Custom Carbon Fiber

  Thought I would share some photos of my latest creation.  It is a tube to tube custom carbon frame.  The tubes and stays are supplied to me from Enve Composites (formerly Edge Composites).  While working on this carbon project bike I was dumbfounded with the amount of time it takes to get it just right.  Each joint is hand wrapped with some intricately cut pieces of carbon fiber pre-impregnated with resin.  There are approximately 40-50 different hand cut pieces per joint, this forms the stratification layer.  The strata  layers are the backbone of the joint giving it all it's strength and qualities, these layers are oriented at various angles.  The next layer is the "money layer" it is primarily a aesthetic layer that will also provide some strength and fine tune the stiffness of the frame at the joint. It is all put under compression and cured in a enormous oven specifically designed for curing composites.  The oven controls the ramp up speed of the temperature and how long it is held at a specific temperature (the first time I used the oven it was set for Celsius not Fahrenheit,  to say the least I cooked the living shiz out of that bottom bracket, leaving all the resin in the bottom of the oven).

The bottom bracket is a bladder molded piece that I designed and manufacture in house.  The process was fun to learn and I really enjoyed working with a new material.  It took hours developing and testing, to finally arrive with a good  prototype.  I am glad I took my time because I am happy with the end results. 

I built it up with the current parts on a Ti frame I have been riding.  I was familiar with the ride of the Ti bike and I wanted to compare apples to apples.  The result was a similar ride.  I did notice that it was a bit more responsive and it would accelerate a bit quicker.  The frame weighs in at 1140 grams, not a supper light weight but it is a little overbuilt.  

     The problem I am having with carbon fiber frame construction are all the ideas that come to mind while developing a bike.  It would take a ridiculous amount of capital to produce all the molds and concepts that have come to mind while taking on this project.  None-the-less I will continue to refine my process and testing of the product until I am confident in offering it to customers.  

    

I am looking forward to building the next carbon frame and sharing my development of the carbon fiber frame construction process.  I will be offering the carbon project frames for sale in a limited quantities spring 2011. 

CX season

The chill is in the air and the brisk breeze means that fall is on its way.  Cyclocross season - is there anything better? 

Getting close to finishing up Randy's cross bike. 

Ryan's Build

Ryan has been wanting to do the LOTOJA for quite some time.  He gets to do it this year on his new TI ride. 

Recent Builds

Heading to Swan Valley tomorrow for a little R&R.  Can't wait to get back in the saddle after a long, busy summer of frame building.  It has been hard finding time to get out and ride, when all I want to do is work on new bike projects.  Here is one of the builds I did for David. 

Jen's New Ride

Matt's New Ride

Team KELSON jerseys

Thanks Gheen for designing the new Team Kelson Jersey's. It has been hard to nail down the perfect one, but here are the samples of the final 4 designs. I think they are going to be pretty cool.

KelsonJersey_Colorstudy

It's about time - Carbon Fiber OVEN

So my wife did a writeup on her blog about the happenings of the new carbon fiber project. Check it out here Bella Rosa Bikes

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Gal Bladder

I created this blog for documenting my frame building experiences for others to share. Well I have been real sick this winter with some unexplainable abdominal pain, so I have not been doing anything real exciting with the frame building. My wife and I actually diagnosed my condition with the use of "Dr. Google". We told the doctors what we thought was the problem and they dismissed it and ordered another test, time and time again. Finally the only test left to take was a Heida-scan, where they inject you with some type of radioactive isotope and watch as your liver and gal bladder process it. Well my test came back with a gal bladder squeeze of 14% (that is bad you have too have it out if it is below 35%). Chalk one up for "Dr. Google" and my wife. Needless to say I have had it removed and I am finally feeling better. The only problem with having your gal bladder removed is you trade one problem for another. The gal bladder aids in digestion and it takes some time for your body to adapt, but it eventually does. I am real glad this is behind me and I have my health back and it could not have come at a better time, the phone has been ringing and the torch has been burning.

Ulcers

Not much happening around here. Just plugging along building bikes and still working on my carbon fiber. I was hoping to have a prototype by now but things just keep coming up. I got busy doing some contract work for another bike company so that has taken away a little time I have wanted to spend on building my own bikes. I have also not had much luck with my health for the past couple of months. I have had some unexplained abdominal pain that we have been getting test after test on. The doctors just have not been able to come up with anything, and I am sick of being scanned and poked with needles. So I have been taking some over the counter medication for ulcers and I think it is working. I have been feeling better and that is good because I can not stand laying around, especially when there is a lot to do.

Spring is around the corner and I am counting the day's. It takes a long time for things to finally warm up around here so as soon as I have a full custom carbon prototype bike done, I will be heading south for some warm weather and some serious miles. I hope it happens soon, I am just waiting on a few tools, material and my curing oven. All the molds are done and they turned out really good. I will post some pictures soon.