Most of us dream of owning someday a full-carbon dream machine or if you’re lucky you already own a carbon frame, you need to be able to look after your bike and know some do’s and don’ts. Although there is no real concern if you treat your carbon gear correctly. We’ve put together this guide with some tips and pointers on how to take care of your carbon frame and components.
First of all,you need to understand how this beautiful, featherweight material behaves, especially if you are a first time owner of a carbon frame. Both metal and carbon are very strong materials but you’ll need to realize that both materials behave very different on a hard impact. A metal frame will bend while carbon will shatter or crush, just like glass.
You can avoid some expensive mistakes if you keep this in mind. Don’t be fooled, although carbon has incredible strength and toughness even something simple and stupid as clamping your frame wrong in your repair stand, over torquing a bolt or letting loose parts slam into the frame can do some serious damage.
Apply frame protection
The first thing we think about when buying a new bike is: “how do I keep it looking shiny and fresh as long as possible?”. The easiest answer to this is, simply don’t ride. Just put it in your garage and look at it… Now all joking aside you’ll need to consider that in the long term your frame will always have some battle scars, definitely if your riding MTB, from rocks flicking up, crashes or even putting your bike in the back of your car.
The most obvious you can do is to apply some sort of frame protection, this will help to protect your paintwork from chipping and scratching. And when dropping $3k to $7k on a bike investing in some protection seems like the most logic thing to do. Of course there are different types of protection for every type of budget, depending on what you want to spend on it.
The video will be a guide to tell you the best way to protect your frame
The first and cheapest option is Heli tape or Racer tape (about $25 for a roll). It’s a simple clear coat tape that you need to cut to size and you can chose which parts on your bike you want to protect. If you’re only looking for a minimum of protection we recommend you put the Heli tape on your toptube, downtube, seatstay and your chainstay. Although for your downtube and chainstay I’d highly recommend you put on some mastic tape, this is a thick rubber tape that will not only protect your frame but also will quiet down your bike.
Some tips if you try to DIY it: don’t put straight pieces of tape on your frame, try to round of the corners. This way the tape will stick longer to your frame and won’t peel off so easily. And a heat gun can come in handy to apply the Heli tape in more difficult places.
The second option are precut frame protectors like DYEDbro or AMS (All-Mountain Style). These are a bit more pricey, around $50, but they are less of a hassle to install. They usually come in kits of about ten strips of protective tape and some manufacturers offer a variety of cool graphic options.
If you’re going to go full monty to protect your bike frame, our last option is a full wrap job mapped out to fit your particular bike specifically, even down to the model and size. Companies like Invisiframe and RideWrap offer a head to toe coverage minus cut outs for internally routed cable ports, head badges and other frame specific openings. And what really sets them apart from the competition is that their film covers your bike head to toe in an automotive outdoor grade protective film. Now the downside: these full bike protections are installed with a wet application that uses a squeegee. It’s very time-consuming and a tedious job to do. If you opt to go DIY: expect 2-3 hours of work to do a full bike wrap. Otherwise a professional installation will set you an extra $125 to $200 back on top of the hefty $100 price tag of the frame itself.
Basic carbon care and maintenance
Taking care of your bike means knowing your bike. The easiest way is to read or download the owner’s manual before doing any maintenance. In the manual you’ll find the proper torque settings on all of your bolts and components and if any special tools or techniques are required.
Don’t expose your carbon frame to high temperatures, this will affect the integrity of the carbon fibers and resin. So try to store your bike far away from any heat source and avoid leaving it in a parked car in the sun. similarly, If you live in a salty environment or you are a heavy sweater you’ll need to take extra care to rinse the salt off your bike to avoid corrosion on any metal parts.
