Many are now carbon fiber basher because of Geraint Thomas crash at Tour de France

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
July 15, 2019

Geraint Thomas defending champion crashes

                                          G. Thomas bike breaks as he lands on another biker

From Cycling weekly


Many saw the picture of  Pinarello  Dogma f10 which broke into two at Stage 8 of Tour de France. Geraint Thomas quickly remounted and joined the  Peloton.  and the accident did not cause any change in the  GC
classification of Thomas the defending champion.

Now there are many controversies and speculations regarding the accident and carbon fiber (in particular)

    1.  That the race directors car ran over the bike?  (This is incorrect look at the picture)

   2.  That the Pinarello frameset  is made in China.

  3.  That in general, for most bikers, Carbon fiber is not a nice material and subject to breakage and frequent purchase.

   Now let me advance some of my comments:

   1. Carbon fiber is a very strong material 3x stronger than stelel and 3x lighter. However high modulus bikes stiffer bikes are easily  subject to breakage especially if subjected to strong impact.  On the other hand, this behavior of the material absorbs most of the  impact, saving the biker rider from injuries and/or tauma.

   2.  The advantages of carbon fiber:

            1. Light (saves on watts of the rider)

            2.  Can be made more aero dynamic (saves on watts too);  can easily be shaped and moulded
            as they are manfacured

            3. Is more attractive being made of modern, space age materials like space craft, air craft, formula
          cars,..

    3.  In the race, generally the lighter carbon fiber bikes have less material (and consequently  more prone
         to breakage)  HM carbon fiber means they are brittle.  Pinarello uses 1100 toray, one of the highest
         rating and we can conclude that it is more brittle, but stronger with lesser materials...

   4. If a car ran over this about 3,000 to 4,000 lbs and may be at moderate speed, then naturally, the
     bike frame would break.

   You may have your opinions about the carbon fiber built bikes  but the  ones I had: a Fuji SL 10 (5 years), a Pinarello F10 (1.5 years), and S Works Venge Vias (2 years old) are still well built and strong.  Go ahead with your comments.  but may be you cant afford to have one...And the comments may be just sour graping... He