Used Carbon vs. New Aluminum

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
Used Carbon vs. New Aluminum
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flag lyfcycles
FL
Posted: Jun 25, 2017 at 8:29 Quote
SleepingAwake wrote:
brianl wrote:
Pigglet13 wrote:
Aluminium has a fatigue life and is why most alloy frames only come with a 3-5 year warranty unlike carbon fibre which does not fatigue and so will often carry a lifetime warranty.

Carbon can be quite easily repaired with no loss of strngth. Bust alloy frames are scrap, contrary to popular belief they cannot be reliably welded.

Most frames only come with a warranty applicable to th original purchaser so you pays your money and takes your chance.
Some companies (Giant, Devinci, Trek, Specialized) have lifetime warranty even on alloy frames.
"Lifetime warranty" refers usually to the lifetime of a bike and not yours​, which means about 5 years or so. And warranty is to protect you from manufacturing defects and therefore probably doesn't cover fatigue anyway.

But to stay on topic - I had a carbon bike and now I'm happily back on aluminum. Just buy the bike you want otherwise you will always think about the one you don't have. Alu or carbon they both do the job very well for us average Joes...

That's not really true, at least with the big brands. Ive been working as a wrench in trek/giant shops for close to a decade and I've seen them warranty multiple 20+ year old frames that Crack at a weld or have similar problems. Since they obviously don't have those frames sitting around any more they actually end up sending out whole new bikes that are the modern day equivalent. New is really the way to go if you intend to keep it long term.
flag mikedjumpin
Posted: Jun 25, 2017 at 10:54 Quote
i would go for the used carbon bike, after a couple weeks everyone rides a used bike. i have had just as good of luck emailing manufactures for warranty as i would have getting my LBS to fix things. you will regret not getting the right frame from the get go....

 


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