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Carbon Fiber Tubes for Bicycle fraem building?

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Old 07-14-15 | 09:01 AM
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Carbon Fiber Tubes for Bicycle fraem building?

I'm new to frame building and something caught my eye. Rockwell composites sells unidirectional carbon tubing.

I know that carbon bikes can be built with molds and layering sheets of carbon fiber with appropriate orientation into the mold. But then how are unidirectional tubes used in frame building or are they reserved just for lugged carbon frames?
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Old 07-14-15 | 01:47 PM
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I just remember coming across dragon plate.., also, sells a variety of carbon tubes .. and other materials https://dragonplate.com/

You may have to make your own Carbon Lugs ..

Last edited by fietsbob; 07-14-15 at 01:50 PM.
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Old 07-14-15 | 01:54 PM
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Joe Bringheli is a dealer/distributor for both Columbus and Dedacciai products, including CFRP tubes for bicycle frames.

Columbus carbon

Dedacciai carbon
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Old 07-14-15 | 01:56 PM
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Originally Posted by WK95
I'm new to frame building and something caught my eye. Rockwell composites sells unidirectional carbon tubing.

I know that carbon bikes can be built with molds and layering sheets of carbon fiber with appropriate orientation into the mold. But then how are unidirectional tubes used in frame building or are they reserved just for lugged carbon frames?
Correction: Company is RockWest Composites.
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Old 07-14-15 | 01:58 PM
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Do a search for tube to tube carbon frame building. Tubes are cut, mitered, tacked with appropriate glue, and then the joints are overlaid with more carbon; either wet layup or pre-preg to acheive the strength needed for the structure. Many custom carbon builders use this method, ( Crumpton, Calfee, Appleman, ....) it allows the freedom to design without the constraints and tooling costs for molds.
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Old 07-14-15 | 05:35 PM
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From: Willy, VIC
Be careful with these unidirectional tubes: the cheapest ones are pulltruded and thus have all fibres along the axis of the tube, making them useless for framebuilding as the fibre orientation provides no resistance to torsional stresses.

Last edited by Mark Kelly; 07-14-15 at 10:02 PM.
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Old 07-14-15 | 06:29 PM
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Early carbon bikes (Vitus I think) were built with carbon tubes glued into metal lugs. I never rode one of these but heard they had issues and sometimes separated tubes from lugs at the worst possible time.
I think that construction concept did not have a very long run and was quickly replaced with the current technology of layup construction. This is just my observation and is not based on any research. I think the other problem with these metal lugged frames may have been electrolysis which weakened the joints. Again, just some speculation on my part.
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Old 07-15-15 | 01:25 PM
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Originally Posted by RISKDR1
Early carbon bikes (Vitus I think) were built with carbon tubes glued into metal lugs. I never rode one of these but heard they had issues and sometimes separated tubes from lugs at the worst possible time.
I think that construction concept did not have a very long run and was quickly replaced with the current technology of layup construction. This is just my observation and is not based on any research. I think the other problem with these metal lugged frames may have been electrolysis which weakened the joints. Again, just some speculation on my part.
I had a Giant Cadex MTB and Trek 2300 road bike that were carbon tubes bonded into aluminum lugs. I rode those bikes for many years and never had any problems. I wouldn't hesitate to get another.
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Old 07-15-15 | 01:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Dancingbear
Do a search for tube to tube carbon frame building. Tubes are cut, mitered, tacked with appropriate glue, and then the joints are overlaid with more carbon; either wet layup or pre-preg to acheive the strength needed for the structure. Many custom carbon builders use this method, ( Crumpton, Calfee, Appleman, ....) it allows the freedom to design without the constraints and tooling costs for molds.
A guy I ride with has a Crumpton. It's a very nice frame.
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