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Carbon Dropout Failures Cervelo
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My non-drive side hanger on my 2015 Cervelo S2 got ground down/has an indent and the wheel no longer aligns well. Cervelo isn't covering warranty and bike shop is claiming its from user error over tightening skewer.
  1. Is this a common issue with carbon drop-outs?
  2. Is this fixed on new bikes - if i get a new frame?
  3. I can still ride the bike the wheel is just a bit off center and sometimes torques into my frame if stomping on pedals at low cadence. This is exaggerated if using a trainer skewer but works better with a normal Shimano skewer. Is this still safe to ride?
  4. Is there anything I can do to repair or fix this?
  5. Is the carbon really that week that simply tightening the skewer too hard could ruin the frame?

I'm guessing with the prevalence of carbon dropouts this should affect a decent number of people.

If anything i want this out there as a PSA to riders to be extra safe with skewer torque as i didn't even recall excessively over tightening.
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Re: Carbon Dropout Failures Cervelo [racedaybestday] [ In reply to ]
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racedaybestday wrote:
My non-drive side hanger on my 2015 Cervelo S2 got ground down/has an indent and the wheel no longer aligns well. Cervelo isn't covering warranty and bike shop is claiming its from user error over tightening skewer.
  1. Is this a common issue with carbon drop-outs?
  2. Is this fixed on new bikes - if i get a new frame?
  3. I can still ride the bike the wheel is just a bit off center and sometimes torques into my frame if stomping on pedals at low cadence. This is exaggerated if using a trainer skewer but works better with a normal Shimano skewer. Is this still safe to ride?
  4. Is there anything I can do to repair or fix this?
  5. Is the carbon really that week that simply tightening the skewer too hard could ruin the frame?

I'm guessing with the prevalence of carbon dropouts this should affect a decent number of people.

If anything i want this out there as a PSA to riders to be extra safe with skewer torque as i didn't even recall excessively over tightening.

Carbon repair shops are becoming much more prevalent. I'd suggest searching your local area for one so they can take a look. If there's no one within driving distance you can probably send pics to one of the better know companies such as Calfee Design, Ruckus Composites, Appleman, etc.

I'm surprised they would diagnose this as overtightening the skewer as I wouldn't think carbon composite dropouts are very compressible. If anything a loose skewer would allow movement leading to wear. I have a Dimond with carbon dropouts and the flame is flexy enough that with some wheels/hubs (Zipp) I can make the wheel shift under load. My cure was to use a DT Swiss twist skewer and rachet it down tight (overtight?!?) which has worked. I've also noted that some wheels/hubs have much more substantial axle flanges and the larger serrated ends have better clamping than small hub ends like on my Zipps.
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Re: Carbon Dropout Failures Cervelo [SummitAK] [ In reply to ]
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Calfee has been the go to carbon repair for years. Craig is a super carbon geek and cares about quality. Not just quality, HIGH quality. I met him about 20 years ago & got to ride his "Dragon Fly" prototype for a test drive in Kona. He fixed my buddy's Cervelo P2 and came out fantastic (probably stronger post-fix than original). It was painted and took a keen eye to notice the overwrap near the top/down tube where the snap happened.
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