Carbon fiber for the masses

[chrisgreer23]

Ok. Here's the deal. I need some feedback on an idea. Everyone knows that if you went onto ebay.com right now and searched for "katana carbon fiber parts," you would probably only find carbon fiber lookalike sheets of stickers.

Now, I can make carbon fiber parts. All I have to do is make the molds and gather the materials and I can start making complete body work. Anything that is plastic can be replicated with carbon fiber. Some of you are thinking it would too expensive. The parts would be expensive and no one would buy them. Well I beg to differ.

Think for a moment, what if you had an all black bike and you wanted to stand out just a little bit. You could add a solo cowl made of carbon fiber. You wouldn't need to paint it. You wouldn't have to make some shoddy piece of ****e. And it wouldn't add much if any weight.

"But carbon fiber is expensive." Yes it can be unless you have a kind-hearted fellow Kat Ridder to make it. The only payment I would need is the cost of materials for the specific job you need and shipping cost. All I would ask for my time and labor would be any tip you think I may deserve.

Prices for the materials....I don't know just yet. I have a website ill be getting the carbon fiber sheets from and that's about it. I'm going to need to price everything else out before I can say what it will cost.

Now, I am but one person. I live in a house that doesn't have a garage or spare room to set up production. So I won't be doing this on a massive scale. I will, however, work as fast as I can and I will get more efficient as I go.

WATCH THIS THREAD FOR UPDATES. CF COMMIN ATCHYA!!

[vonrapier]

Cool...........

[abailey362]

i'd def be down for a tall solo cowl for a post if they looked good and dind't have bad seams.

The biggest issue with carbon is round parts unless you have a nice autoclave system with decent vaccum.

[bob393]

Interesting, please do keep us posted!

[1990gsx 600]

hmm maybe some custom fairings for my tail end..... defiantly gonna watch this thread

[mreedohio]

sweet me likes real carbon fiber on muh bike

[katanarider]

You sir are the man !
I sent a email to another company to make some fairing already but I never even got a reply.
Would you be able to make other pieces such as swingarms?
If so Kreylon may have some compition on his hands.
Sorry Krey

[chrisgreer23]

sweet me likes real carbon fiber on muh bike

Yer, I could start with that sweet ars tail or yours.

You sir are the man !
I sent a email to another company to make some fairing already but I never even got a reply.
Would you be able to make other pieces such as swingarms?
If so Kreylon may have some compition on his hands.
Sorry Krey

I don't think any amount of carbon could produce the amount of strength that steel/aluminum could produce. You'd be on the floor faster then John Travolta doing the spits in Grease if you were to ride a bike that had a carbon fiber swing arm.

What I can do is whats known as covering or skinning. Thats when you take any object (within reason) and cover it in one layer of carbon fiber. Its great for the looks without the price.

Thats a yes if you wanted it covered. No if you want it purely made out of carbon fibere.



Ok. First things first I need some molds. There are several techniques I can use. Some better for smaller parts, some better for larger parts.

The first mold (and subsequent part) I will make will be something small. Unfortunately I don't have a Kat yet so I can't make anything for it. I don't have a bike at all to be honest. So nothing bike related. I have a car tho....

A 2006 Ford Focus Rear view mirror

I realize this isn't a car forum. But at the moment it's all I have to show off my skillz. Pics of the test subject to come.....

Stay tuned. And please ask questions/make comments (good or bad)

hmm maybe some custom fairings for my tail end..... defiantly gonna watch this thread

At the moment my focus will be on making molds of existing parts and then making the carbon fiber parts. If you can make something custom, I can mold it/cf it. Unfortunately I'm not much of a creator/artist.

[katanarider]

There is strong carbon fiber pieces out there. I have a friend with a 500+ horsepower Ford Mustang and the drive shaft is carbon fiber. I think that Ducati has a carbon fiber frame? I know there is a full carbon fiber bike out there because I've seen it.
I think something like that requires some expensive equipment tho?

[1990gsx 600]

really expensive equipment...... and as far as a custom fairing itll be just like teh stock one just mided a little

[joethepartier]

Sounds excellent. The under cowling would be great as carbon fiber.

[chrisgreer23]

Pics

Test subject reviled:

Ok. I may be overstepping my skill level on this one. To my knowledge, there isn't any fairing pieces on a standard Kat that has this complexity level. Not only is the mirror powered, it has led blinkers for the turn signal. Oh, and the main rounded, pokey outy bit is ONE PIECE. Imagine trying to line a bowel with a piece of paper WITHOUT HAVING FOLDS!! This is what I have to do except I'm working with sheets of carbon fiber that has to be delicately manipulated for fear of folding and messing up the pattern.

The good thing is, the whole piece splits into three segments. The mounting hardware will be slightly modified though. I'll be using some long screws that will go through the whole unit instead of separately screwing each piece to each other.

I have about a week for materials to come in so I have time to contemplate how I'll handle it.

[chrisgreer23]

Sounds excellent. The under cowling would be great as carbon fiber.

That piece would be perfect to make out of carbon fiber. I need someone to donate one to me for a little while to make a mold of it tho....

Thats one piece that would sell for butt loads on ebay. I'm making no profit off of KR members tho, just remember that.

There is strong carbon fiber pieces out there. I have a friend with a 500+ horsepower Ford Mustang and the drive shaft is carbon fiber. I think that Ducati has a carbon fiber frame? I know there is a full carbon fiber bike out there because I've seen it.
I think something like that requires some expensive equipment tho?

I'm not saying what I make is crap but I will not attempt to make frame pieces out of cf. The products I'll be turning out won't be anything like the kind of detail frame work requires. Not to mention research and specialized methods of producing frame. Sorry.

But you are correct on the point my friend.

[phil823]

i am ALSO interested, but im more interested in little parts! these are the parts that might sell well and quickly also.

Post solo cowl - repeatable mold, will deff sell.
post triple tree cover (the big metal piece by the ignition) - easily made, few bends
post guage cluster cutout of some type, mabey a thin precut layout with 3m adhesive?

Mabey a bit challenging, but a POST Rear tire hugger with the chain guard would be badass, and you could use the alreay outthere molds.

little accents sell better i would think, and would be better mass made for selling, and less man hours to work with.

[Crash]

Hey Chris we talked earlier in the chat. Looks like i'll be dropping some stuff off to you. I have a chain guard that i just picked up so i can drop that off to you since its a small simple piece. Then from there who knows but your not that far away from me so as long as i can ride the bike you can use any piece to make a mold from.