Make your own carbon parts??
- Thread starter rashad
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AJAY
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Never thought of this, but it might be very cool to do to the side panels and tail section of the 1982 GS1100E I'm restoring.
Don't think I'd do the frame, as you'd have a hard time doing anything about it if you screw up. But it might be an interesting alternative to new paint if your fairings get ugly. That stuff would hide a lot of road rash!
carbonmods.com is UK based, but you can get these materials in the States from a couple of places. For example: Carbon Fiber
The carbon material itself runs about $60/yard. Some other reading I did cautioned about the quality of the resin used, making the distinction between the bluish polyester resin typically used for fiberglass layup and the epoxies used for carbon fiber which are more flexible and less prone to crack at the stress points.
The Fiberglast people also sell a black fiberglass that achieves a lot of the carbon fiber look at less cost. Carbon Fiber vs. Black Fiberglass — Fibre Glast Blog They write that the real carbon fiber is more flexible during layup that the glass, so probably better for forming over complex surfaces.
Don't think I'd do the frame, as you'd have a hard time doing anything about it if you screw up. But it might be an interesting alternative to new paint if your fairings get ugly. That stuff would hide a lot of road rash!
carbonmods.com is UK based, but you can get these materials in the States from a couple of places. For example: Carbon Fiber
The carbon material itself runs about $60/yard. Some other reading I did cautioned about the quality of the resin used, making the distinction between the bluish polyester resin typically used for fiberglass layup and the epoxies used for carbon fiber which are more flexible and less prone to crack at the stress points.
The Fiberglast people also sell a black fiberglass that achieves a lot of the carbon fiber look at less cost. Carbon Fiber vs. Black Fiberglass — Fibre Glast Blog They write that the real carbon fiber is more flexible during layup that the glass, so probably better for forming over complex surfaces.
AJAY
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For grins, I looked at the "carbon fiber-look" vinyls, thinking this might be a cheap way to see if I liked the look of CF on the bike I'm restoring. The cheap CF vinyl gets awful reviews. The only product getting good reviews is 3M Di-Noc vinyl (3M also makes a lesser grade product). Trouble with the 3M Di-Noc is that is is about half the cost of the real carbon fiber cloth and it doesn't get that shiny look you can get with the epoxy coated parts. Some people have experimented coating the vinyl parts with paint, but there's no long term data to make be believe it would be good, plus some people reported that if you paint enough to smooth it, the Di-Noc loses all it's luster. For this kind of money, you might as well go straight to real carbon fiber and epoxy.
Looks good but seems like a long ass time to do two little parts ?
I have a friend that covered his whole bike, (tank, front, back and side fairings) he got it done on a katana and he gets a lots of looks for sure. I also know someone else that covered the whole tail section on a 1k with the vinyl wrap he also gets lots of looks too. I still thinking about trying the vinyl on my bike to see how it looks.
Ludicrous Speed
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The real carbon fiber process that is vacuum bagged is even more work. Now you see why it is so expensive!
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