Weight Weenies

SWijland wrote:Carbolift sucks

It doesn't suck - its just "weak".

What I mean is, I'm stripping paint from a carbon Redline frame and the paint-job is multi layers ..and thick!
I seemingly had 5 layers of clear->paint->clear->decals->clear to eat through.

it seems like it didn't do a damn thing but I had to keep reapplying the goo (5 times I think) to get down to the carbon.
it does suck from the effort but I know first hand that sanding also takes a looooot of time.

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CarpetFibre wrote:I'm trying to remove paint from an AX Lightness fork ... Do I run the risk of sanding the carbon and affecting the structural integrity of these forks?

In AICAN superlight cable system, madcow wrote:Under absolutely no circumstances would I ever, EVER, recommend anyone actually ride an Ax fork.

Do these forks have structural integrity to spare?

I was thinking the same thing after I saw madcows post .
I like to have known what happened . It sounds like it was quite bad .
How are the forks holding up? My fav forks.

They're holding up fine. I can understand why people are scared by them though. They flex an awful lot in the plane of movement. It makes for a really smooth ride but when descending the steep and bumpy hills round here you can look down and see the front wheel wobbling back and forth. That said, they are stiff in the perpendicular plane to movement, climbing or accelerating out of the saddle feels more or less like any other forks.

Disclaimer: I weigh 58kg and don't really fling my bike around much.

Could someone please elaborate on the razor technique? Is it a blade-forward or blade backside swipe? How much pressure? Etc.

I always sanded carbon products very very carefully (time consuming), so this thread of interest. Thx

UpFromOne wrote:Could someone please elaborate on the razor technique? Is it a blade-forward or blade backside swipe? How much pressure? Etc.

I always sanded carbon products very very carefully (time consuming), so this thread of interest. Thx

You may refer to this thread:http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=110609&start=60, see "1spd"'s reply. It seems that the optimal technique is to hold the blade perpendicular to the surface and drag back and forth. I've sanded some parts, but sanding is painfully slow even by using #150 sandpapers, so I only removed decals, not all clear coat. I then tried scraping according to 1spd's suggestion, it was really easy and the damage to carbon layer appeared to be minimal.

very helpful, i'll have a go at it!