Headset spacers...

[Prozakk]

Would PVC pipe work as a headset spacer?

Plastic?

It would be lighter than carbon fiber. :rolleyes:

Just curious...

[mx_599]

Would PVC pipe work as a headset spacer?

Plastic?

It would be lighter than carbon fiber. :rolleyes:

Just curious...
i wouldn't bother. it would probably work though. the only thing i could think of is that your HS bearings might need adjustment more often or you might risk damaging them as well. i say this with the assumption that CF or Al spacers wouldn't wear as PVC might. once a spacer wears, you are creating bearing slop. also, if the PVC is not cut straight you would have bad problems too. ...but i am confident you would have straight cuts. i wouldn't do it for the previously mentioned reason.

...but i don't know, it is pretty tough stuff

[hypersnazz]

In a world where aluminum headset spacers are almost given away for free, you're scheming to save a few...bucks? Cents? Buying a length of PVC that's sure to cost twice as much as all the headset spacers you'll ever need and probably won't even be close to the right inside diameter.

Plastic lighter than carbon? News flash, 'carbon fiber' IS plastic.

[Brian]

Blasphemer! CF and aluminum will not deform the way PVC will. Nothing but carbon fibre for headset spacers. Ever.

[FitRider 921]

Go with the carbon fiber; they're beastly.

[Prozakk]

I didn't plan on using PVC. I was just wondering...that's all.

[hypersnazz]

omg carbon 4eva <3

[Prozakk]

omg carbon 4eva <3

??

[hypersnazz]

<-- loves composites

[Prozakk]

<-- loves composites


4eva <3 <--but what's that?

[hypersnazz]

lessthanthree = heart

[Prozakk]

lessthanthree = heart

What?

I don't get how you arrived at that translation....?

[enormungus]

picture a heart rotated clockwise 90 degrees. <3

[Brian]

Wait, you mean it's all just ones and zeroes?

[ettsn]

News flash, 'carbon fiber' IS plastic.
Er, no. It isn't. It isn't metal, but that doesn't make it plastic.

-Paul

[hypersnazz]

Er, no. It isn't. It isn't metal, but that doesn't make it plastic.

-Paul

Um, yes it is. Do some reading. Carbon fiber is a limp, virtually useless thread with a ridiculously high tensile strength to weight ratio but literally no compressive strength (it's f*cking thread). Carbon-reinforced composites or PLASTICS are what we commonly refer to as 'carbon fiber', where carbon thread is woven into cloth and then supported in an epoxy (PLASTIC) matrix.

[ettsn]

The resin is a plastic, but in a quality part most of it is baked out in the autoclave. The carbon fiber strands aren't plastic by any definition. The fibers started life as PAN (polyacrylonitrile) strands that were carbonized and oxidized. During this process, little commonality between the raw material and the final strand remains. It becomes literally a long strand graphite chain, which is then woven into fabric.

Don't confuse CF with FRP (fiber reinforced plastic), GFRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) or CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic). Those are all obviously plastics.

-Paul

[FMFBMX]

My bike has that stuff!

[hypersnazz]

The resin is a plastic, but in a quality part most of it is baked out in the autoclave. The carbon fiber strands aren't plastic by any definition. The fibers started life as PAN (polyacrylonitrile) strands that were carbonized and oxidized. During this process, little commonality between the raw material and the final strand remains. It becomes literally a long strand graphite chain, which is then woven into fabric.

Don't confuse CF with FRP (fiber reinforced plastic), GFRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) or CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic). Those are all obviously plastics.

-Paul

Good use of techy-sounding buzzwords without actually saying anything. :beer: CF cloth is just cloth, and no one is referring to CF cloth on THIS board when they talk about 'carbon fiber'. It isn't made into anything rigid without the addition of guess what? Polymers. And since no one on this board is going to be referring to metal matrix composites (yes, CF can be used to reinforce metals as well) or reinforced carbon-carbon (like space shuttle tiles), still all we're talking about is plastics. Plastics with cool names and plenty of attached jargon, but plastics all the same.

[FMFBMX]

And my bike has it!