Carbon Fiber Bodywork

OH Yea Baby!!! Very nice.

Looks good from here. You will have the KZebra1000.

I think I'm gonna stick with straight carbon on my bike :laugh:

I recommend that you stick with the carbon/kevlar. That way your electrics will have bullet-proof covers. :laugh: You do live in California.

On a more serious note, I do have a question. Is there a real purpose for carbon/kevlar cloth, or is it just a cosmetic thing? Does it have an advantage over either the carbon or the kevlar by theirself?

The hybrid cloth is purely cosmetic. The kevlar cloth can be dyed different colors for looks, but if you want the true benifit of kevlar (namely abrasion resistance) you'd use a 100% kevlar fabric. If I were to, for instance, make a carbon tank, the outer layer would be carbon, then the next 2 or so would be kevlar for the abrasion resistance the carbon lacks.

Yeah, bullet proof electrics. Screw the rider, protect the bike! :laugh:

What do you mean protect the bike and not the rider? I figured that the PRC requires you to wear a bullet-proof vest when riding.

wow! you have a lot more patience than I. I've been making CF parts in a one off method. No mold really.
sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v229...62_30196036_3714.jpg [/img]

This one still needs a clearcoat but you get the idea.

Nelson wrote:

wow! you have a lot more patience than I. I've been making CF parts in a one off method. No mold really.

sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v229...62_30196036_3714.jpg [/img]

This one still needs a clearcoat but you get the idea.

Thanks Nelson,
If you don't use a mold, do you just carve some foam into the shape you want and lay up over that? I definately do not have the patience to carve out a one off sidecover or tail at the moment :whistle: That is a nice little undertail/bracket you made. Any other little custom nuggets you've made for your bike?

I made a chain gaurd and exhaust bracket. No pics right now. I make the basic shape with thin cardboard (like file folders or cereal boxes) and masking tape. Then lay ordinary fiberglass over it. modify with body filler til I get the shape right, then lay CF on top with epoxy resin. No vacuum at all. On the chain guard the fiberglass remained part of the piece. I just grind the cardboard off the back and paint the back. On the tail section the cardboard/ fiberglass part became a mold and I seperated the CF.

I need to do the vacuum on future parts tho because it's difficult to make sharp bends with just gravity to hold the CF. Ya really have to be careful with the fabric to avoid messing up the weave pattern! Funny that it starts so delicate and becomes so strong.

Yes, you need vacuum to hold into tight radius corners, but I have learned that forcing the fabric to conform when it doesn't is a recipie for air pockets/dry spots in those places. My first partial cover that came out of my fist mold I had trouble getting the relatively heavy weight fiberglass to conform. I assumed that the vacuum would take care of the rest. What I got was big air bubbles in those places :blush: Lesson learned: The closh MUST conform (for the most part) prior to vacuum or you run the risk of a rejected part. Pleating the vacuum bag into the places where your radii is the tightest helps, but running your cloth on a 45 degree bias seems to helps more

of course this would all be SOOOO much easier if we were just going to paint the parts anyway...but then they wouldn't look so cool

by the way. you can buy ordinary fiberglass that's dyed black and woven to look exactly like CF. Fraction of the cost and same look. I don't know wehre to get it, but it's out there.