Tips for washing carbon frames
Washing carbon frames and components is exactly the same as washing any other bike. simply use a bit of warm soapy water or a bike specific soap and a hose. As wit any bike be careful not to aim the water directly at bearings (bottom bracket, headsets, …) On greasy components, like your drivetrain, you can use a bike-safe degreaser, it won’t have any effect on the carbon. Once finished with cleaning, rinsing and drying you can add some extra protection in the form of a bike polish or spray wax. This will not only give your bike some extra shine but you’ll also have less dirt sticking onto your frame on your next ride.
While cleaning your bike you should always inspect your bike for any sort of damage: deep scratches, loose fibers, unusual flexing or even a crack. If your cleaning rag snags something on the frame or one of the components, it can be an indication of damage. Be sure to check the bike and stop riding to not further damage the bike.
If you like to work on your bike you’ll probably put it in a repair stand. Though be careful with your carbon frame and always clamp it safely. The mechanical clamp produces a lot of force in a small area therefore you should never hold your bike up by the frame. Instead clamp it by the seatpost if you have a round aluminum seatpost (pro tip, use a clean rag in the clamp jaws. This prevents scratches). If you have a round carbon seatpost simply buy a cheap aluminum one and use it to work on your bike. On the other hand if you have a different shape of seatpost (like some aero bikes) I’d recommend to invest in a race repair stand where the bike rests on the bottom bracket and is secured by the front or rear dropouts.
I previously mentioned torque settings on your bike. On an aluminum frame you could torque a bolt by “feel” on a carbon frame it is much harder to determine the right amount of torque. . For example, on an aluminum frame you could have gotten the habit of putting a part on and then twisting it to see if it's tight and then tightening the bolt a little more if the part needs it. On carbon you want to align your parts once and then tighten on the demanded torque settings. The best way to do this job correctly is by getting a quality torque wrench.
While we are on the subject of installation and assembly, always make sure that there are no burs, no rough spots, no dirt or metal shards that could cut into the carbon. All surfaces must be smooth or at least smoothened out.
Pro tips:
- If you need to size a carbon handlebar/seatpost/fork, always use a carbon-specific hacksaw blade. These blades are specifically made to sand through the carbon instead of tearing through with a normal blade. While cutting your carbon part you can spray regularly a bit of water, this way you don’t have carbon dust flying around which is toxic. Needless to say, always wear protection when cutting carbon! Of course, the old saying measure twice, cut once is never more appropriate than when sizing components. For example: cutting a fork too short shall completely ruin it and you will need to invest in a new fork.
- If your carbon components keep slipping while being torqued up correctly use some carbon gripper paste. If you use it for the first time you’ll notice this looks like a grease with sand or glass particles in it (please, don’t ever use it as grease!). it helps creating a secure mating friction between carbon surfaces and metal parts by spreading the tension evenly.
Our last mechanical tip is: don’t change the spacing on your dropouts. A carbon frame is set to a certain hub spacing, unlike a metal bike you cant stretch or compress the frame, it is impossible to bend carbon. And a last warning, which may seem obvious, never drill holes in four frame. Not only will it void your warranty, it will also compromise the integrity of your frame.
Transport
When transporting your bike always be extra careful. If you put your bike in the trunk of your car try not to let anything fall on your frame or if you need to stack multiple bikes be sure to put cardboard or blankets between them. Because if it gets hit just right a tube can get seriously damaged.
For transporting by plane try to ship it in a box (you can always ask your LBS for one) or invest in a travel bag for your bike if you fly a lot. Here it’s even more important to pad the tubes to protect them and attach loose parts so they can’t move and hit the frame.
Carbon frame reparation
Worst case scenario happened, you crashed and damaged your frame. What to do?
First of all, check with the manufacturer if there isn’t a crash replacement warranty. Most bike manufacturers offer this service, certainly on their high-end bikes.
Otherwise, check locally for a carbon repair shop. Let them have a look and they will perfectly explain you if the damage on your frame is reparable or not. Unfortunately, not all damaged frames can be repaired but I’ve seen some magic happen on a couple of broken frames.
