Nearly two years ago my sweet stigmata fell over and the non-drive side seatstay landed right on a piece of rebar holding together a planter box. I covered the crack in clear coat (not pictured) and checked it occasionally for expansion. Over time I got an undiagnosable creak and noticed the crack was widening.
Ordered some epoxy, carbon twill, and peel-ply. Dremeled out the crack and was amazed at the extent of the damage – in retrospect I should have repaired it immediately, roughly 65% of the tube was compromised. My processes included sanding well beyond the compromised area for good blending, filling the hole with insulation foam for a backing surface, and many gradual layups till I got the right thickness.
After two or so months bashing on the thing I’m pretty confident the repair will last the life of the bike. While this is my first carbon bike repair, I’ve done lots of fiberglass work on boats so familiar with the process. Overall would do again as I probably spent $40 in materials and 4 hours of time – but would not recommend if you don’t have experience with composites, just send it to someone who actually knows what they are doing 😂.
by ProduceUnique1052
4 Comments
Wow! That’s impressive! I hope you will update if there is a change.
Great work! What’s the material I see in the void in images 4 & 5?
why did you cut away the cracked pieces? they weren’t necessarily useless as they provide extra surface area for the epoxy and structural support that negates the need for the insulation foam.
and how did you determine how many layers of carbon to lay down?
Welp that’s why there’s two seatstays