Chipped me carbon fibre frame

Raam

So there I was, preparing for an upcoming trip by taking off the pedals. I always struggle with this and have to give it a good bit of force, so when the pedal finally decided to play ball, I managed to take a small chip out of the underside of one of my chain stays. Am I being overly paranoid, or have I possibly done bad damage to the frame? It's all wrapped up in buble wrap now, so I can't take a picture.

Edit: for the other pedal I learned my lesson and wrapped the chain stay in some rags first.

copacetic

hard to say without a pic raam. I find using an allen key for the pedals takes most of the stress and strain out of it...

Raam

copacetic wrote: »

hard to say without a pic raam. I find using an allen key for the pedals takes most of the stress and strain out of it...

Aye, that's what I used. Maybe I can peal back the bubble wrap and take a snap later.

Chips Lovell

Depends on whether you've just chipped the clearcoat and possibly the paint or whether the actual carbon is damaged. First is cosmetic second is a problem.

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

Depends on whether you've just chipped the clearcoat and possibly the paint or whether the actual carbon is damaged. First is cosmetic second is a problem.

Possibly (hopefully) it's just the clear coat. It wasn't a full on blow, I had the bike upside down and was pulling on the pedal and pushing down with the allen key towards the underside of the chainstay. Then it gave and the allen key struck the chainstay.

Quigs Snr

Almost certainly its just the clearcoat. Did it on my old bike, you'd be surprised how deep and solid the paint is. When you knock a chunk out it feels like you have carved a lump out of the frame. You should be alright but a close up picture would confirm.

Gavin

Grease up your pedals dood !

Raam

Verb wrote: »

Grease up your pedals dood !

I hear ya
The shop installed 'em and they were greased when I finally got 'em off.
My bad technique is probably what made it difficult to get remove them.
I'll make sure to put some more grease on when I attach them again.

Gavin

When really getting the pedals off, or tightening them, I get the allan key fairly close to the crank. Then I can grasp the crank arm in one hand, the allan key in the other, interlace my fingers and really force my hands together. It prevents any flying motions and the cutting of fingers on chainrings.

uberwolf

I've chipped my bike to pieces over the years, chippings played havoc with the underside of virtually every tube, bad bike rack mounting with other pieces. I'd say there's a lot of over engineering in them, for instances like this.

blorg

I would say you would be OK. I have a few chips out of mine from various things including the chain falling off. If the pedals are properly greased and not over-tightened it should be easier than that to remove them. Pedal wrench is easier than allen key if they take one (not all pedals do.)

Raam

Thanks for the posts guys. I had a look again last night and it's actually only a tiny chip and not even worth posting a picture of.

P

el tel

Best not to screw the pedals on too tight when you put them back on, just a wee nip at the end is more than sufficient. Before I knew of the subtlies of left and right-handed threads I once, while trying to remove it, tightened a pedal on so much that I bent the spanner and mangled the hex bolt! It was allen keys from then on...:o