While by no means complete and it's slightly outdated, I consider
Craig Calfee's technical whitepaper to present a good read for the layman looking to understand carbon fibre bicycle frames. Some of the things I consider high quality about my particular CF bike include:
- High quality CF prepregs from reputable aerospace grade CF suppliers
- Manufacturing process that ensures high levels of consistant compaction
- Molded in fittings (water bottle cage mount inserts, cablestops/downtube shifter mounts, brake bolt inserts, etc) instead of rivetted or drilled so that the CF structure is formed around them
- Proper attention to isolation of dissimilar materials to prevent galvanic corrosion and if bonding is used to secure the inserts, they should be capable of handling dissimilar expansion rates
- Seamless non-clamshell layup and curing process so there's no weakness in the structure due to seams
- Attention to layers through creative and smart use of different bias and weave direction per layer to tune the mechanical properties of each section of the structure
- Reinforced layering at critical high-stress sections
- Use of a protective cosmetic final layer and finish
- Metal reinforced inserts as needed (headtube, BB, seattube)