now hold on a minute, did you say 'carbon fiber?'
Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:02 am
yeah, i totally did, dude! now before anyone goes off and scratches their head about this one, let me tell you what i've come across in my time away from the board and during my travels and tons of internet searching.
most people building motorcycles, whether in a shop or in a factory, use metal to make everything for it. except some of those companies that may use fiberglass or something like the sport bikes use, Kawasaki, Yamaha, you get the picture.
Now, for years, I've been looking for a way to reduce the weight of any given bike that i may ever have and I came across this amazing ability to do that. How? By using carbon fiber. YES! Carbon fiber! There's a business in Seattle, Washington that does custom carbon fiber molds and layups for anything and I've talked with them about it and they've actually made some fenders for an application, of which I can't remember now, but I asked if they could make some fenders for a motorcycle and perhaps a gas tank. And they said yes, as long as they had something to work with like the fenders and tank I want to recreate with carbon fiber and that means either hand delivering it to them or shipping it to them.
Now, I bet you just cocked your head and squinted your eyes at me and I'll tell you more. You can use carbon fiber in a gas tank depending on the resin that's used. Magnificent way to reduce weight. I know gas tanks aren't that heavy to begin with, but imagine taking a steel tank weighing, and this is a guesstimate, 5-7 lbs and make it out of carbon fiber, and now you've got a tank weighing in at 2 lbs. I know, 3-5 lbs may not sound like much, but when you couple that with a reduction in the fenders, and then maybe move on to the seat pan and then anywhere you can use it at, it adds up.
This is a thing about us home/custom shop builders who like to make things from scratch, we've still got to advance our techniques and materials to stay viable.
if you want to check out the website, go to http://www.commonfibers.com
most people building motorcycles, whether in a shop or in a factory, use metal to make everything for it. except some of those companies that may use fiberglass or something like the sport bikes use, Kawasaki, Yamaha, you get the picture.
Now, for years, I've been looking for a way to reduce the weight of any given bike that i may ever have and I came across this amazing ability to do that. How? By using carbon fiber. YES! Carbon fiber! There's a business in Seattle, Washington that does custom carbon fiber molds and layups for anything and I've talked with them about it and they've actually made some fenders for an application, of which I can't remember now, but I asked if they could make some fenders for a motorcycle and perhaps a gas tank. And they said yes, as long as they had something to work with like the fenders and tank I want to recreate with carbon fiber and that means either hand delivering it to them or shipping it to them.
Now, I bet you just cocked your head and squinted your eyes at me and I'll tell you more. You can use carbon fiber in a gas tank depending on the resin that's used. Magnificent way to reduce weight. I know gas tanks aren't that heavy to begin with, but imagine taking a steel tank weighing, and this is a guesstimate, 5-7 lbs and make it out of carbon fiber, and now you've got a tank weighing in at 2 lbs. I know, 3-5 lbs may not sound like much, but when you couple that with a reduction in the fenders, and then maybe move on to the seat pan and then anywhere you can use it at, it adds up.
This is a thing about us home/custom shop builders who like to make things from scratch, we've still got to advance our techniques and materials to stay viable.
if you want to check out the website, go to http://www.commonfibers.com