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KingTermite
03-05-06, 06:52 PM
The 2005 Tour de France saw the first carbon nanotube frame bikes used in competition. Now the same technology is available to consumers with the new BMC SLC01 Pro Machine. The bike’s frame weighs in at 1055 grams, or 2.33 pounds, which is less than the weight of 5 cellphones - that is, until they start making cellphones out of carbon nanotubes too.
http://www.nanotechbuzz.com/50226711/carbon_nanotube_bike_now_available.php
brianallan
03-05-06, 07:01 PM
yep. A buddy of mind was mentioning some possible health concerns regarding the technology.
Here's one of many articles
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E06E7DD1E30F93AA15750C0A9629C8B63
But yesterday's report is the latest of several that raise questions about the potential health and environmental effects of synthetic nanoscale materials. Other researchers, including Dr. Oberdörster's father, Günter Oberdörster, a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester, have shown that such particles can enter the brain. The fish studies, however, were the first to indicate destruction of lipid cells, the most common form of brain tissue.
From what I was told, the scary prospect CN technology poses is that the particles are small enough to pass through the blood/brain barrier. Where as normal particles, the kinds we encounter in nature are large enough that the mesh (or whatever the barrier consists of) are large enough, that they are repelled.
Also considering that Easton is probably manufactured in Taiwan or China, I'm conserned about the manufacturing conditions in the factories. Are the employees wearing resporators? Have enough studies been conducted to show if there are real risks with CN tech? Probably not.