Tandem Cycling - Carbon Fiber Care?

For folks that ride carbon fiber tandems how do clean your frame?
Our tandem has a a clearcoat over the tubes; the lugs are also c/f, but are painted black/gold with clear coat.
We wipe tandem down every couple months (does not rain much where we live: 5.25 inches so far this year) and use a spray-on furniture polish (Pledge).
After about a year of 'Pledging', finish seems to dull a bit; we then use a citrus degreaser on the frame and apply 303 Aerospace Protectant.
303 is a UV screening product (sunscreen for c/f) and gives the frame a very deep/lustrous appearance.
It would be interesting to see what others use to keep c/f frames lookin' good.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I don't have a CF tandem, but my single bike is CF and has a lot of years on it.
I normally just wash it with dish soap and water. WD40 takes grease off when needed.
I am guessing with the Pledge you had a build up of wax.
The 303 sounds interesting although I don't like using chemicals when I don't need to.
I looked at the MSDS and they don't list the ingredients, but it does not look too harmful.
Another option might be some sort of car wax.
My CF frame has a lot of chips in the paint and looks beat up but the paint still looks good.

Zona, it is so dry in Tucson that sweat probably evaporates and never forms a droplet. Your BB picture looks like it just rolled off the showroom yesterday. Beautiful!

I guess I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. When I am finished with a ride, my top tube is crusty and white from dried sweat. After every ride I wipe it down with a slightly damp rag, (especially on the underside of the top tube) followed with a coat of Meguair's Quick Detail spray wax. It is not abrasive. It is designed to maintain my car finish after I have detailed it. I lightly spray it on a soft rag and apply it to the entire frame. I then rub off any residue. Probably takes me 10-15 minutes. The finish on my Calfee and my Kestrel remains flawless.
Doing this after every ride also gives me an opportunity to visually check for any wear, frayed cables, thorns or glass embedded in tires, etc.

Might be interesting to pose the question on the Meguair's Online forum. A lot of high end automobiles use CF extensively. Here is the blurb on the back of the label:
Quik Detailer keeps a waxed car looking "just waxed". Clear coat safe, Meguiar's Quik Detailer removes harmful contaminants before they damage your finish. Use Quik Detailer right after your car is sprayed by a water sprinkler, hit by a bird dropping, or exposed to any other condition that ruins your "just waxed" appearance. The safe, high lubricity formula lifts off dirt and grime without scratching while enhancing gloss without build up. Details a full sized car in less than 15 minutes!
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/

Zona, I notice your picture is sans BB. In cleaning our tandem on Saturday evening I arrived at the conclusion that a periodic (2/year) partial tear down (chains, BBs, cages) might be called for to get things really clean. I'm also going to look for some very soft brushes I can use to get at those hard-to-reach places, more troublesome on a tandem than on a single.

The Meguair's Quick Detail spray wax sounds interesting. I have been using automotive wax maybe once per month, but referring to the prior paragraph it's darn hard to get into all the nooks and crannies.

It only gets cleaned after rainy rides or when I simply notice that it looks really nasty. Now, that said, the daVinci cranks get wiped-down after each ride... and polished about once a month.

Now, all unpainted / no-clear coated / nude carbon needs some type of UV protectant applied on a regular basis to keep the epoxies from yellowing. The yellowing is purely cosmetic... So, a cleaning is sometimes needed just to allow for a re-coating of UV protectant, e.g., perhaps once every other month unless we get caught out in the rain.

As for which UV protectant to use, Calfee recommends and only uses Aerospace 303 on their 'nude' tandems before they are shipped. It's a good product, but having used it on a variety of things including convertible tops, I found that it breaks down and/or washes off leaving something of a grease slick behind quite fast and requires frequent application.

So, I've been using the same UV protectant on all three of our nude Calfees that I use on my wife's convertible's vinyl top: Wolfstein's RaggTopp. Even after sitting in the sun and rain every day, the RappTopp treated convertible top still beads-up water for over two months. So far, so good... although I did spy a couple yellowed spots on our tandem last weekend. So, jury is still out. Perhaps 303 is still the definitive treatment, even if it does need to be applied more often.

http://www.wolfsteins.com/High%20Res/Raggtopp%20Vinyl%20lr.jpg http://www.rstruck.com/media_files/product_images/main/phpHlC4hH.jpg

Zona, ...Your BB picture looks like it just rolled off the showroom yesterday.

Perhaps it still does, but I'm pretty sure the photo posted by Rudy / Zona was taken before their tandem was originally built-up several years ago....

Yup that's an older photo; however, it still looks that good right now.
Thanx for your input; always nice to know how others do things.

As Tandemgeek mentioned, it's not so much those carbon fibres to be concerned with, rather the epoxy they are embedded in.

I don't know what resin system is used to build Zona and Calfees, or others. So a UV protectant is a good thing.


Maybe one of the owners might have these builders consult there product spec sheet or there product support rep and see if the epoxy they utilize is one with UV protection additives supplied in the resin system when manufactured.

It may also be possible that these machines are clear coated and these coats may have a protection base also.

In the end though, keeping the unpainted epoxy covered, except when riding, to keep UV exposure minimized is probably best. This would include while stored indoors if exposed to various types of electric lighting.

The 303 or any other product that offers UV protection with a good glisten is great addition also.

PK

[QUOTE=TandemGeek;9971934]It only gets cleaned after rainy rides or when I simply notice that it looks really nasty. Now, that said, the daVinci cranks get wiped-down after each ride... and polished about once a month.


What are you using to polish your cranks? I have been thinking about trying something like Flitz metal polish.

What are you using to polish your cranks? I have been thinking about trying something like Flitz metal polish.

So long as you have the standard, non-anodized, polished aluminum cranks and they're in pretty good shape, i.e., no deep stains from sweat or maring this works great:

https://www.amsoil.com/StoreFront/images/mothers_05100_200.jpg


Simichrome polish would be a better choice if the cranks have been lightly stained and/or pitted by sweat or sport drink residue or are showing some light scratches.
http://www.grayandholtclothing.com/v/vspfiles/photos/POLISH-1TUBE-2T.jpg

If, however, the cranks are really in sad shape then a machine polishing compound (black ebony, followed by white) applied and worked against a buffing wheel would be needed to bring them back. It won't remove deep pits or deep scratches, but it will soften the edges enough to make them very hard to see from a few feet away. You'd want to remove the chain rings and drive crank spider before beginning the machine polishing process and you'll have to wear thick leather gloves as the crank arms get quite hot. I want to say that it took me about 1.5hrs to fully resurrect a set of daVinci cranks for a friend who really let them go. Of course, it was for naught as they did not modify their post-ride / no-wipe down technique and within a few months they were back to being in pretty sad shape.

It's not a bad idea to apply a light coat of wax over the cranks once you've gotten them polished as a hedge against staining if you neglect to wipe down your cranks after a ride.

Don't know what resins/adhesives Bob Davis used in building our lugged Zona tandem.
However, he is an aerospace engineer (now retired) and did c/f stuff for the space shuttle, among other projects.
After 25,000+ miles it's still holding together.
Pedal on!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem