carbon fiber. mtn bike and compound bow

[vash]

i'll never have the means to own some carbon fiber super car. ever.

but my mountain bike has been great!! i think i am on year 3 with it now. i have crashed several times. one time, we all went down this steep hillside in a blur of human and orange painted carbon fiber. bystanders helped me to my feet and then forgot about me..they went over my bike. barely a scratch. that stuff is tough!! some dude wiped the one crack they did find with a piece of cotton pad..it's all okay. they did suggest i paint it with some clear nail polish. ( "huh, i'm okay too..the bleeding will stop soon,but if you're done with that cotton pad...")

anyways, i'm sold. sold enough to buy a carbon fiber compound hunting bow. the price was staggering, so i opted to buy last years bow. from a total stranger. to complicate things, i am switching hands. yes, i bought a left hand bow. i am STRONGLY left eye dominate, so this is a switch i think i should have made years ago..or hell, started with. i held a new one at the store and fell in love. the thing is stupid light. and rigid beyond comprehensions. it feels way stiffer than my current billet aluminum one. (i know its in my mind..it more like the weight/stiffness ratio, i think). one of the selling points..carbon fiber doesnt feel cold in winter. my alum bow sucks the life out of my hands hiking in the snow. not fun.

i know very little about carbon fiber. blows my mind they can make what they do with it. at this point, i'd buy a carbon fiber handled hammer a contractor offered me a brand new carbon fiber hardhat..i declined for ethical purposes.

[Hellraiser]

I love carbon fiber

[pavulon]

Have a CF Trek FX 7.7 that is so pleasurable to ride I actually look forward to taking the dogs out for their exercise.

[look 171]

Been riding carbon since Look sold them in the early 90s. I love the way carbon rides if done right. Since then I must had had 7 or 8 carbon bikes. I raced on steel (steel is not all that real if you ask me, but a fine material for bicycle other wise) and alum bikes, but carbon is really something special.

I helped with the carbon body layup on the Solar Eagle (solar car) back in college around the early 90s. It was light and stronger then steel. I was already riding carbon bikes but it was the ooh aah materials and I had to find out what this stuff was.

[ckelly78z]

How much lighter is a carbon mountain bike than a steel, or an aluminum bike ? I have been kind of looking for a replacement for my heavy steel frame. What sort of cost is involved as well ?

[pavulon]

It's appreciable but you really need to ride a CF bike in order to know what the fuss is about (or not about).

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

How much lighter is a carbon mountain bike than a steel, or an aluminum bike ? I have been kind of looking for a replacement for my heavy steel frame. What sort of cost is involved as well ?

[HardDrive]

Still looking for a high quality carbon fiber codpiece.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

How much lighter is a carbon mountain bike than a steel, or an aluminum bike ? I have been kind of looking for a replacement for my heavy steel frame. What sort of cost is involved as well ?

It can be much lighter. I don't know too much about mtb. On a road bike it can be a much as 3 to 7 lbs lighter depending on how much you want to pay. Its ride quality

[pwd72s]

Tried one...didn't like it.

https://www.pooldawg.com/predator-revo-12-4mm-shaft-pool-cue-shaft

[gtc]

How old is your frame? Standards have changed so much in the last 10 years, you might be better off buying a whole new bike.
(headsets, axles, brakes, cranks... etc)

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

How much lighter is a carbon mountain bike than a steel, or an aluminum bike ? I have been kind of looking for a replacement for my heavy steel frame. What sort of cost is involved as well ?

[Captain Ahab Jr]

If you like CF bikes then this is worth a read

Berk PROTO-TYPE Composites - Weight Weenies

I met up with him and he is a super talented young guy that started out doing what most guys on here could do in their own garage

Carbon fibre is a great material to design and build with if its used correctly it will out perform most materials but like everything in life it does have its limitations

I've not designed a bicyle in CF yet but years ago explored ways to make individual bespoke geometry frames in CF for a very successful steel bike builder www.dario-pegoretti.com/

Quickly worked out the geometry changes are too limitless to suit CF manufacturing techniques

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I have several CF road frames. I used to think frames were just a bunch of tubes and fancy stickers. I was so wrong.

At least on a road bike- you get the comfort AND the responsiveness when you get a tuned frame. There is no trade off. It is lighter, more comfortable, more nimble, and more responsive. It is superlative in all regards.

Now- MTB.... A friend of mine bought a high end CF MTB frame. On his first ride, he rode it into a rock. End of CF frame.

I highly recommend CF road frames. My friend was very agitated his 1st MTB ride cost him about $1500.

On MTB- go durability. You will fall. The bike will hit a rock. The roadie nuances won't matter as much. Just go have fun.

edit- after reading op post- CF is simply wonderful. I would like to make a CF toilet seat if possible. It is just brilliant, until it breaks!

[sammyg2]

Back in the late 60's (might have been later, best recollection), my father showed me pictures of a carbon-fiber racing bicycle that was designed and built at the plant where he worked.
He told me that he wasn't on the project as it was in a different department, but they built it to develop the technology of working with carbon fiber and that the bike cost several thousand dollars to make.

I said how much? No one in his right mind would ever pay that much for a bike!

[sammyg2]

DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHTWEIGHT
GRAPHITE/POLYIMIDE SANDWICH PANELS
PHASE II - THIN GAGE MATERIAL MANUFACTURE
H400-12-1-11
February 1972
NASA Contract NAS 9-11368


FOREWORD
This report covers the work performed in Phase II of National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Contract NAS 9-11368 during
the period of January 1971 through January 1972.
The work was performed under the sponsorship of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center R&D Procurement Branch.
The program is administered under the direction of Mr. T. J. Dunn, Technical Monitor.
The work is being performed by the Composite Materials Development
Department, Hercules Incorporated, Bacchus Works, Magna, Utah

Prepared by
HERCULES INCORPORATED
SYSTEMS GROUP
Bacchus Works
Magna, Utah
Prepared for
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
MANNED SPACECRAFT CENTER
Houston, Texas

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720016883.pdf

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

If you like CF bikes then this is worth a read

Berk PROTO-TYPE Composites - Weight Weenies

I met up with him and he is a super talented young guy that started out doing what most guys on here could do in their own garage

Carbon fibre is a great material to design and build with if its used correctly it will out perform most materials but like everything in life it does have its limitations

I've not designed a bicyle in CF yet but years ago explored ways to make individual bespoke geometry frames in CF for a very successful steel bike builder www.dario-pegoretti.com/

Quickly worked out the geometry changes are too limitless to suit CF manufacturing techniques

Well, gosh dangit, that too cool. I thought the old man didn't like any other materials but steel. I like his bikes just not the stupid paint job. I think he's limits himself in the money dept by staying steel only with limited buyers, but that's the typical traditional Italian way. Last I heard he has cancer but ate fighting it

[look 171]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720016883.pdf

Wow. Learn something new daily