It breaks my heart to have to ask these questions. I think about a month ago I tightened the front derailleur clamp on my carbon frame Wilier Le Roi too tight. I just noticed today that it's deformed and indented right there where the clamp pinches the seat tube. However, it doesn't yield or give to thumb pressure. I've been riding it that way but it's been creaking more and more and has been feeling like I'm not getting the power transfer that I should. Question 1 - since I've been riding with it that way for a month, do you think it's alright to keep riding it until I find another frame or is there danger of catastrophic failure at that point? Question 2 - could that be the cause of the feeling lately that I'm not getting as much power into my sprints and hard efforts? Question 3 - can anyone recommend a carbon frame repair specialist here in the US? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Err on the side of caution and get your LBS to look at it. Calfee does excellent repair work.

http://www.calfeedesign.com/


Better safe than sorry.

-Todd

yes, better safe than sorry. and yes, calfee is excellent, especially if you want the paint in the repair area to look good.
but to answer your specific questions, i highly doubt your feelings of power loss have anything to do with the damage. my best guess is that the damage is on your mind, so you *think* you feel some power loss. i wouldnt even necessarily attribute the creaking to the damage either. but you never know...

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Take a nickel (has to be a nickel due to the blunt edge) and tap the frame around any area that is not broken then tap around the area you think is broken. Does it sound the same? If so, then the frame is not cracked/broken. If the sound is "dead" then it is broken.

FWIW, I swapped out the front derailleur on my carbon S-Works MTB from a SRAM XX band type to a XTR clamp type and the frame has noticeable markings (indentations) from the XX band on the seat tube. Was it over tightened when assembled or is just a characteristic of something be clamped to a carbon tube? I think the clear coat is not as hard as one thinks it should be. I lost a little sleep over it but it is fine.

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R2.5 / R3 / S-Works 29er (20 lbs) / S-Works SL4 Di2 (14.7 lbs)

More likely your bricking it that he frame is gonna fail if you go full gas, and therefore holding off....

Get it checked, and while your at it spend some time rebuilding it in genrl to locate other sources of creaks, there are plenty...

Good luck mate....

I should have posted this sooner. I had my frame thoroughly checked as a precaution and the damage was only in the clear coat and my frame was not cracked after all. I will now be using a torque wrench on all my carbon though just to have peace of mind and to be cautious. Thanks for all the advice and replies.