Point to Note:
- A single crack on carbon fibre mountain bike frames can render them useless.
- Carbon fibre is the lightest frame material
- Expensive $$$
Carbon Fibre Mountain Bike Frame
The big selling point about carbon fibre bike frames is that they’re the lightest of all of mountain bike frames on the market. Not only are they very light but its makes quiet a strong frame. What about drawbacks? The main one is that they are expensive…Probably more expensive that any of the other types. They can also scratch quiet easily. Unfortunately this can affect the integrity of the frame which gives carbon fibre bike frames only a short lifespan. In reality, carbon fibre mountain bike frames are usually only bought by professional mountain bikers. The risk-reward return is not good enough for it to be recommended to joe mountain biker.
Most of the big mountain bike manufacturers make carbon fibre bike frames. If frame weight is important, then an interesting piece of trivia is that Giant were the first manufacturer to create a frame which weights under 1kg.
There are 3 types of carbon fibre frames:
- The frames can be made in one piece
- The carbon fibre can be wrapped in different directions
- Carbon fibre tubes which are joined together