We get lots of inquiries where people send a photo of the damage found on their bike and ask us for a repair quote.

Mostly it isn't possible to do this because the majority of structural damage is often not visible on the surface, but within the carbon "laminate". As discussed in previous articles, carbon composite is made up of many thin layers and the common failure mode is for these layers to separate, we call this delamination.

This is why we use Ultrasound scans to determine the extent of the structural damage that requires repair, in the same way the aerospace industry does.

Ultrasound is the method of choice for finding delamination in carbon composite due to it's sensitivity and accuracy. With our methods we can find critical damage which could cause a catastrophic failure that would otherwise be unseen until it's too late.

There have been many cases where a frame comes in with what looks like a small mark on the top tube or even no visible mark at all. When the Ultrasound scan is done however we find large areas of tube to be delaminated, sometimes this renders the frame beyond the point of a safe repair and it is recommended to replace the frame.

Photos can still be useful for quoting on the paint repair of the item and based on experience if the part should be even considered for an assessment, however photos do not tell much of a story on what the significance of the structural damage may be.

Ride safe.