Austinite

Just got brand new Shimano road shoes w/ carbon soles (SH-R131S). Shimano advertises them as carbon soles. Even says so on the sole "Carbon Fiber Composite" in big letters. But as I sat here trying to figure out how they got carbon to be SILVER and not black, and how it kinda looks like aluminum, I did some searching on the web. Turns out there's a material called Texalium that's a fiberglass (with NO carbon in it) that's been coated w/ aluminum for the shiny look. Lots of products advertising themselves as having "silver carbon fiber" really have Texalium, not CF, and therefore *none* of the strength or weight characteristics of carbon. Just the weave look.

So, is Shimano falsely advertising these shoes? Or is the texalium outer weave just cosmetic to make the whole shoe look silvery and the sole really *is* structured of CF?

Yes, it matters.

cedricbosch

Carbon Fiber Composite is definitely NOT carbon fiber. It's basically a glorified, carbon-reinforced plastic that's all the rage with cost-cutting companies these days.

OnTheRivet

Actually you got it backward. What your are thinking of is carbon reinforced plastic.....which is basically plastic with carbon black in it. A composite is what you traditionally think of when you see a carbon fabric product and those soles are definitely a composite but not necessarily a "carbon" composite. I would assume Shimano has some carbon fabric in there so they can call it a carbon composite but it probably doesn't have much to keep the price down.

MrCrassic 

I thought all carbon fiber products were composites...

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Dubbayoo

and "white carbon" is better known as fiberglass.

Carbon Unit

You got it right! Carbon is black. Fiberglass is white or silver. Carbon will be much stiffer and that is what you want in a cycling shoe --stiff!

Jared88

I thought carbon can be dyed to sliver? I remember an article about Lance's nike shoes where they dyed the carbon sheets to sliver. But I also think that Shimano use a cheaper kind of carbon to keep the price down. The sliver carbon soles are much thicker than those on the R151 and quite a bit heavier. But they are still plenty stiff. I do believe they are made from 100% carbon fiber.

prendrefeu

Naugahyde?

ravenmore

I have the same shoes as the OP. They are carbon fiber soles covered with a cosmetic fiberglass layer on top of it. They are quite stiff.

Phantoj

If a composite is made with carbon fibers, then it's really "carbon fiber".

The word you guys are looking for is "laminate"... not all composites are laminates; generally the good ones are.

Look carbon pedals, for example, are probably just injection molded with a buncha carbon fibers (particles?) mixed in with the resin, but not oriented in any particular way.

DrPete 

Ah, all the misconceptions about CF distilled into one small thread. Except that nobody mentioned the shoes exploding.

Phantoj hits the high points, though--The term "carbon fiber" can be used so many different ways that the marketing folks who sell the cheap stuff can bend/twist definitions to their hearts' content.

Bob Dopolina 

Carbon wrap over aluminium.

Monocoque carbon.

Carbon.

slim0861

I have the SH-R099, which is basically the same shoe sans the buckle. Stiff and efficient are words I would use to describe the shoe. If they work for you, I would wouldn't worry so much about the manufacturing process or the marketing strategy. Just go ride.

wfrogge

Its fiberglass...........

Dosent mean it sucks

timmyquest

It's stiff. It's lite. What the hell does it matter what its made out of?

FigBug

https://bustedcarbon.blogspot.com

physh

It's real carbon fiber. The strands have been coated so that it is a silver color.

Fiberglass is translucent, however fiberglass can be colored to resemble carbon fiber.

Also you know that carbon fiber is composed of layers. The outer layer is usually cosmetic, so they can make it any weave or color.

The lower models of the specialized shoes are actually carbon fiber and fiber glass. The carbon fiber is visible but the glass is not.

Bob Dopolina 

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner, folks!

whitemax

I have the same shoes. They are as stiff as any carbon shoe I have ridden with and fairly light. So who cares whether the soles are made of carbon, fiber glass, bamboo or plastic encased wonder bread?

Campag4life

It actually does not matter. Put you in Shimano' top of the line CF shoes and then the vinyl floor shoes and you will be just as fast. It can even be argued that softer vinyl floored road bike shoes are better for your feet. Each foot has 33 muscles which become weak in nth degree stiff carbon soled shoes if not perfectly supported. Some shoe floor forgiveness can be better and not worse for your feet. As to speed differential between the two...foo foo dust in the cosmos. Sidi Genius 5 is one of the biggest selling road bike shoes of all time with a vinyl sole and they are just fine. My favorite shoe is the Specialized Boa S-Works which just happens to have a CF sole but honestly that is almost incidental to how good the rest of the shoe is.

Dubbayoo

I had a boss that wanted to have a nauga farm to make naugahyde rugs. There used to be a brand with a lil fictional creature on the label. He jokingly convinced people it was a nauga.

BananaTugger

Shimano, Pearl Izumi and Carnac have been coating their soles with a very thin layer of aluminum leaf.

It will look silver and shiny in bright light.

oilman_15106

Wrong on the color. You can make unsaturated polyester resin(ie fiberglass resin) any color you want. Boats, car parts, planes, ship hatch covers,....... Spent the best 10 year of my life making the resin stuff.

Carbon Unit

I am sure you are right but all of the bike shoes I have seen in fiber glass are white or silver. Carbon Fiber, however, is only black.

jccaclimber

Perhaps he should have specified the color of the fibers. Unaltered, carbon is black, fiberglass is white/clear. You can dye glass fibers, you can dye resins. You can paint aluminum red, you can anodize it green. That does not however mean that *Aluminum* is red or green.