Glad you are "ok'ish."

Is it really worth it to go back out on it? I think you know the answer because you are asking on here.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

No shop will ever get you a definitive answer, there is just too much liability there. If you're not at fault, I would claim that against the drivers insurance and ask them to pay for a replacement. If you're at fault, I'd send it to a carbon repair place and have them go over it. Will cost you some $ but its worth the piece of mind IMO.

To tack onto this... I survived a 40mph crash and went through the bike shop, manufacture, specialty carbon frame repair company with a fancy frame scan... none of them will say it's fine 100%... even if it really is. Liability and the unknown is a variable none of them want to take on.

I ended up getting a new frame and some peace of mind.

My bike frame looked just fine after my accident, but the guy's insurance wanted an estimate so I took it to my bike shop. They absolutely would not try to find any problems and 'totaled the bike'. Just got the check for the full value of the bike (it was only 9 months old) plus quite a few things I changed like the wheels. Now I still have the bike and I'll put it back together and sell it to my neighbor.

As someone who works in the bike industry and has designed many of carbon frames, the simple answer is NO.

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Steven Harad
215.359.6964

Is that "No" as in "it's dead, get a new one"?

Correct, get a new one. There is no way to tell if there is damage. Xray or not, it's too difficult to be 100% sure.

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Steven Harad
215.359.6964

Thanks. That's what I was hoping to hear, i think.

When you're hooning down a hill at 50mph you need to have a fair amount of trust that your bike isn't going to disintegrate.

I've "retired" it on Strava with 104 miles on the clock :(

Are there any local guys that do carbon work? I have a guy near me that fixes carbon bikes for a living. I would take it to him instead of a local shop. Most people don't know you can fix carbon.

I'm in the UK.
The easiest thing is for me to say it's dead and claim for the full amount off the driver's insurance.

Use it as a trainer only bike. That's what's I did with my old aluminum bike.

It's probably fine, but I wouldn't take the risk. So retire it to trainer or lazy about-town bike (as long as you're disciplined enough not to bike too aggressively on it). Selling or gifting it onwards seems like very bad form...if it's not safe for you to ride, it's no safer for others to ride.

The bike shop is always going to be scared to make a call on it. If you really want to know if the bike is safe to ride still, take it to a carbon fiber repair shop, have them evaluate the frame and make a recommendation on repairs. That's what I did with a S6 Evo standard mod, had the repairs done and have been riding the bike for nearly a year without issue.

I'd get a new frame. This would be likely true with a metal frame for me as well.

I had a Trek 5500 OCLV fly off the roof of my car at 75 mph. It looked fine without even a scratch. Bike shop wouldn't give me the ok so it's been a trainer only bike for 11 years.

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Formerly DrD

So the sum total so far is one expert (Ceepo) saying "get a replacement", a bunch of non-expert people saying "get a carbon repair place to look it over", and a bunch of other people saying "no".

What is a carbon-repair place going to do besides look it over for external damage (which you've already done)? Seems to me that the only actual test you (or they) could do would be a stress test. Put the frame in a jig, apply a test load and see if it flexes more than it should. If it does, it's toast. If not, you don't know how many stress cycles were used up by the incident so you're still not going to be truly confident. Moreover, only Cannondale will really know how strong/stiff the frame should be in the first place.

Get a replacement.

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Less is more.

Big Endian wrote:

What is a carbon-repair place going to do besides look it over for external damage (which you've already done)?

Answer: Kind of a lot.
http://www.ruckuscomp.com/inspection


of course, they would have to check the entire frame, and I doubt it would be worthwhile if someone else's insurance is on the hook.

Carefully inspect (or replace) the fork and look v/close at head tube. IF the rest fails you can handle it ;)

Yeah my bike crash I actually slammed into the bike, my knee breaking the downtube. I repaired that and rode it for another 1/2 year or so. The repair was too stiff and the back end of the bike got really noodly, scrapped the frame.

Do you remember impacting the bike frame with anything? Probably like me you body-checked the side of the car pretty hard.

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Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com

Reminder, when you buy the new frame, tell your wife first.

Gold! OP get well and enjoy the next bike.

Do you want to hear an even funnier bit?...

As i was walking out the door of the hotel room (I work away mid-week) the wife called and i told her i didn't have time to chat now as i was going for a quick ride... If i'd stopped and talked for 5 mins i'd still have my bike, and no broken ribs.

Will you be telling him it's been declared "totalled" by the bike shop?
This seems like VERY greedy and unethical behaviour to me.
You got paid the full replacement cost for the bike specifically because it's not deemed safe to ride. If you disagree with the bike shop's assessment, keep the original bike, ride it yourself, and give the money back. If you're not comfortable it's safe to ride then destroy the frame. You could always strip the non-critical parts first and sell those, but if the frame is not known to be safe you should not be selling it. In fact I'd argue you shouldn't even give it away. Be responsible.

I was going to say that you obviously have not learned how to protect your bike by the use of your own body, but with the broken ribs I guess you gave it a shot.
All my severe crashes the bikes came out okay as I seem to have a knack for buffering the bike frame with my flesh. Still at the tail end of PT from the crash last summer.

I hope you heal well and the whole timing of getting a new bike without wife approval makes all the more difficult. Which by the way I recently got a new bike in similar conditions.

Best wishes on the healing and getting a replacement if needed.

In my case the carbon repair shop had some sort of infrared diode they applied to the frame to check for cracks. I don't know the details, as my bike shop sourced the repair to a 3rd party that I didn't speak to. Apparently it was much more than a typical "eye ball" test though. If a carbon shop isn't doing some form of comprehensive diagnostic, then I wouldn't trust them to do the work.