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Rear wheel deep abrasion on carbon chain stay – safe to ride?

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  • November 15, 2018 at 1:18 pm #29145
    aklbos

    Sadly my bike’s rear wheel has been rubbing on the chain stay, apparently for quite some time, and somehow I didn’t notice. LBS noticed it today (not the one I bought the bike from – that was in a different country) and advised me never to ride this frame again.

    Any thoughts on whether this is safe to ride? It would be such a shame to toss a frame with only 10,000km on it, but it looks like the wheel rubbed right through the paint and maybe a layer of something? I don’t know a lot about what’s inside these frames.

    Carbon frame abrasion

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  • November 17, 2018 at 12:42 pm #931597
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    LastBoyScout

    I’ve got similar on my old

    I’ve got similar on my old road bike – pothole buckled the wheel and I didn’t notice until I got home.

    All I did with mine was put a patch of thick frame tape over the scuff to both seal it and protect it – and then did the same on my other bikes to prevent the same happening on them.

    November 17, 2018 at 9:26 am #931595
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    madcarew

    I concur with Jerome. You can

    I concur with Jerome. You can readily fill that with epoxy and be on your way. There’s no evidence of carbon fibres involved, filling with an off the shelf epoxy will provide some protection if your wheel should rub again. Nor would I be too concerned about dire predictions of “failing suddenly and catastrophically” I’ve ridden with 2 guys whose chainstays have ruptured (both while trying to bunnyhop railway lines) and they both continued safely at speed after the incident. 

    November 17, 2018 at 9:23 am #931593
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    madcarew
    kil0ran wrote:
    Is that chainstay likely to be hollow? If so you might be able to reinforce from the inside?

    The chainstay is definitely hollow. The walls will be 2-3 mm thick max

    November 17, 2018 at 8:05 am #931591
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    jerome

    Not a single fiber has been

    Not a single fiber has been severed. The chainstay is as structurally sound as new. Just check it from time to time.

    November 16, 2018 at 10:38 am #931589
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    kil0ran

    Is that chainstay likely to

    Is that chainstay likely to be hollow? If so you might be able to reinforce from the inside?

    November 16, 2018 at 10:19 am #931587
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    FlyingPenguin

    A quick search doesn’t look
    A quick search doesn’t look promising for CF repair in HK, however if you strip all the parts off and can spring for shipping to Singapore, The Rebound Centre (http://thereboundcentre1995.blogspot.com/p/service-specialities.html) seems to have a good reputation.

    At least it won’t involve intercontinental shipping…

    November 16, 2018 at 4:06 am #931585
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    aklbos

    Thanks everyone for the

    Thanks everyone for the advice. Really appreciate it. As I live in Hong Kong, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find a carbon repair shop (please chime in if you happen to know of one).

    I’ve already sent pictures off to the manufacturer, so we’ll see what they say. And beyond that, I’ll see if any of the companies mentioned on this thread can offer me any kind of remote advice.

    Encouraged today that I maybe won’t have to trash an otherwise perfectly fine bike. Last night was a dark time…

    November 15, 2018 at 8:53 pm #931583
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    Chris Hayes

    There’s a carbon repair

    There’s a carbon repair workshop in Dorking that will fix this for a few hundred quid.

    November 15, 2018 at 8:26 pm #931581
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    pablo

    how deep is it difficult to

    how deep is it difficult to tell.  I would imagine as others have said a carbon repair shop would be the best place to get some advice.  

    November 15, 2018 at 7:15 pm #931579
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    Mungecrundle

    I’d be more worried that your
    I’d be more worried that your entire wheel appears to be missing.

    November 15, 2018 at 7:10 pm #931577
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    VeloUSA

    I concure with Canyon48, ask

    I concure with Canyon48, ask a carbon repair shop. They can tell you if it’s OK as it sits, or needs repairing.

    November 15, 2018 at 6:13 pm #931575
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    Canyon48

    That looks like barely

    That looks like barely anything – just the top coat, resin and possibly the outer wrap of fibre (which isn’t usually a structural element as such).

    That said, I recommend getting it checked by someone who knows what they are doing (like carbonbikerepair).

    I’ve seen far worst come off operational aircraft that have operated in the desert in my job as a carbon fibre design engineer!

    November 15, 2018 at 1:46 pm #931573
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    FlyingPenguin

    It doesn’t look deep, but no

    It doesn’t look deep, but no-one can really tell you much definitively without a proper frame scan.  I wouldn’t ride it untill you have one performed, carbon fibre is liable to fail with little warning.

    Get in touch with these guys https://carbonbikerepair.co.uk/ who can help properly, scan it and price up a repair.  Best case you get a safe bike for less than a frame, worst case you’re out the cost of a scan.

    Your LBS can’t scan or repair carbon bikes so the default will always be to replace rather than repair.

    November 15, 2018 at 1:33 pm #931571
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    Rapha Nadal

    I’ve got the same on my bike

    I’ve got the same on my bike and have been riding it for years without any issues.  Yours looks ever so slightly deeper than mine but I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

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