Bike Forums - View Single Post - Carbon Fiber Frame Repair

01-01-24 | 10:59 PM

#4

PaulJensen

Newbie

Joined: Jan 2015

Posts: 56

Likes: 36

From: Blaine, WA USA

Bikes: 1970 Peugeot PX-10 - Ibis Cousin It tandem - Zizzo Liberte folding bike

(above) TA DA…!!!… In the makeshift paint booth… All sanded… Down to 220 grit… The sanding took a ridiculously long time… Under the factory primer, a fill coat of 4oz. fiberglass and epoxy went over the carbon fiber… I sanded that off too… Fiberglass just doesn’t have the strength of carbon fiber, and as I see it, dead weight, so it too was sanded off.. The fiberglass layer from the factory is a pretty easy way to the frame to next step, paint prep…

(above) Another angle of the frame… The layup of the carbon fiber is interesting…The CF is mostly uni-directional, with bias CF diagonal at the tube intersections… Sanded, you can see how the molding took place… These frames are very well made and the finish of the frame out of the mold was of a much higher quality than what I was expecting… Someone really took the time to get the molds perfect…

I found it interesting just how “steel like” the carbon fiber felt when sanding…. Not plasticky at all.. It must be the aerospace carbon fiber, the specific epoxy for that CF, the process and heat curing.. Kestrel really got it right…

(above) I keep going back and forth with, leave it natural or paint it…???… Days of going back and forth… Still not settled…???…

(above) Another angle of the frame… The layup of the carbon fiber is interesting…The CF is mostly uni-directional, with bias CF diagonal at the tube intersections… Sanded, you can see how the molding took place… These frames are very well made and the finish of the frame out of the mold was of a much higher quality than what I was expecting… Someone really took the time to get the molds perfect…

I found it interesting just how “steel like” the carbon fiber felt when sanding…. Not plasticky at all.. It must be the aerospace carbon fiber, the specific epoxy for that CF, the process and heat curing.. Kestrel really got it right…

(above) The first production road bike carbon fiber fork… A masterpiece from the get-go… As good as it looks, it rides even better..

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