- [Narrator] Cracking or breaking your carbon bike frame
is every cyclist's worst nightmare.
In fact, some even lose sleep over it.
And the prospect of smashing your pride and joy
is even worse to a cyclist
than the prospect of bungee jumping
through an open air rusty razor blade museum.
So, to find out bout carbon bike repair,
I've come to visit Carbon Bike Repair in Leatherhead.
I want to find out what can be repaired,
how is it repaired, how much does it cost,
and how safe is it once it's repaired?
So many questions.
So let's go inside and find out more.
Although I've just found out they also have
a franchise in Johannesburg.
Well why didn't we go to that one?
(laughs)
(catchy music)
I'm here with Rob Granvile who set up Carbon Bike Repair.
So, Rob, I want to find out what -
how did you come to set it up?
What was your background?
- Well, I'm an industrial designer
back in the 90s.
I was just trying to understand a bit more about
carbon fibers and was it a space age material,
was it difficult to repair, was it repairable indeed?
And so I repaired my own bike
and then the word spread and local bike shops
said there's a guy locally in Dorking
that can fix your bikes, and then, it kind of was a hobby.
So my garage turned out to be Carbon Bike Repair
which was full of bicycles.
I didn't realize there were that many people
who had problems...
- Right. - ... with their bikes.
- So it's a passion that's now
turned into a business of repairing bikes.
- Yeah.
- So I want to find out what happens
when someone brings their bike here,
the process of how they find out it's broken, whatever,
so, and then, the whole thing of going through
and getting it fixed, if it can be fixed.
- Sure.
- And the rest of it, so... - Yeah.
- Should we go and have a look?
- Let's do it.
- See how it works. - Yeah, yeah.
- Alright.
(catchy music)
- In most cases, because carbon's pretty robust,
we can find out that there's just a scratch
and they might want it restored,
so this is a very useful part of the process.
But, as I say again, if your bike is definitely fractured,
we'll just confirm it here because other areas
of the bicycle can be damaged too based on the
the type of impact that's occurred on that bike.
Prior to your bike being assessed and potentially fixed,
it needs to be a completely clean
and stripped frame like the one we have here.
But, you can either send in your frame,
either pre-cleaned, stripped down already,
or you can send in your complete bike
and they'll strip it down for you.
And it can also be returned as a complete bike as well.
The first step in the process
is to actually ascertain what the damage is
and perform an assessment,
because sometimes the damage is quite obvious
if there's big cracks and holes in your carbon frame.
But other times, it's less obvious.
It might just be a hairline crack in the lacquer
and the guys need to check that this is just the lacquer
or whether it's actually in the carbon fiber itself.
So to do this, they have some fancy kit,
and they have here thermographic x-ray.
How cool is that?
So Paul is going to show us it in action on this frame here.
- So what we've got here is a relatively obvious
fracture from the outside,
but it just makes it easier to see on the camera.
Whether it's actually damaged or not.
Because sometimes, if they're a little more intricate,
it's going to be a little while to actually
discern whether there's damage or not.
- I can see it on the screen, how about that?
- So you can just about see it on the screen here.
But when you apply a little bit of kind of heat to it,
then as the heat dissipates throughout the weave,
it then highlights a little more
so you can then see it becoming white here.
A little white line.
So white is cool, black is hot.
So as it cools down quicker than the surrounding carbon,
it's whiter, and therefore you know that you got
the fracture.
- Yeah. - That cool?
- So that's quite an obvious piece of damage there
on the chainstay,
there's also quite an obvious bit on the seat stay there.
But, there's also just a very, very slight
hairline crack in the lacquer there.
Is that also a piece of damage?
- So, yeah, so this is one of the more
kind of contentious issues
where we need to probably go to microscopic imaging
rather than the thermographic imaging.
- Now it's really hard for you see on the camera,
but believe me, it's there.
Now this is the kind of piece of damage
where its hard to say just by looking at it
if it is just a scratch in the paint,
in which case it's quite easy to repair,
or whether it's something more serious and actually
extends as a crack into the carbon fiber itself.
So the guys are going to show us how they can
actually determine the state of this damage.
- Well, there's a distinct difference between
carbon fibers breaking,
which causes a really jagged tooth-like edge to it,
whereas the fractures you can see,
it's almost like a fountain pen mark.
As you apply the scratch, whatever's scratching it,
starts thin and then fattens up around that area.
And then it sort of just narrows itself down
the same way as it started.
It's generally a case where
it's very rare of any fractures to be as straight as that.
So, when you're looking out for fractures,
you really want to look for a jagged edge,
very jagged edge, where the paint might
also be flaking off whereas this is a depression, not nick -
- It's all splinters.
- Correct.
In other words, if it's a fracture,
generally what happens is the fracture will pop out
and like a piece of timber, if you broke it
and then tried to stick it back together,
and it sits proud where the fracture is.
This is clearly a depression.
You can see the shadow line there.
- Yep.
- Shows that something has gone on and dented,
and that's not to say it couldn't be fractured in there,
but generally you would be able to analyze
by doing a stress test on that.
