Quote:
Originally Posted by otto_kretschmer
The big boys have the bucks. They use CNC machined aluminum molds, 250 F cure prepreg carbon fiber uni directional cloth and they cure the bike in an autoclave at around 100 psi. The parts come out perfect without any voids or air pockets in the laminate and all the extra resin is squeezed out of the part.
If I built a bike in my garage I would have to use soft molds made out of fiberglass or maybe even plastic from a 3D printer. I'll use a woven dry fabric with room temp cure epoxy and I'll use a vacuum bag to compact the parts while the resin cures. My frame would be maybe 25% heavier. I don't have the analysis skills and programs to do a real finite element analysis that a big firm can afford. I would just build a bike and do a destructive test on it.
ugh.. I tried building a bike 20 years ago and wasn't happy with it. Its in a landfill now somewhere in Riverside.
Anyone read Kevin Cameron's column in Cycleworld? He talks about racebikes as being ideas of the guys who built those machines. Every season you get a machine with new ideas and the old machine is unceremoniously dumped in a shredder.
I have to get my Cannondale on the road. I've thought about it today and I'm going to get new tires (if they fit), so go from 23 to 32 and borrow the mountain bike stem from my sisters old race bike. Raise the bars up 2 1/2" and fatter tires may make the bike comfortably enough to start putting on miles. Three months from now I'll have all the cobwebs blown out.
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32mm tires? I think that Cannondale will only take up to 25-28 mm tires if you are lucky. Just air the tires up to 85 lbs and it should ride like having a spring under you. You are not even in your mid 50s yet so ride those skinny tires
This morning, a bunch of strong riders handed me my ass on a 50 mile ride. There were at least 6-7 50 something year old men in there dishing out some of the pain. These guys ride a lot, 150-250 miles a week. I suffered by gluing myself 2" to their wheels from the 57 fwy (turn around point) all the way up to Sierra Marde through the foothills. Since you mentioned Riverside, you must know LA a bit. I was dropped 3 miles to the top near the town of Sierra Marde. We avg. 22 mph coming back up the foothills. If these old farts can dish out good power for 50 miles, you can too. Plus, you are a taller guy, with longer leg muscles. It should take you a couple weeks to get your legs back then work toward 50 miles within the first month should be a piece of cake.