Well then I guess the question is: What frames/brands/parts can you buy for sure knowing the material won't fail?
And some very boring engineering thing on crash properties on carbon would be interesting perhaps.
All materials can and will fail under the right circumstances. The only way to assess this with carbon is ultrasound (as you won't get big dents/cracks) which is what they use in the aircraft industry.
Risk of an instant failure is very low, I guess it depends on how you weight needs VS risks. Do I need a carbon frame for my riding? No. So the very small risk of damage that I miss that results an instant frame/fork failure and me biting the road isn't worth it for me. If you are a road racer on the other hand...
RE touring Luddites: It's part true (I hang out on touring forums) but it's part also because again if you travel and take your bike with you on a plane/train there is no way of telling how fucked up it's been treated by handlers. Metal? Dent warns you. Carbon? No way of knowing.
And yes brazeons are harder to do on carbon, as somebody pointed out, touring bikes generally have a lot of them.
Well then I guess the question is: What frames/brands/parts can you buy for sure knowing the material won't fail?
And some very boring engineering thing on crash properties on carbon would be interesting perhaps.
All materials can and will fail under the right circumstances. The only way to assess this with carbon is ultrasound (as you won't get big dents/cracks) which is what they use in the aircraft industry.
Risk of an instant failure is very low, I guess it depends on how you weight needs VS risks. Do I need a carbon frame for my riding? No. So the very small risk of damage that I miss that results an instant frame/fork failure and me biting the road isn't worth it for me. If you are a road racer on the other hand...
RE touring Luddites: It's part true (I hang out on touring forums) but it's part also because again if you travel and take your bike with you on a plane/train there is no way of telling how fucked up it's been treated by handlers. Metal? Dent warns you. Carbon? No way of knowing.
And yes brazeons are harder to do on carbon, as somebody pointed out, touring bikes generally have a lot of them.