the fork was cracked you could of just replaced it. the headtube didn't look as bad that was probably cosmetic only but again you just masked the problem its not a structural repair
What you did is NOT a structural repair. There's way too much resin, you literally need something that's stretchable AND can hold tension to squeeze out the resin and compress the fiber layers together. Without that compaction you're relying on the resign to give the 'fix' strength and sorry to say resin is weak and brittle. You'd minimally would need to wrap each section in something like reversed electrical tape as that could take tension. But even better would be to vacuum bag it, without that all you did was add non-structural carbon layers to your bike and added virtually no extra strength. Do not trust your repair.
OhAiShare You're probably right...but the damage was not so severe so I hope that this "patch" will be enough anyway...I made a testpiece beside the bike and that was really hard and also tough and a little bit flexible. So my thought was that as long as it sticks to the frame/fork it prevents the underlying cracks from developing further.
Considering the cracks went through 10+ plys of well prepared carbon fiber (the way Trek builds both the fork and head tube) I'd have to disagree with your damage assessment. As per your test piece, make that same test piece with resin and an old t-shirt (or other fabric you have laying around) and you won't find much difference in strength as the only strength you're seeing is the resin. Which is to say the resin will NOT add strength for the repeated stresses a fork and head tube undergo during a bike ride. With your 'repair' the crack is now just covered. You can't see if the crack propagates. The thick layer of resin you applied adds no structural strength to the damaged parts because as you said, it's flexible and the stresses pass straight through to further damage the damaged areas as it is not solid enough to handle the load. Honestly, try sending your vid/pics to a reputable carbon repair company like Calfree or something and get their opinion upon if it could even be repaired / worth your and their time to of shipped your frame to them. Honestly I very much have doubts that frame could be repaired so easily with the damage not only delaminating the top carbon layers (guarantee there's more damage beneath the surface) but cracked all the way through the frame. The head tube and fork receive the MOST stress on a bike and are likely the absolute most important parts of a bike in keeping you upright.... I would of minimally replaced the fork. But your bike, your life. Hope for the best for you.
Watch the video "Carbon Fiber - The Truth! "
Seen it. Interesting.
I know it is pretty randomly asking but do anyone know of a good place to watch newly released tv shows online ?
@Xander Charlie meh I would suggest Flixportal. just search on google for it:P -brandon
@Brandon Paul thanks, I signed up and it seems like a nice service :) Appreciate it !!
@Xander Charlie no problem xD
the fork was cracked you could of just replaced it. the headtube didn't look as bad that was probably cosmetic only but again you just masked the problem its not a structural repair
p Feeley It hasn't cracked yet, seems to be holding up fine ;)
did you the guy that crashed into you offer to pay for the damage?
What you did is NOT a structural repair. There's way too much resin, you literally need something that's stretchable AND can hold tension to squeeze out the resin and compress the fiber layers together. Without that compaction you're relying on the resign to give the 'fix' strength and sorry to say resin is weak and brittle. You'd minimally would need to wrap each section in something like reversed electrical tape as that could take tension. But even better would be to vacuum bag it, without that all you did was add non-structural carbon layers to your bike and added virtually no extra strength. Do not trust your repair.
OhAiShare You're probably right...but the damage was not so severe so I hope that this "patch" will be enough anyway...I made a testpiece beside the bike and that was really hard and also tough and a little bit flexible. So my thought was that as long as it sticks to the frame/fork it prevents the underlying cracks from developing further.
Considering the cracks went through 10+ plys of well prepared carbon fiber (the way Trek builds both the fork and head tube) I'd have to disagree with your damage assessment. As per your test piece, make that same test piece with resin and an old t-shirt (or other fabric you have laying around) and you won't find much difference in strength as the only strength you're seeing is the resin. Which is to say the resin will NOT add strength for the repeated stresses a fork and head tube undergo during a bike ride.
With your 'repair' the crack is now just covered. You can't see if the crack propagates. The thick layer of resin you applied adds no structural strength to the damaged parts because as you said, it's flexible and the stresses pass straight through to further damage the damaged areas as it is not solid enough to handle the load. Honestly, try sending your vid/pics to a reputable carbon repair company like Calfree or something and get their opinion upon if it could even be repaired / worth your and their time to of shipped your frame to them. Honestly I very much have doubts that frame could be repaired so easily with the damage not only delaminating the top carbon layers (guarantee there's more damage beneath the surface) but cracked all the way through the frame.
The head tube and fork receive the MOST stress on a bike and are likely the absolute most important parts of a bike in keeping you upright.... I would of minimally replaced the fork. But your bike, your life. Hope for the best for you.
Do you have a video of how to do a structural repair?
@@aaron___6014 would be very helpful if you could share any info ok that :)