Manual Cannondale 2011 (page 74 of 106) (English)

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PART II

2. UNDERSTANDING

COMPOSITES (CARBON FIBER)

All riders must understand a fundamental reality of

composites. Composite materials constructed of

carbon ﬁbers are strong and light, but when crashed

or overloaded, carbon ﬁbers do not bend, they break.

What Are Composites?

The term “composites” refers to the fact that a part

or parts are made up of dierent components or

materials. You’ve heard the term “carbon ﬁber bike.”

This really means “composite bike.”

Carbon ﬁber composites are typically a strong, light

ﬁber in a matrix of plastic, molded to form a shape.

Carbon composites are light relative to metals. Steel

weighs 7.8 grams/cm3 (grams per cubic centimeter),

titanium 4.5 grams/cm3, aluminum 2.75 grams/cm3.

Contrast these numbers with carbon ﬁber composite

at 1.45 grams/cm3.

The composites with the best strength-to-weight

ratios are made of carbon ﬁber in a matrix of epoxy

plastic. The epoxy matrix bonds the carbon ﬁbers

together, transfers load to other ﬁbers, and provides

a smooth outer surface. The carbon ﬁbers are the

“skeleton” that carries the load.

Why Are Composites Used?

Unlike metals, which have uniform properties in all

directions (engineers call this isotropic), carbon ﬁbers

can be placed in speciﬁc orientations to optimize the

structure for particular loads. The choice of where

to place the carbon ﬁbers gives engineers a powerful

tool to create strong, light bicycles. Engineers may

also orient ﬁbers to suit other goals such as comfort

and vibration damping.

Carbon ﬁber composites are very corrosion resistant,

much more so than most metals. Think about carbon

ﬁber or ﬁberglass boats.

Carbon ﬁber materials have a very high strength-to-

wieght ratio.

What Are The Limits Of Composites?

Well designed “composite” or carbon ﬁber bicycles

and components have long fatigue lives, usually

better than their metal equivalents.

While fatigue life is an advantage of carbon ﬁber,

Cannondale still urges you to regularly inspect your

carbon ﬁber frame, fork, or components.

Carbon ﬁber composites are not ductile. Once a

carbon structure is overloaded, it will not bend; it will

break. At and near the break, there will be rough,

sharp edges and may be delamination of carbon ﬁber

or carbon ﬁber fabric layers. There will be no bending,

buckling, or stretching.

If You Hit Something Or Have A Crash,

What Can You Expect From Your Carbon

Fiber Bike?

Let’s say you hit a curb, ditch, rock, car, fallen cyclist

or other object. First, read the Important warnings at

the beginning of PART II Section A. Bicycles Cannot

Protect You in this manual.

At any speed above a fast walk, your body will

continue to move forward, the momentum carrying

you over the front of the bike. You cannot and will

not stay on the bike and what happens to the frame

and fork is irrelevant to what happens to your body.

What should you expect from your carbon frame? It

depends on many complex factors, which is why we

tell you that crash worthiness cannot be a design

criteria. With that important note, we can tell you

that if the impact is hard enough, the fork or frame

may be completely broken. See Figure A on page 68.

Note the signiﬁcant dierence in behavior between

carbon and metal. 1. Understanding Metals in this

section. Even if the carbon frame was twice as

strong as a metal frame, once the carbon frame is

overloaded it will not bend, it will break completely.

Our carbon frames/fork/components are designed

for normal riding loads with a factor of safety. These

frames/fork/components will be broken by some

crash or impact loads.

See “Composite Frame, Fork, And Component

Inspection” on next page.

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Cannondale 2011 User Manual - German - 104 pages

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Cannondale 2011 Manual

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