When can I order a custom carbon frame?

[houli77]

So recently I bought a set of cheap Chinese carbon rims from light bicycle china..

They're freakin awesome. And I kinda got to choose how much carbon they put in for strength. Mind you these are rims are for dh rig so i went with max strength..

but anyway got me thinking about carbon frames and the ability to customise.

i only weigh 70kg and every frame manufacturer is making frames for up to 120kg riders etc, so if i spend my hard earned on a $4000 carbon frame why should i carry the weight penalty of an overbuilt frame for someone almost twice my weight?

can i get my carbon frame a kilo lighter cause i'm only 70kg??? please?

just a thought. As i assume most carbon frames are hand built surely it's possible? and even with heavier riders i'm not seeing lots of carbon frames breaking so for my weight i'd def be buying a majorly overbuilt machine.

bring it!

 

[Wellsey]

Light Bicycle make frames too.

 

[The Duckmeister]

The manufacturing process of carbon does not lend itself to custom jobs very well at all, unless you step back a couple of generations of frame tech to glued lugs & tubes (which isn't the best means of constructing from carbon either).

The problem is carbon in its working state is a cloth, bound in a resin which is quite pliable before curing. Therefore it must be formed in moulds, which need to be robust (and stable) enough to withstand high temperatures and pressures during the curing process. These moulds cost somewhere on the far side of $100,000, so I'm told, to design and manufacture, so in order for the frame manufacturer to recover this cost, frames can really only be mass produced.

 

[ozdavo]

Carbon frames can be had under 700g, you won't be saving much!

Edit: obviously I'm thinking road frames, but the same principal applies to MTB's.

Also there would be a liability thing where they would need to be sure it is strong enough for any given weight.


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[creaky]

Practicality aside, I think that there'd be better ways to save weight with the money a custom carbon frame would cost e.g. ackland's crazy build.

 

[houli77]

Wouldn't the mould only form the outside surface and the internal be formed with air pressure by way of a bladder? And the strength and weight be governed by thickness or how many layers of carbon are layed up? Or is that an old technique?

I assumed it would just be a matter of laying a few less layers of carbon fibre around the mould in the right areas and you'd have a lighter version of same frame from the same mould.

 

[MARKL]

There probably isn't much to be saved in any real sense. Making the carbon strong enough for impacts, not brittle is probably the determining factor in wall thickness more than rider weight.

 

[Alo661]

Or, go Ti.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Wouldn't the mould only form the outside surface and the internal be formed with air pressure by way of a bladder? And the strength and weight be governed by thickness or how many layers of carbon are layed up? Or is that an old technique?

I assumed it would just be a matter of laying a few less layers of carbon fibre around the mould in the right areas and you'd have a lighter version of same frame from the same mould.

That is a half-step, but you would still only get stock geometry. Generally the idea of a "custom" frame is that it is completely tailored to the rider, geometry and all, and that's just not viable with carbon manufacturing techniques. You also still have the engineering to ensure there is enough fibre running in the right orientations to provide enough strength & stiffness, and the plotting of the exact layup "schedule" of all the individual bits of carbon mat that go into making a frame (the average frame is comprised of several hundred individual, precisely cut pieces of carbon mat).

If you want a truly custom frame, carbon is not the material to choose unless you're prepared to pay a massive truckload of cash.

 

[Jessarpi]

Just buy the "heavy" carbon frame, get out some wet and dry and get rid of all that heavy paint.
Since you are such a featherweight... can't see why you can't rub a bit of that carbon and resin away while your there.

 

[houli77]

Yeah I wasn't looking for custom geometry, I was actually looking at the new carbon intense tracer and the weight of overall builds (couldn't find a frame only weight) and figured its prob not much lighter than my alloy enduro. Looks so burly though, got me thinking for my weight it could prob be a shit tonne lighter and still be plenty strong which would make me more likely to buy.

 

[whodesigns]

Bikes are typically designed around passing the necessary test standards, not around a particular rider weight. The test standard would need a different category for lighter riders and that isn't going to happen any time soon. Nobody is going to sell a bike that doesn't meet these standards except the small custom builders that are exempt. So there is a legal and liability issue here as well as an engineering one.

Often but not always the frame is laid up with the same laminate in the XS as the XL size, which would have a big influence on the ride characteristics. The small frame is relatively stiffer and heavier then the large frame, which is the reason some pro's ride a smaller than ideal size.

These bikes are production items, the cost to deviate from the standard spec is high, hence the high price of a custom build. It is the same with almost all production items. Find out how much it costs for a car painted in a non factory standard colour, let alone panel wall thickness.

 

[mitchy_]

order a hardtail if you want a lighter carbon frame.
that said, i'd love to see the disastrous results of a 1kg dual suspension frame at your price point.