Whether there's any movements in that area.
- We've just seen what a scratch looks like
when it's being analyzed, but here,
you got to show us what an actual fracture looks like,
and also a stress test was performed on that.
- Yeah.
- So. - So,
similar to the initial imaging we were just seeing,
there's this always kind of thin jagged line
such as Rob said, normally indicates a fracture.
But just to confirm it, is that not the paint?
We then stress test it.
So this is on a drive side - seat stay,
so you can get a little bit of the stress going.
And as you apply the force, it opens up.
- That is awe - well, it's not awesome,
it's terrifying for whoever's bike it is.
- That's really cool to see.
- Yeah.
Right, so we've now ascertained that
this bike needs repairing.
- Yep.
- I think we need to go on to the next stage
and show what happens next.
(catchy music)
On the basis now, we've found some damage
that needs repairing,
and the person who owns the bike or the insurer,
is decided that they want to go ahead with the repair.
We head to the workshop, I guess.
- We get to go to the theater.
- Right, the theater.
- Yes, see all what happens. - Alright.
- We treat this room dust-free,
room very well lit,
carbon fiber is a nightmare for electronics
so we have to dust extract everything.
So the rooms are normally pretty clean.
I mean, we're talking about a difference of -
it's as close to a theater - operating theater -
as you will get.
Or a dentist's chair with all the dremels and so and so.
So come in, come in.
- Right, Rob, so what's the first step that happens?
- The bikes are labeled up so the repairer
knows what he has to do.
The bike is then put on the rack
in order of priority.
And put into the stands to do the repairs.
So they're fully briefed before they even start
on the bike - what's wrong with it.
- [Interviewer] So, what's the repair process
that's happening with this chainstay here, Rob?
- The first thing is to remove the damaged carbon.
To go into this, to see what the extent of the damage is.
In some cases, you can get delamination
through a fracture.
Which means that the parts, the layers,
hae actually separated which in this case,
has extended beyond just the fracture.
The second thing is to know
what bike brand they're working on
so that they can replicate and reconstitute the carbon
that's required for that area.
Specifically because if you throw carbon at the problem
and you wrap it with carbon fiber,
which anyone can do,
you can cause an imbalance in certain areas of the frame
which causes a problem.
- That was my next question.
- Yeah. - So,
we're not just wrapping sort of a carbon fiber
bandage on the affected area hoping that will fix it?
- Well, are you? - Yeah, no.
Well, we certainly don't do that.
I don't think there's any point in being able to
repair a bicycle when you can't
give the bike back in the state that it was in before.
Because carbon fiber's a really friendly material too,
we weld,
you may as well do it properly.
And it's not that difficult if you know how to do that.
But you end up with a bicycle that has the same
wall thickness, the same tensile strength,
the same flexibility and the same modulus of carbon
that was in that frame originally.
- What about the resins and things?
Are the resins replicated so as they were before
and things like that?
- Well, resins are, I mean, you get different types
of resins, and people will argue with me on this point,
but once the resin cures, it's an innate material.
Its only job is to bind the carbon fibers together
but keep them locked, right?
So as far as resins are concerned, it's not a big deal.
But that, again, that depends on
which area of the bicycle you're working on.
- A big question that I have, and I'm sure
a lot of other people have is that
when you do a repair like this,
is the result
stronger or weaker
than what was there before?
- No, it's exactly the same as it should be
The original design is - the thicknesses,
wall thicknesses,
for a particular reason.
They might want the bike to flex in a particular area,
which takes the pressure off other parts of the frame.
If you strengthened up that area
because you were concerned it might crack again,
you're actually doing it a disservice to
A) the quality of the ride,
but also potentially putting at risk
other areas of the bike.
For example, if you strengthen up this stay,
more than that side,
this stay is certainly under a lot more pressure.
Yes, they will be exactly the same as it was before.
- I'm just rubbing my fingers along this
and it's amazing how smooth it is
and how it's seamless into - impressive,
impressive work.
It's good.
So this frame has been cured now
- And profiled. - And profiled,
so the next step is to paint it
to make it look as it looked before, I guess?
- Correct.
It does go through Q.C. process
where it's stress tested to ensure that
the repair is successful.
There's no point in painting something if it's not -
if it's not right.
- Right.
- That...
I mean you can't feel this at home.
But take it from me, that's impressive.
(catchy music)
So on this wall, we've got all the frames
that you currently have that have been prepared and repaired
and they're now ready for repainting.
And making them look new again.
So, what do we have to do to get them ready for painting?
- We're going to go to the preparation area
where once the repairs - if the profile passes Q.C. -
the sprayer shouldn't have any trouble
getting the first base coats on.
But what they have to do first,
mask areas on the frame, so you can see here.
- So when you repaint the bikes,
is there a like a slightly different shade
or is there a patch of paint
or can you look at it under certain light
or like, is the...
- Derek is the genius.
- Do you have to respray it a different color
if you don't have the color in stock
that it originally was, or...?
