I have had in the years about 12 or so carbon beams de-laminate on me. There is a guy in Florida who repairs them...but, you obviously are not in the US let alone near Florida. The other issue you may run into is the pivots and the bolts and things that are suggested to be changed out every 2500+ miles in the beam. Then there is beam failure issues of the Alu at the pivot failing....oh, and failures around the steel insert at the pivot.

The alloy beams we saw very little if any delam issues with them - they are however suspect to the same fractures in the sleeve as the carbon beams.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Oh, and I know your friend...and chances are Z's stuff is not off the shelf but rather one off things that may not have been production models.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Thanks!

The guy who repairs the beams advertises his services on Ebay USA but as you said it's just not an option.

In the end you tell me not to buy the thing, right?

I rode a Rocket Wing for 3 years, and before that a Power Wing for another 3 years. I never had any problems with beams, other than the occasional squeek. No delaminations, no bolt problems, nothing. FWIW, I'm about 200 pounds, so top end of their weight limit.

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Blazeman Warrior - so others may live
Live more than your neighbors.... Bark at the moon like the wild dog that you are.... And by all means, whatever you do, get it on film.

Hi Tim

I have just stripped my Softride Qualifier after I snapped the rear drop-out on the frame. I was planning to advertise the pieces, including the beam, on eBay. My beam was great, no problems or noises. A great bike for ironman races and sad to see it go. I also have a new set of bolts etc which I bought but never actually installed.

Let me know if you would be interested. BTW, I am in Australia but would be happy to arrange postage etc at your cost if that works for you.

Best wishes
S

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If anybody can, a Kiwi can

Thanks for the offer!

But as far as I know the "classic" beam of a Qualifier just does not fit a Rocket wing frame.

Tim

You are spot on about the beams. My error in not reading your post thoroughly enjoy. Good luck

S

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If anybody can, a Kiwi can

Many people note that rocket beams are prone to delamination. The older beams also had issues with aluminum cracks, but when thicker aluminum was used on later beams, the problems may have resolved. Softrides.com was started to document Softride bikes, collect information about rocket beams and develop fixes. Softride was innitially helpful. Thanks go out to the people who gave us beams to dissect and experiment with. We've talked with everyone involved, the original designer, Softride management and employees, the guys who built the prototype bikes, the outsource beam manufacturer, and the polyurethane supplier. All of them targeted the design, and peel properties of the polyurethane as two of the main problems with the rocket beam. There are a few things that can be done to prolong beam life or restore delaminated beams, but they are expensive labor intensive and require specialized tools and skills. A few die-hards repair beams for themselves, but liability would be an issue if they made fixes for others. Softride doesn't sell new beams. Beams occasionally list on ebay. The guy on ebay that "fixes" beams, destroys most or all of the polyurethane, so there's little shock absorption remaining when he epoxies the two parts back together, if that's acceptable to you.

As others have noted, the pivots are also problematic.

theres always titan flex:
http://www.ttinet.com/tf/index.htm

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Yes there is! But regrettably not at $ 1.600 including a Zipp 909 wheel set...

In addition to that, I just don't dig the looks of the Titanflex frames.

Can you share any more about sleeve fractures and steel insert at the pivot failures? Do you know if the sleeve fracture issue was resolved in the later sleeves that were cc milled slightly thicker? Can you describe the steel insert problem and any fixes?

The issue that I had seen a time or three was SMALL SMALL fractures that would begin at the edge of the insert. Never did see a sudden failure or beam collapse. I would imagine a good welder, with a CNC Lathe, a grinder and some mad skills could repiar it, if it did happen to a beam.

Cant speak at all to the later beams. I can say that the failure rate of the Alu beams was about 0% for delam.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

To clarify: The later sleeves were made thicker at the point where the tongue projects from the sleeve. This may have resolved the problem of cracks forming at that point of the sleeve.

Both the polyurethane supplier and the composite beam manufacturer remarked that the polyurethane adheres correctly to the aluminum beams and sleeves, but that it peels loose from the CF beams...what's come to be called de-lamination.

If you ever come across a picture of a fracture at the steel insert, I'm interested in seeing it. I've been told that almost any heat applied to the sleeve would burn out the polyurethane.

A rider reported an upper pivot fracture. I've seen it once. Have you ever seen that?

Never said I "saw" a repair. I had a Rocket beam that had fissures at the lower corners of the steel insert. I sent to back to Softride years and years ago. I have seen many Rocket beams with fractures at the lower pivot in the Alu on the "web" as it would be (what i would call it if it was on a Calfee)....never seen a fracture at the upper point....did see a frame crushed by someone with an huge wrench that didnt know he had De-Lam and just kept tightning...

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?