Carbon frames in the (Canadian) winter

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Permalink Reply by David M on November 22, 2011 at 4:57am

Why would it be a problem? I've never seen any evidence suggesting CF is weaker at cold temperatures.

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Permalink Reply by VJ Goh on November 22, 2011 at 6:04am

Everything becomes more brittle in the cold, even metals. I've also got a small worry about parts that are bonded and glue and expansion/contraction rates. If I bring a bike in from -20C and put some warm water on a part that's bonded with some metal, do I run the risk of uneven expansion causing material stress?

In retrospect, I've used a carbon fork on my aluminum CX bike for years, all the way down into the -30C range without any (noticeable) issue. Still, it's something worth thinking about since I just dropped a few thousand bucks on this machine. :)

 

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Permalink Reply by Arctic Hawk on November 22, 2011 at 5:49am

Further question.. has anyone bike-commuted all winter with a CF frame?

I am curious as I am looking into buying an X-Fire

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Permalink Reply by VJ Goh on November 22, 2011 at 6:09am

Honestly, I'd get a junker CX frame for winter commuting. My X-Fire already has chips in the finish from normal training and racing; I think winter commuting would be murder. If you've already got a CX bike, use that for the commute and save your X-Fire for the fun stuff. :)

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Permalink Reply by VJ Goh on November 22, 2011 at 6:55am

Engineering planes and space vehicles is a different thing than engineering bikes; one assumes they'd consider these temperature extremes while designing things like planes.

 

But Zinn's article definitely makes me feel better about it. Strange that I missed that when browsing around for info before. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Arctic Hawk on November 22, 2011 at 2:06pm

Thanks!

 

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