no visible damage to carbon frame - should I worry?

equivariant

So I'm tootling along home on my evening commute when a (motor)biker coming the other way decides that it would be a good idea to cross my lane to enter a petrol station and knock me off my nice new Lapierre Sensium. Fortunately no serious injuries to anyone but the front wheel of my 2 week old baby was mashed (see pic) - grrrrr!

The collision was fairly low impact - basically I swerved, our front wheels met and I was knocked over to my left. There is no visible damage to the frame of the bike at all and everything seems to work fine - shifters, brakes etc.

My question: should I be at all worried about invisible frame damage? There is not even a scratch on the frame - but its carbon and I am paranoid about how weak carbon is for some reason. Should I be? Is there anything else I can do to check apart from visual inspection?

monkeyslayer

equivariant wrote: »

So I'm tootling along home on my evening commute when a (motor)biker coming the other way decides that it would be a good idea to cross my lane to enter a petrol station and knock me off my nice new Lapierre Sensium. Fortunately no serious injuries to anyone but the front wheel of my 2 week old baby was mashed (see pic) - grrrrr!

The collision was fairly low impact - basically I swerved, our front wheels met and I was knocked over to my left. There is no visible damage to the frame of the bike at all and everything seems to work fine - shifters, brakes etc.

My question: should I be at all worried about invisible frame damage? There is not even a scratch on the frame - but its carbon and I am paranoid about how weak carbon is for some reason. Should I be? Is there anything else I can do to check apart from visual inspection?

carbon is a lot stronger than you'd think... obviously we can't see it with our own eyes so nobody here us going to tell you it's fine but unless the motor bike actually collided with the frame or ran over the fork you should be ok. You'll never truly know unless it's xrayed. It's probably ok but I'd take it to the local bike shop for their expertise and opinion, if only for the peace of mind.

equivariant

monkeyslayer wrote: »

carbon is a lot stronger than you'd think... obviously we can't see it with our own eyes so nobody here us going to tell you it's fine but unless the motor bike actually collided with the frame or ran over the fork you should be ok. You'll never truly know unless it's xrayed. It's probably ok but I'd take it to the local bike shop for their expertise and opinion, if only for the peace of mind.

Basically I am pretty sure that the only part of the bike that came in contact with the motorbike was the front wheel. The handlebars were knocked out of alignment but that is easily explained by the front wheel being mashed by a heavy object I think

Ps visit to lbs tomorrow to get new wheel and opinion

Statler

From experience the lbs might be (understandably) very wary of giving an opinion, if they tell you it's fine and the frame then fails causing you injury it could come back at them. Check the paintwork of the frame for any visible cracks, I had cracked paintwork a few years ago and was concerned about the frame being cracked, bottom line only an x ray will tell, and they're a bit hard to get for frames.

triggermortis

Get a coin and tap along the frame. The noise shouldn't vary much along the tubes. Tap the joints and make sure the noise heard at each joint is the same. A damaged point will make a different noise, usually a duller one.
A crack should be visible either in the paint (if its painted) or on the structure (you may need a magnifying glass) and any delamination ( damage to the plies or layers of carbon) will be detected by the tap test.
No need for x rays

Wishbone Ash

I was involved in an accident a couple of years ago (T-boned a right turning motorist). Mororist's insurance company sent a normal motor claims assessor to bike shop to inspect damaged bike. The bike shop explained that it was carbon fibre and said that it would have to be x-rayed. Ok said the assessor, we'll do that but when he heard the cost (had to go to the UK) he baulked and they 'wrote it off'.


I agree with Statler - LBS is always going to err on the side of caution when asked for opinion.

godtabh

I'd be saying to the motor bike rider that it would need to be assessed as per what Wishbone Ash said. If there is any doubt it will take the enjoyment out of riding it