastrophic failure’ too... carbon eh!
I was planning on loading mine up again for a bike packing tour of Scotland. Maybe I’ll stick to the roads (less shocking) and take some emergency glue!

 

[Moto]

Re:

I think 'deathtrap' is a tad excessive. As you say any brand new carbon bike could suffer a catastrophic failure.

It maybe that the earlier carbon bikes were over engineered as manufacturers were less sure of the stress potential, where as now they have better science & data and therefore engineer them down to the lowest 'safe' level. They are certainly a lot lighter now and the carbon is much thinner.

Two British Eagle Pro-Carbon frames have been advertised on ebay in the past year where both had an ally lug crack - one on seat post and one on bottom bracket. The seat post was probably due to an under sized seat post being fitted. But it may suggest the ally is the weak link rather than the carbon.

Either way, I don't believe they are any more a 'death trap' than any other carbon (or aluminium) bike. I've ridden mine for the last 5 years, mainly cross country but have taken it over many serious heavy going routes (ie Brecon Gap 3 or 4 times) and never had any problem (don't mean to tempt fate) so far. I do run a 2.2 on the front to provide a touch more cushioning though. Also I'm not a downhill racer so my speed over the rough stuff is a touch more sedate so any catastrophic failure hopefully would not be at high speed.

Moto

 

[pazaudi]

Yes maybe an excessive word to use, it does feel nice and solid but it will only be used for gravel tracks etc. so should be fine. As Alan was making these frames for many years before this particular one was built you'd think they'd know what they we're doing with carbon.

I do also have another one of these frames but it has a cracked carbon tube on the downtube next to the BB housing. That's destined for the skip as it's rough or may just hang it up in the garage.

 

[N+1+1]

My ALAN frame ended up in the skip (such a shame).
Heard many scary stories about their Ally front fork dropouts snapping off - yikes! But they did look vulnerable - so I swopped mine out for steel (not so cool looking but safer).
As you guys say our Pro Carbons are hardly super lightweight so guessing they over engineered to be on the safe side in the early days. No signs of any cracks on mine still, so will ride with care!

 

[N+1+1]

Here’s my original receipt - paid by cheque (naturally)!

 

[Moto]

Re:

How sure are you that the frames were made by Alan? I've read a number of Retrobike forums where people are adamant they are and others adamant they're not.

Also if you're about to scrap your old frame I'd be interested in knowing if these are glued only or glued and screwed. Some members have suggested the carbon tube ends are threaded and screw into the lugs.

Moto