Calfee carbon fix

[K.Lo]

Has anyone ever sent their carbon frame to Calfee to be repaired? What
was your experience like working with them? Did your bike have
fractures in the frame, fork, steer tube, or body? Or was it a
complete catastrophic break?

Thanks!

Karen

[Lee]

About 4 years ago, I precoordinated with Calfee and shipped them a
carbon frame for repair that had a number of small radial cracks
appearing just outbound of the bottom bracket surround. The frame was
a Hotta Perimeter and the cracks were just big enough to see with a
magnifying glass, but that were resulting in some just barely
perceptible "oscillation" with the crankset motion.

After about 2 weeks, I received the frame back with a note stating
simply that Calfee had declined to repair.
For the next 3 weeks, I attempted to contact the technical POC by
phone, just requesting a verbal assessment of what they had
concluded. My first message resulted in a return call when I was not
available, so the POC left a message that he had returned my call.
Another 4 calls/messages went unanswered/unreturned. I thought I was
very polite and just wanted to hear their assessment so I could
determine what to do, but the POC was apparently too busy to call
again.

Don't know if this helps you, but it appears they can get very busy???

Lee

[tyler...@yahoo.com]

I recently crashed and broke my frame at a crit in Georgia in April, snapping one of my seatstays. I sent it to Calfee, and they had it repaired and back to me within 4-6 weeks. If you can find another bike to ride, I definately reccomend Calfee. While the wait was long, it was definately worth it, as I received it good as new. They repaired the seatstay, as well as repainted it and applied a new clear coat. Keep in mind, the wait depends on how busy they are.
Tyler
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Lee <lee....@comcast.net>

Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:10:38
To: MABRA-USCF<mabra...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [MABRA-USCF] Re: Calfee carbon fix

[joel]

I sent a Scott CR1 to them in the off season a few years ago. I took
some before and after pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnlsteen/sets/72157603601381876/

I had noticed a crack on the seat stay, but they did a thorough check
and found an additional
one on the top tube. It was not catastrophic ... I first noticed it
in the spring and rode the entire
season with out ever feeling it. Since I waited till the off season
to send it in I wasn't time
constrained and don't recall how long it took. They did a great job
and I know I talked to them
a few times ... even the tech who was doing the actual work.

On Aug 13, 11:40 am, "K.Lo" <kml...@gmail.com> wrote:

[nathan goates]

There's another option:  rrvelo.com

 

At least one of the guys used to work for Calfee, then went off and started his own shop.  I sent my Tarmac SL2 there a few months ago after a wreck--not exactly _catastrophic_ damage, but a two-inch sort of caved in crack along the down tube and a spiraling crack nearly all the way around one seat stay.  They fixed it up great.  So great that I bought a damaged frame on eBay and sent it directly to them.  They patched it up, complete with touch-up paint and new decals and the frame is now indistinguishable from a new one.  A $400 repair job that turned a thought-to-be-worthless frame into something that could easily sell for $1000+.

 

ng

[James McNeely]

Given that carbon fiber's preferred mode of failure is catastrophic - meaning it tends to be fine right up to the moment that it suddenly becomes very much not-fine at all - does it give anybody pause to do major fixes on a carbon bike?  Some things I get, like replacing chain or seat stays, where you can cut out a damaged part and glue / cosmetic wrap in a new piece, and the glue and new part may be as strong or stronger than the original part.  But "patching up" staved in down tubes or other shaped tubes such as the top tubes and seat tubes on the new high end carbon bikes?  That's something that might prey on my mind a little bit going down Wintergreen at 60+ or finessing the turns on the descents up in Thurmont. 

 

I'd be interested to hear what the engineers among us think about this...

Jim McNeely

[nathan goates]

James wrote: "Some things I get, like replacing chain or seat stays, where you can cut out a damaged part and glue / cosmetic wrap in a new piece..."

 

As I understand it, that's exactly how they're repaired, even if all that's ailing your frame is a crack.  So the word "patch" is probably not the best description of the process...

 

...

 

As an aside, I asked Edgar and Freddy (the guys at rrvelo.com that fixed my two frames) a bunch of questions about what frames are more likely to break, which designs they like better, etc.  They wouldn't give away much, but did mention that although usually lighter and stiffer, monocoque-style frames (like my Tarmacs, even though I believe they are actually assembled from three seperate monocoque pieces, bonded together...somehow) are much more succeptable to damage from impact than carbon fiber frames made with seperate carbon fiber tubes in something closer to a "traditional" style build.  In other words, frames with front triangles built from four seperate tubes apparently fail very rarely.  I thought that was interesting.

 

ng

[Linc Brookes]

I’m an engineer – you can send the bike to me. Here’s an example of my recent work:

 

http://linc.zenfolio.com/davidsbike/h17d2dabf

 

I probably should have mentioned that I’m a software engineer. Thankfully my son walked away from that incident.

 

Seriously, though, as a longtime Calfee owner I can attest to the outstanding strength and workmanship of his bicycles. There are few, if any, engineers with the knowledge and experience of Craig Calfee to evaluated the structural integrity of a CF frame and make the repair. His frames come with a 25yr warranty.

 

I would say that you should send the frame to Calfee or junk it. If he is willing to make the repair, then you can be confident that the frame is as strong as it ever was.

 

---

From: mabra...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mabra...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of James McNeely
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 11:18 AM
To: nathan...@gmail.com
Cc: MABRA-USCF
Subject: [MABRA-USCF] Re: Calfee carbon fix

 

Given that carbon fiber's preferred mode of failure is catastrophic - meaning it tends to be fine right up to the moment that it suddenly becomes very much not-fine at all - does it give anybody pause to do major fixes on a carbon bike?  Some things I get, like replacing chain or seat stays, where you can cut out a damaged part and glue / cosmetic wrap in a new piece, and the glue and new part may be as strong or stronger than the original part.  But "patching up" staved in down tubes or other shaped tubes such as the top tubes and seat tubes on the new high end carbon bikes?  That's something that might prey on my mind a little bit going down Wintergreen at 60+ or finessing the turns on the descents up in Thurmont.