Are Carbon Bikes Too Fragile to Be Worth the Trouble?

[Shawn]

Aluminum bikes can be fixed if they crack or break.

Welding them is significantly easier than welding other materials used for manufacturing bicycles.

Carbon fibre, however, is a lot more difficult to repair, and in some cases, impossible to repair.

Could you imagine spending all that money on a carbon bike only to crash hard enough that you can't use it anymore?

Are they worth getting because of that? If so, why? How do you justify it?

 

[Heatman]

Although, it's not all the damages that a carbon bike have that can't be fixed. Some gouges or minor cracks can be repaired using epoxy, additional carbon layers and curing processes. It's only serious damages that are very difficult to fix.

But I still wouldn't buy one because it doesn't make any sense to spend so much money a bike that can't be fixed if there's a serious crash with it.

 

[Shawn]

But I still wouldn't buy one because it doesn't make any sense to spend so much money a bike that can't be fixed if there's a serious crash with it.

I have a carbon road bike. It's very entry level in terms of a race bike but it was expensive because of the carbon frame and fork. But in all honesty, my aluminum gravel bike performs just as good, if not better, than that bike.

Carbon isn't all of what it's made out to be unless you're racing.