- Well, all our sprayers are highly trained
in color matching.
Basically, 99% of bikes in any color, anything,
is color matched by eye.
- We've got a frame here that's been repaired
on the seat stays.
And it's a particularly challenging repair
in terms of the surface finish that needs to be
on the final job.
So the reason why is not just because of the shape,
but also the fact that there's a decal
that's on the side, as you can see there.
Now, one of these sides has been repaired
and the other one is original,
but, I mean, I challenge you to spot the difference.
It's absolutely incredible.
I can't.
If my life depended on it, I wouldn't be able to
tell you which one is the original and
which one's the repair.
So is it this side or is it this side?
I have no idea.
So the guys actually make replacement decals
for particular areas of bikes
depending on where they're needed and what the repair is.
So you can see, this is the one that was on the bike
that I just showed you.
It's pretty impressive.
Repairing the carbon fiber layer is one thing,
but people often want a bike that looks
as it was hen it was new.
So tell us bit about the sort of spraying process.
- The idea is not to have any dust
particularly when it comes to matte finishes
because you can't polish out any flaws in the surface.
So, in order to get these bikes through the system
you need to have a dust-free area.
You can't compromise, unfortunately,
you have to get proper sprayer rooms,
but fortunately in the bike world,
there are no such things as bike spray rooms, per se,
or at least not at the moment.
So we have to modify our spray rooms.
And I'll show you a typical spray job in process.
- Nice, let's go have a look.
(catchy music)
I'm here in the spray room with Santana.
Now, this looks like quite a complicated
spray job that you're working on.
Because it's got - I mean, I know nothing about spray paint,
but, to my eye, this sort of gradient fills here and stuff,
where the color's change from yellow to red
and things like that.
So how are you going about doing this?
- So, this one is a tiny bit difficult restoration because
basically the frame is matte and gloss as well.
So, it was like a big crack in this line,
which is gloss, so we need to match the matte as well.
The matte section.
So then, we fade out these kind of red with the yellow,
as seen on the other side of this,
trying to match the same colors
and the same kind of fade out.
So...
- So that's the side that you're repairing.
- Yeah.
- And that's the original side on the other side.
- And this is the original.
- That's, that is awesome.
Along this wall here, we've got all the frames
that have been successfully repaired and repainted.
And they're ready to go back to customers.
And Rob's challenged me to a really, really,
quite unfair game.
Which is spot the repair.
Now, even if you locked me in a room with these frames
and said you're only let out once you've
worked out where the repair was,
I think I'd die in that room
because this is absolutely impossible.
You just can't tell at all.
I've got a frame here and I've been looking
for the repair and I couldn't find it.
Rob's told me that the repair is actually along here
on this chainstay, but, I mean...
You'd be hard-pressed to spot it, to be honest.
I just don't think you can.
Seriously impressive work.
I am sort of lost for words, really.
The question I'm sure many people watching this will have
is how much does it cost to get your bike repaired?
So, how much does it cost?
- Well, the first thing is you've got to make sure
that it's economically viable.
We would normally assist that by an email request anyway.
So that you would know whether it's worth sending in.
Or we would advise you otherwise.
A typical chainstay fracture here currently is about
150 plus, if that.
So it's a lot cheaper than having to replace your bike.
And that would generally,
depending on what part of the bike we repair,
we generally come with a lifetime warranty on that repair.
- That's an incredibly great option
rather that replacing the whole frame.
But are there any instances where
you would still repair a frame
even if the sort of repairs almost made it
not economically viable?
- Well it'd depend on two factors,
whether it's sentimental or a classic bike
from a particular era.
We'll do our best to do that.
- What can be repaired, and also, I guess,
what can't be repaired with carbon fiber frames?
- There are various methods of manufacture
and they're produced different challenges for us.
Injection molded parts are probably the trickiest
ones to do because you can't replicate them
with carbon layer the way you see
a tube fracture repair.
- Would that be drop outs and things like that?
- Drop outs, yeah, any areas where there's a
high tension interface.
- But you guys do drop outs here as well.
- We do replication - injection mold replication -
without that you shouldn't really go for the cost of
layer repair on a drop out
because they're just too flexible.
- Fascinating, right?
Thanks Rob.
Thanks for that.
Very interesting.
Its a fact of life that accidents can happen.
And unfortunately, carbon bike frames can break,
but it is great to see that they can be repaired.
And often for a price that's much less
than the cost of a brand new bike or frame.
Plus, if you've got insurance,
then your insurer might cover the cost
of the repair as well.
Which is great, because it will help keep your premium down.
But, I'm sure you've got loads of questions
to do with carbon bike repair.
I've got loads.
I feel we've only just scratched the surface.
So I think this should be an excellent topic
for an Ask GCN Anything.
So if you've any questions, let us know
in the comment section below
and then well put them in Ask GCN Anything in the feature.
And, if you're looking for another video to watch,
why not check out this video where Cy
went to check out how graphine could be the new
wonder material of bike frames in the future.