Unless you work with composite structures your intuition about what damage should be concerning and what is cosmetic is not great. Most people don't have the experience to make good decisions in this regard. Factor in the Duning-Krueger effect and you can have some poor outcomes.
Now if you throw out a $$ carbon bar anytime anything happens or there is any mark on it you can solve this problem with extreme caution and a lot of money. Assuming you buy a quality product to start with.
Personally I worked in composite manufacturing for an aerospace company for 7 years so I feel more comfortable with the assessment end of things than a typical consumer and I have access to folks who live & breathe carbon I can show something to them/have it tested to get a true expert opinion. However, given how carbon reacts to the typical damage caused by MTB use \[say overtightening clamps or sharp rock impacts and crashes in general\] it's usually not worth the hassle vs. a comparable metal product for me to deal with.
I'm not anti-carbon as I noted in my post. It's not like carbon parts are certain death or anything. I have used them and I have a few carbon parts in the fleet. However, when I am looking at stuff to buy it's not that often when I see a carbon part as a better solution and I buy it.
March 3, 2022, 9:50 a.m. - Vik Banerjee
Unless you work with composite structures your intuition about what damage should be concerning and what is cosmetic is not great. Most people don't have the experience to make good decisions in this regard. Factor in the Duning-Krueger effect and you can have some poor outcomes. Now if you throw out a $$ carbon bar anytime anything happens or there is any mark on it you can solve this problem with extreme caution and a lot of money. Assuming you buy a quality product to start with. Personally I worked in composite manufacturing for an aerospace company for 7 years so I feel more comfortable with the assessment end of things than a typical consumer and I have access to folks who live & breathe carbon I can show something to them/have it tested to get a true expert opinion. However, given how carbon reacts to the typical damage caused by MTB use \[say overtightening clamps or sharp rock impacts and crashes in general\] it's usually not worth the hassle vs. a comparable metal product for me to deal with. I'm not anti-carbon as I noted in my post. It's not like carbon parts are certain death or anything. I have used them and I have a few carbon parts in the fleet. However, when I am looking at stuff to buy it's not that often when I see a carbon part as a better solution and I buy it.