Carbon fiber bits (my bikes)

[SuperBuickGuy]

the 3rd Carbon fiber bike


which replaced this bike

ironically, I was testing a seat (the beautiful color = test seat), I should have been testing bumpers as I took out a Honda with the bike. While there is obvious damage, what you can't see from the pictures is the entire down tube was riddled with cracks.

which replaced this bike

which was a completely amazing POS - the bottom bracket (where the pedals attach) cracked, then the rear brake mount cracked... despite the "lifetime warranty" - Trek bought LeMond then had a messy divorce, thus warrantied the frame - Trek told me to go pound sand, the bike shop I bought from gave me a frame that Trek had given them as a display to make it right..... which was too small and sold on ebay...

 

[mrvette]

We going to pick up a couple of Walmart specials for the motor home....maybe spend 60 bux each.....:clap::flash:


On bike #3 there, up top, what is with the single red spoke on each wheel, I think I am seeing yellow relectors which I have seen before, but the red spoke?? now that I post this, why the red hubs on the front wheels???

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

the wheels are the same on all the bikes. They're Mavic wheels, one of their identifiers is they put a red, reflective spoke on their wheels instead of those reflectors you see on every other bike. Red hub is just a Mavic thing

I'm kind of a brute to my bikes, I blow out hubs in the back wheel (literally, across the pavement blow out)... and Mavic wheels have been the only ones that hold up

I race - so I have a bit more than $60 in any of those bikes (I think my bottle holder cost less than $60.00.... though even that I'm not certain of)... the top bike, as you see it, weighs 15.8 lbs.

 

[MYBAD79]

Cool bikes, one of my buddies just bought one .... Yes, just a tad more than $60 :lol:

 

[mrvette]

Cool bikes, one of my buddies just bought one .... Yes, just a tad more than $60 :lol:

But these are for me and wife, neither one of us in much shape to warrant a full blown Lance Armstrong type bike.....

:smash::suicide:

 

[pancake]

I am way too heavy to trust a carbon frame.. but I do have carbon bits (forks, seat post)on my chromoly Fuji Ace. I stopped at Turin bikes on Broadway in Denver when I lived there to buy spare tubes and the salesman was concerned with how many ounces the heavy duty puncture resistant tube weighed vs the one he recommended and I had to explain that when you're north of 250lbs, a few ounces don't mean shit.

And now I live in Texas in an area where the only people that ride bikes have DUI's and cannot legally drive. yay.

That being said, the carbon frames are dead sexy.

 

[GT6Steve]

I was an avid cyclist whilst in the Navy and even did a century run from Long Beach to San Diego one day. I had a wonderful Motobecane that was never right after being hit by a Cadillac.

How wonderful it would have been to have that technology back in 1975.

I had a tendency to crash my bikes flowing down the hills at incredible speed only to run out of talent at the bottom.....:goodnight:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I am way too heavy to trust a carbon frame.. but I do have carbon bits (forks, seat post)on my chromoly Fuji Ace. I stopped at Turin bikes on Broadway in Denver when I lived there to buy spare tubes and the salesman was concerned with how many ounces the heavy duty puncture resistant tube weighed vs the one he recommended and I had to explain that when you're north of 250lbs, a few ounces don't mean shit.

And now I live in Texas in an area where the only people that ride bikes have DUI's and cannot legally drive. yay.

That being said, the carbon frames are dead sexy.

I use tubeless tires.... no more pinch flats :thumbs:

I was an avid cyclist whilst in the Navy and even did a century run from Long Beach to San Diego one day. I had a wonderful Motobecane that was never right after being hit by a Cadillac.

How wonderful it would have been to have that technology back in 1975.

I had a tendency to crash my bikes flowing down the hills at incredible speed only to run out of talent at the bottom.....:goodnight:

the hill where I took out a Honda, I normally go 50+ mph into the 25mph 180 sweeper... fortunately the Voice was telling me to slow down - the guy who was driving had given me an odd look before he turned in front of me and went down this hill; so I was cautiously coming down a hill (25 mph), I came around the first corner and he was parked in the street. I started to go around on his left and he turned his signal on..... :bomb:


skis and bikes - both look exactly the same as they did in the 70s, yet there's nothing the same about them... technology didn't really make me faster,however, it added to my years how long I could keep doing it.

 

[kutmup]

Hearing about cracks in CF helps me avoid spending money. I keep telling myself to stick with bikes that are tha same age as my cars. I play with Paramounts and few others 531 bikes from the 60s and 70s. Would like to get something space age one of these days. Trek and Orbea have been the ones I keep lookng at. I didn't like how Orbea used very well thought out words to keep China from being linked to their stuff.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Hearing about cracks in CF helps me avoid spending money. I keep telling myself to stick with bikes that are tha same age as my cars. I play with Paramounts and few others 531 bikes from the 60s and 70s. Would like to get something space age one of these days. Trek and Orbea have been the ones I keep lookng at. I didn't like how Orbea used very well thought out words to keep China from being linked to their stuff.

Only the top end Trek are still made in the US (same with Cannondale) the rest of their bikes are made in China or Taiwan.

But keep this in mind, the Chinese are better at carbon fiber than the US (and even Italian) manufacturers - however, there is a vast difference between the ebay, chinese CF and the CF made under contract for the top bike builders.

I won't go back to metal, I've had them all - aluminum, steel, titanium and they all vibrate more, are not as explosive when you jump on the pedals, and do not handle as well as carbon.... again, I caution, though, that you cannot compare top level carbon with the ebay sellers. In that case, top level of the other materials are quite a bit better.

Of course, Trek doesn't make a bike that fits me - so I do have some animous against them that's a personal criticism not a general criticism.

I do like Specialized, except that I am not completely thrilled with bike companies that use (pretty much exclusively) their own parts/manufacturers, especially wheels.