Water in CF Monocoque Frame??!!??!!



rayhuang

New Member
Jul 27, 2006
522
0
0
Where in the world does water get into a CF frame? My 06 Team Fuji full CF monocoque frame with no discernable openings anywhere had a coule of ounces of water in it? My headsets got seals around it, the bottom braket looks tight as a fiddle and the cables are external except the frontderailler which goes up through the bottom bracket/chainstay area. But theres little or no room for water to pass by the cable in its shroud.

Anyways-this doesnt bother me per se-certainley not upset about it-but I sure am curious!! It was also darn hard to get it out of the bike too. A series of letting it sit at a certain angle, then flipping it over and letting a few drops out at a time from the seat tube.

Anyone know??
Thanks in advance,
Ray
 
Water bottle bolts loose, perhaps? Internal cable routing allowing water to enter? Opening at the top of your seatpost? That is really odd . . .
 
Water bottle bolts loose, perhaps? Maybe

Internal cable routing allowing water to enter? Nope

Opening at the top of your seatpost? Nope again!! :)

That is really odd . . .Yes it is!! Thanks for the ideas though.

The LBS said a lady came in today with a Trek CF bike with the same problem-only her bike had a lot more water in it than I reported.

The craziest stuff has happened to my bike ever since I got back into cycling :lol:
 
Hmmm,

One more non European manufacturer that does not pre-drill a drain hole in the BB area!
 
alfeng said:
Could it be from condensation?
Al, that is exactly what I was thinking!! The frames been in the garage at 40 degrees, the house at 65 and back and forth.
 
rayhuang said:
Al, that is exactly what I was thinking!! The frames been in the garage at 40 degrees, the house at 65 and back and forth.
Doubt that it would explain as much water as you're reporting...

n
 
what about takeing the screw out of the cable guide under the bb shell? idk if the carbon bike has one or not.
 
rayhuang said:
Anyways-this doesnt bother me per se-certainley not upset about it-but I sure am curious!! It was also darn hard to get it out of the bike too. A series of letting it sit at a certain angle, then flipping it over and letting a few drops out at a time from the seat tube.
Yep, it happens. From what I have heard, on rainy rides it seeps in everso slowly through seals and interfaces you'd think would be watertight..

Either that or it's those pesky water elves. :)

My bike has a little hole at the bottom of the BB shell, but for some reason the water didn't want to come out of there. I had to take the seat post off, slosh it around to make sure it got to the seat tube, and then tip the bike up side down a few times to make sure it all got out.
 
Saw the same problem with a Bianchi 928 with crank problems. Took the crank arms & BB off and a fair amount of water poured out. You should drill a small hole at the BB area to drain water. This is apparently a problem with a few carbon frames.

It could be the brake arch on the seat stays. Lots of water gets kicked up there and it is normally not sealed.
 
Ah--I see. Well-I to dont think a small hole in the BB will help because I couldnt get all of the water out of my frame till I took off a water bottle cage. Must have allowed a vacuum like effect to go away and let water out of the down tube past the BB and out of the seat tube.


Pretty funny to hear water sloshing back and forth in your bike-thank goodness its not a steel bike!!
 
bobbyOCR said:
It could be the brake arch on the seat stays. Lots of water gets kicked up there and it is normally not sealed.
I think we may have a winner here. This one sounds very likely.

I have a brand new Specialized Tarmac - off the top of my head I can't recall if it has a drain hole in the bottom of the bottom bracket or not. I don't plan on riding in the rain a lot with it this winter, but I'll have to remember to keep my eyes on it either way.

. . . and yes, luckily it ISN'T steel! :eek:
 
If the brake arch is the culprit, just take the brakes off, wrap some teflon plumbers tape to act as a 'washer' between the arch and the brakes, and that should fix it.