I am looking for some knowledge from the community.
I have a QR PR3 that I bought new in 2018, the bike is built up and optimized to the point that the frame is the only original part left. everything else has been upgraded and customized to my liking/fit. The frame has about 30,000 Km (18000 miles) on it, some surface scratches but nothing major. I think I only fell off once at low speed and the bike has been checked by mechanics and it was good to go. I am not mechanically inclined but the bike is serviced at least 3 times a year of which 1 is a major service were everything is taking off, cleaned, replaced, serviced,… and put back together. the bike is stored indoors, and it is cleaned once a week/2 weeks.
As my bike is rim brake, and I love it, pretty fast and fits me like a glove. I don’t want to go throw the pain of buying a new bike now and having to swap my wheels to disc brakes.
I have been thinking on the longevity of a carbon frame, I did bit of research and from what I can tell, Carbon frame had great longevity if taken care of. But I am looking from some more experienced peers with real life experience on how long did your carbon frame last?
I don’t know the answer from a technical POV but I’ve had a Look 595 for 15 years and it’s still awesome. It’s my trainer bike and my climber. Super stiff, responsive and comfortable. Can only get 25’s to fit, but other than that, it’s a great bike, still.
My sweet ride has over 40,000 trainer miles and another 30,000 road miles on it.
Never been serviced by LBS. I wax the chain and check the various screws and bolts are tight. Change a tire when it goes flat. I put on 2 Tririg brakes. Changed the rear derailleur to make it a 1x. Tririg front end
I would say it’s probably close to or more aero as any bike I race shading
Serious question what does servicing do for the bike?
I believe it is supposed to be 100% performance until it cracks. There should be no degradation in the frame otherwise (in a sense performance is digital…it is either to original spec or it is broken, just like carbon fiber on the F-18). There should be no degradation in rigidity due to bending cycles nor via stress corrosion cracking like in metal based vehicles.
A steel frame is another story, but those things keep riding forever, but no one rides them
Dropout wear is the biggest killer of carbon frames in regular use.
People drag the rear wheel in and out and wear away the dropouts which eventually leads to the hanger being so far out of alignment you cannot straighten it without it breaking.
If caught early it can be sorted with epoxy repair but if left too long then the frame needs professional repair which is usually the death knell for a frame more than a few years old.
Thankfully disc brakes with through axles have largely cured this problem.
Other than that, if a frame is operated within it’s design limits then fatigue of the material just does not happen like metals.
Thank you all for your replies and you help, makes me feel better that I can wait to get tired of it and shouldn’t face problems as long as i maintain it properly.
I basically did the same thing, full tririg front end and brakes, and i really don’t think any newer frame would offer major improvements that are worth the price
.
long term it might be the epoxy used that ends up being the weak link instead of the carbon. 99% of the time though a carbon bike will meet some unfortunate end long before it ever even becomes something worth considering though.
I’ve worked on a few early 90’s carbon “superbikes” over the years (and own a Zipp 2001) and almost all of the damage I see is owner inflicted vs. a failure in the bike itself.
The only time I had to get rid of a carbon bike was because the aluminium BB-insert that had the threads for the threaded BB in it got loose. I could not re-glue it and had to replace an otherwise perfectly fine frame. Not an issue anymore with press-fit I guess…
Dropout wear is the biggest killer of carbon frames in regular use.
People drag the rear wheel in and out and wear away the dropouts which eventually leads to the hanger being so far out of alignment you cannot straighten it without it breaking.
Can confirm.
The only time I had to get rid of a carbon bike was because the aluminium BB-insert that had the threads for the threaded BB in it got loose. I could not re-glue it and had to replace an otherwise perfectly fine frame. Not an issue anymore with press-fit I guess…
That sort of failure in attachments, seatpost clamping, etc. seems to be what kills most, that and crashing. They airplane parts out of that stuff, it’s plenty strong.
I believe it is supposed to be 100% performance until it cracks.
Wasn’t the case with me. I had a Cervelo S5 where the bottom bracket area just got so noodley that the chainring started pushing the chain into the FD under high torque, even to the point of triggering “shifts”.
There was no “crack.” Took it to a carbon guy, found it to be internal delamination after sawing the chainstays off to get a good look inside. He thought it might have been factory error, though, as he said some areas were incredibly thin (and he’s seen the insides of 1000’s of carbon bikes).
If there was reason to start worrying about lifespan on a bike under 4 years old without specific reason, then no-one should be buying carbon bikes. Thankfully that’s not the case.
Incidentally, the maintenance regime described is probably way beyond what’s necessary. I don’t think there’s any need to completely disassemble a bike for cleaning and replacements every year/~8,000km. Keep your drive train clean and replace worn brake pads, chains, cassettes and perhaps bar tape. Maybe take a look and check brake cables are in good shape - which I’m sure they are. The rest can be addressed if an issue crops up, but that won’t happen often, if ever. Too much maintenance can be as bad or worse than none!
I think people are looking at this question incorrectly. A limited mileage on bikes prior to failure is a fantastic opportunity. Your frame’s lifespan is exactly how many miles it has on it when you decide you want another bike - it is science. Then you let your spouse know that you need a new bike, in the name of safety after all.
That said, I have several bikes and the one I ride the most is a 10 year old bike with 25k miles on it. Still my favorite ride. But I am one of those people that would rather have a bike that I have ridden 25,000 miles than a super bike that costs $25,000.
