Has anyone used them ? Is the frame safe like new once done? What our your thoughts n repairing a carbon frame?
I own a Calfee made bike, they are the masters of carbon fiber. If they say they can fix a frame, I’d trust their word, and would not hesitate on riding a Calfee repaired frame.
Yes and yes. I highly recommend their work.
What did you have done ?
When I crashed my Tarmac SL3 bike last September my handlebar hit my tup tube and essentally put a dent into it. It also rearranged my shoulder, but Calfee could only repair the bike. And they did a great job repairing it and matching my matte paint job almost perfectly. No one can tell where the repair was and I have total confidence in the frame.
Finally, their customer service is phenomenal (I sent the frame back with two issues and they fixed them) and I cannot recommend the company enough.
Bob
I have an older Look with wishbone seat stays. There was a significant crack just below the area where the seat stays join the seat tube. Repair made it literally like new. I know where the crack was and I can’t find it. It’s been 3-4 years since I had it done and it’s still holding up with no problems.
I had my Top tube repaired and they did a good job. They ended up doing a full wrap around the top tube(about 4" wide strip). They had it repainted and that was not easy as it had all sorts of stripes and 3 different colors.
To be honest, you can see the repair but, it is very solid and with 300 miles on it so far, no issues. I would use them again.
Dave
My top tube was repaired by someone local (not calfee) and they did an amazing job. Although you can see where the repair was done if you look closely, everything about the bike is the exact same as it was out of the box. At first I was a little hesitant about repaired carbon, but now I feel comfortable riding it in almost any condition. I would have a bike repaired again if need be.
Calfee has been the biggest name in carbon repair, and I’ve had friends use them and love it. They are expensive, but they are one of the best.
I had Calfee repair my TT bike after I put the handlebars in to the top tube in a crash. I basically had a quarter sized, spider web crack in the tube on the drive side of the bike. After doing some research I contacted Calfee. They were easy to reach, easy to talk to, and made the entire process quite seamless.
Turn around time was a few weeks. The bike was returned to me looking almost like new. I could see the carbon patch on the top tube, but I didn’t ask for any special paint services or anything as I just wanted a working bike. The frame was in as good if not better condition than I expected. I built the bike back up, started riding again, and put in a few hundred miles of problem free riding. About a month after I received the frame, I went down again and reintroduced my handlebars to my top tube. The bars hit the same spot on the frame-where the patch was laid-however the impact point remained completely intact aside from a little paint chip. Unfortunately though, a 2 inch long crack opened up on the underside of and running parallel to the top tube. It seems that this crack, given the location and straightness of the line, is at the end of the carbon patch that was used to fix the original damage. It’s an odd location, particularly since nothing on the bike could have actually hit this spot. Now certainly I could have landed on something, but it seemed strangely coincidental given the frame’s repair history.
Given that I know very little about how this stuff works, I have to admit that I have no idea whether one is related to the other. I thought Calfee did a great job with the original repair and trusted the work that they did. The amount of damage caused by the second crash though made me question the idea of riding a TT bike with a patched top tube. In fairness to Calfee, I didn’t send the frame back in nor did I even call them about this. Dumb, probably, but given the short amount of time I actually owned this frame and the damage I had caused to myself (and my bike, checkbook, etc), I decided to call it quits with this frame and move on lest some Karma gods decided to teach me a lesson for being an idiot.
So I’m not trying to sway your opinion one way or another, simply telling you about my experience with Calfee and a patched bike. Good luck!
I had a carbon cross frame repaired after putting a toe spike through the seat tube just below the junction with the top tube. The end result was remarkable and none could tell the frame had been repaired especially with the new pain and they repainted the manufacturers logos/graphics better than the orginals unfortunately the first pass the logos on the seat tube were applied upside down so all told it took nearly 6-months to complete.
i’ve had some chain-suck repaired by Calfee - excellent work, you couldn’t even see where the repair was done.
in my case, they matched the paint(glossy white on a 1990 Kestrel 200ems) and the bike is/was probably better than new(have since sold the bike to fund a lightly used Cervelo s1 from a fellow STer.)
turn-around was about 3 weeks or so, and i rode the bike for almost 5 years after the repair without thinking about it.
I had them repair a snapped chainstay. They did a phenomenal job and I was totally comfortable. Raced it for two years after the repair.
My repair would be 7"-8" from stem on top tube and is nude glossy carbon. Riding n aero puts a lot of pressure there.
It will be fine. That was roughly the same spot mine was broken… here are a few before it was re painted,
My experience is similar to most other posters. Cracked carbon seat stay. Repair is visible but functionally perfect. Totally reliable; great customer service; reasonable price (not cheap, but…); pristine reputation.
my friend is currently getting his carbon bike repaired by them. they are giving him a 10 year guarantee.
cracked downtube right in front of the BB - crack was diagonal and nearly 3/4 of the way around the downtube. fixed, stiffer than original and painted to match factory paint. would use them again in a second.