Here are a few packing tips to help you with when it comes packing your carbon bike safely for courier delivery:

  1. Always use a dropout protector if you take the rear wheel off. It is a little plastic ‘stick’ that slots into the dropouts to stop the rear stays from being crushed in transit. Same with your forks. If you can’t get hold of one, roll up some cardboard into a tube and tape it in-between the rear dropouts. You’ll sleep better trust me!
  2. Never lean any components against a carbon surface. Wrap the frame in plastic packaging. The rubbing will damage the surface with very little effort. Carbon does not like abrasion. Secure everything in the box!
  3. Take your pedals and skewers off. Tape some cardboard over the hub ends to avoid them piercing the box.
  4. Run your chain over the big ring, adjust the rear mech in as far as it will go and lay some extra cardboard to the bottom of the box.
  5.  Before you close the box fill the rest of the space with ‘filler’ Newspapers, old packing or anything that will stop the components from rattling around inside the box.
  6. No need to wrap the packaged components with loads of tape. It just makes it harder to cut away without damaging the frame…

If you ever need an example of the level of competence within CBR here it is. A newly redesigned and injection moulded dropout to replace the original Look design.

Why did we change it? The left picture shows the original carbon dropout which is poor frankly. You can’t, without considerable risk, re-align the hanger without snapping the carbon dropout because there is NO support from the skewer when the wheel is fitted. There is too much reliance on the strength of this carbon section when, in fact, it needs to be less exposed.

This repair was for a Swiss client who loves the bike but after trying to repair it we gave up and suggested that we re-design the dropout to a different hanger system which he can replace as per normal if the hanger is damaged.

I don’t criticize the rest of the bike or the company but in our opinion this design, like some other manufacturers, have fallen short in this department. I would like to hear from Look as to why this is so. It is possible we have missed something obvious. I would be happy to share that update with you all in due course.

 

Pre and post repair inspections are key to ensuring that we have control over the quality of the weld and the warranty of our repairs.

All bikes that come into CBR are subject to an initial pre-repair inspection before we provide a final quote. There are many cases where additional fractures go undetected.

This basic inspection consists of a visual inspection in a controlled environment. This initial fee is waived if the repair is undertaken.

Pre repair and post repair inspections are key to ensuring that we have control over the quality and the warranty of our repairs.

If you have specifically requested a ‘Full scan’ (Full Health Check) part of the scan process is still manual. The microscope is used to identify micro fractures which confirm what we are seeing on the Thermographic scan. It is best never to only rely on one source however amazing it is. Peoples lives are at risk.

Pre repair and post repair inspections are key to ensuring that we have control over the quality and the warranty of our repairs.

Thermography is the ultimate in flaw detection. It has taken 4 years to identify a process which provides primary flaw detection using infra-red energy and 4k thermo imaging to read energy dissipation over a surface therefore providing an in-depth view of the state of the carbon. It is a myth that traditional x-ray can find all fractures when in fact what it is good for is manufacture compliance for wall thickness and anomalies such as air pockets which it reads best through cross section.This is not good enough. HD Thermography is not constrained by any shape, thickness variation or angle.

This system was developed for specific carbon inspection requirements. Not only is this effective for flaw detection at the pre-repair stage but also for post-repair inspections. We are confident at this stage of the inspection evolution that we using the best carbon flaw detection technology available to ensure conclusive results.

There are many occasions where frames are needlessly written-off.  We hope you feel more confident in asking us to check over your bike before you take someone’s word for it.