plastic bike
- Thread starter p-spec
- Start date
I'm also curious as to how these new carbon bikes hold up to bearing replacement. I'm imagining the old hammer and screwdriver trick wouldn't take too kindly to the inside of a carbon frame sleeve...
Here's a few vidja of some plastic bike riding:
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Untitled,8917/dropinprod,2451
Left in the Dust on Vimeo
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Untitled,8917/dropinprod,2451
Left in the Dust on Vimeo
normally they bake alloycups into the weaves where a bearing is needed.
same with the BB cup...
I have removed and installed HS cups multiple times on the V10, looking at the inside of the headtube you wouldn't be able to tell. I even had an angleset cup that was not within tolerance and started rotating inside the headtube. No signs of wear.
"cool vid bro.
Thats on a v10 ???
I can see the dent ishue not phasing."
Yeah, on an V10c. Thats at Willamette Pass, near Oakridge, OR. There is more rock than you can shake an alloy stick at. That's why I shake a carbon stick.
So, just to confirm, no alloy bearing sleeve at the headtube on the V10c?
Certainly seems that way from some of the pictures circulated by Santa Cruz.
Presumably the same for suspension pivots? Obviously, the BB has a sleeve to allow tapping. (Anyone else suspect this might be a driving factor for new press-fit BBs?)
Yeah. Rightly or wrongly, pressing bearings directly into carbon scares the crap out of me in terms of long-term durability. I guess we'll see when people start having to change the pivot bearings in their V10s...
No sleeve in the headtube.
Haven't had my v10c long enough to give an opinion on long term durability. But I've been riding SC carbon trail bikes for years and have been impressed. Plenty of rocks smacking on the downtubes and stays, with no problems so far. And let's not forget that aluminum dents and breaks too...
Not saying this about you personally, but lots of people need to break free from old notions about carbon. It's not like it will shatter when you look at a rock.
I realise this, and SC in particular have attempted to address issues of impact damage by building smaller diameter tubes with thicker walls, which definitely seems to be a step in the right direction.
However, riding as often as I do in the conditions I ride, I typically have to do a full frame rebuild once a season. I'm intrigued as to whether the fittings on carbon frames are as durable as aluminium frames when fitting and removing bearings. My experience of old (like, from ten years ago) carbon frames from a couple of companies is that it was only really possible to change the bearings once before the frame was toast. However, things have changed. As I say, I'm intrigued as to how this later generation fare. I've ZERO experience of changing bearings on a new V10c, or ANY current carbon bike for that matter.
Edit: I've no idea why I seem to be discussing the V10 in particular now. I meant for my comments to be far more general. Have you ever had to change bearings in your carbon trail bikes?
I am biased toward SCB and don't ride any other mountain bikes these days. (I'm not "sponsored" by them but I'm not objective either.) That said, the current crop has none of the old bearing service problems. They replaced the hardware starting (if I'm not mistaken) 3 or 4 years ago. The bearings are now housed in the links - there is no more of the old hassle of removing loctited bearings from the frames, and no worries about related wear on frame parts. The pivot axles thread into the frames on one side and expand into the frame on the other side (with a pretty rad collet/expander plug set up), but that's it.
I find that the bikes don't need much servicing but when they do, it's a breeze. Night and day compared to the old bikes, all you need is a couple allen wrenches. There are grease fittings to keep things lubed and if you need to change a bearing, it comes out of one of the links, not the frame.