Carbon fibre bits n pieces

[Hellboydce]

I know some people hate it, but I quite like it, any recommendations on who to buy off, there is a company called zero limits who are by far the cheapest, carbonworld.de seem most professional but their stuff costs a fortune, conquest carbon seem decent but they don't stock as much stuff, seems what ever I do I'm going to have to mix and match stuff as not a one of them stocks everything I want, any good companies I have missed?

[LVC]

Depends if you want it new and depends how "rare" the bits are. My S4 has been well and truly carbonised but most bits are Ducati Performance and sourced over several years via ebay.uk/de/fr/it/us/etc. etc.

Carbonworld are good but not cheap and postage can be expensive from Germany.

Check out the bay in case there's some bits you want - refurbishing carbon (re-doing the lacquer) is not complicated and will give 2nd hand parts that "as new" appearance.

Be careful though "carbonitis" is very very hard to grow out of...check out the kawa in my signature ;)

[Dirty]

Mmmmmm lovely carbon.........

[bluestoesonnose]

Not keen on Carbon, but the S4R has loads on it as standard, so I want to keep the theme so I'm guessing I'll be buying some...

[alreadyinuse]

me likey carbon i tend to shy away from ebay crap thoand hunt down nos Ducati stuff.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/971090_10200208955162958_95242324_n.jpg


ebay.de in particular has alot of home made stuff on it. which to me isnt real carbon fibre,
Its carbon fibre matting in resin.

Real stuff is pre preg cured in an autoclave. its more expensive but its lighter and stronger.

[Pomp1]

Ducati own is pretty bad, nothing lines up in my experience.
The one I can get is vacuum autoclave.

[Dukedesmo]

Ducati own is pretty bad, nothing lines up in my experience.


Have to agree here, I've got significant amounts of carbon on both bikes and the worst quality pieces by far are branded 'Ducati Performance' - they are however very thin and light...

[smiffyraf1]

Matting is just as real and is actually lighter than pre preg as you can change the ratio of resin in it. A lot of pre preg is resin rich which is incorrect, pretty much anything shiny you wouldnt see on a race bike or f1 car as its resin rich and weaker. Form a lot more complex shapes with matting too.

[tricolore]

Speak to Craig at Moto Rapido - he was buying carbon in from Slovakia, can't remember the name of the company but it was good quality and reasonable prices.

[Wildfire]

As I am led to be informed it is about the final process rather than whether it is pre-preg or matting. If the resin is left to dry it is akin to GRP, just stronger and a little lighter. If it is set in a n autoclave then the resin is squeezed out compressing the fibers tighter, thus less weight.

Not a technical explanation, by any means, but a friend of mine makes carbon bits on a regular basis and says there is no point unless doing it with an autoclave, if you want the benefits of carbon.

[utopia]

As I understand it, carbon fibre quality is very variable, depending on the manufacturing process.
Lowest quality is simply wet-layed in a mould and left to cure.
Next quality, as above but then placed under a membrane and evacuated to compress the material and squeeze out excess resin.
Then comes resin impregnation, where the mould is layed up dry, then evacuated under a membrane and resin drawn through the cloth due to said vacuum.
Top quality is layed up with pre-preg cloth which contains its own resin which is then activated in an autoclave.

Main quality features are resin to cloth ratio (least resin equals best quality), freedom from pinholes in the resin and voids, and also resistance to UV degradation.

To be honest, most of the uses to which carbon fibre is put on a motorcycle are purely cosmetic and don't require the higher quality material from a mechanical point of view ...though absence of pinholes is important, as is the resistance to UV degradation to avoid yellowing of the resin, but this can be ensured by the use of a UV resistant lacquer.