Last week, I parked near the railing in front of the Han River restroom and went inside, and during that time
it fell over in the wind — it scraped against the railing side, so at first I thought it was just a simple scratch.
But when I had it inspected today, they said the carbon had been scraped and worn down, causing a step/level difference.
It's not a crack, so there's no problem riding it, but they said an elasticity issue could arise
due to the thickness difference between the normal carbon layer and the worn-down carbon layer,
so I brought it in for repair. Everyone, whether your bike fell while parked or fell during a crash,
please don't think "it's fine, there's no crack and only the paint got chipped."
Be sure to get it inspected to check whether the carbon layer has been worn down.
Also, the lifespan of carbon bicycles is always a controversial topic,
and when I asked, they said prolonged exposure to sunlight shortens the lifespan.
They said they repair a lot of professional riders' bikes here,
and the replacement cycle is about 3 years for pros, and for regular people (including hobbyists), about 5 years if ridden heavily —
that's when the carbon lifespan is used up. In particular, once it loses elasticity, when climbing uphill
you feel like the bike is absorbing your power rather than transferring it, and you notice something feels off.
The 5-year figure for regular people is based on someone riding 2,500–3,000 km per month;
otherwise, generally 10 years is a more typical estimate, but even those 10 years
vary depending on how much you ride outdoors.
Simply storing it without riding much doesn't shorten the carbon lifespan, in other words.
The owner here has been doing carbon bicycle repairs for over 20 years,
and in the past only repaired professional riders' bikes, but now repairs
regular people's bikes as well, so I believe the expert's opinion is 100% correct.
There's no need to go around telling others nonsense like
"even storing a carbon bike at home reduces its elasticity" — that kind of shallow knowledge isn't worth spreading.
Whether it was a crash or a fall while parked, if the bike took an impact and the paint chipped,
please be sure to get it inspected to make sure there are no step/level issues in the carbon layer.
This happened because I wasn't being careful, so I'm thinking of it as tuition money and keeping my mind at ease.
The silver lining is that the paint chipped but no crack formed, so the repair cost didn't end up being too high.
Still, it's a waste of money.
It was money I wouldn't have had to spend if I'd been more careful —
just parked briefly and went to the restroom, and in the Han River wind,
I never imagined it would fall not straight to the ground, but sideways toward the railing,
scraping against it as it went down.
If it had fallen straight to the ground it might have been better,
but because it scraped against the sharp railing on the way down,
that appears to be what caused the damage to the carbon layer.
