Graphene bike?

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losdoyers
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Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 1:26 am

by losdoyers

I herd a while back that the future of composites is going to be a material called graphene. What is graphene, what are the benefits of this material, and how long before we see this on the market?

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Powerful Pete
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by Powerful Pete

Road bike: Cervelo R3, Campagnolo Chorus/Record mix...
Supercommuter: Jamis Renegade...
Oldie but goodie: De Rosa Professional Slx, Campagnolo C-Record...
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wheelsONfire
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by wheelsONfire

Haha, reading this is great. Soon we can take a piss on disc brakes...
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

109er
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Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:08 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

by 109er

My team has been using the Vittoria wheels all year. I was impressed with them from the offset. What made me really impressed was when a teammate crashed at mile 1 in a 115 mile road race. He caught the field a little more than 2 hours later and initiated the winning breakaway with 30 miles to go. All impressive. What stood out was his rim had a hole in it and the brake track had been crushed but the wheel held up and rode fine.
green jacket, gold jacket...who gives a sh*t

efeballi
Posts: 492
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:50 pm
Location: Istanbul, hopefully not for long

by efeballi

Graphene and its rolled-up-into-fibers cousin, carbon nanotubes are the next step in composite technology. These are currently used in relatively small amounts as reinforcement for CFRP's, but as their costs drop they will be used in conjunction with CF and eventually replace them. With superior mechanical properties (stiffness, stiffness/weight, ultimate strength) it is obvious that they will add a lot to bike frames/components, but it is not as simple as substituting CF with graphene and getting a frame half the weight. The composites we see in bike industry is, as you know, fiber and resin, and the composite's properties are a mix/average of these. So having super strong fibers is only half of the story.
Another thing is the layup of these fibers. As less material will be needed to achieve the desired stiffness values, wall thicknesses will be reduced, which will increase the risk of damage (delamination, cracks etc.) from even the smallest impacts, say, scratches or impacts from things flung by the front wheel. The fiber strength is not an important factor in this, so it comes down to the resin again. Or, you could retain the same wall thickness and have a bike waaaaay stiffer than an equivalent CF bike. I'd ride that.
This is WW, our prime concern is to reduce weight, and as I said, it is not as easy as it looks. But for aerodynamics, for example, where we need to have non-optimal tube profiles (from a structural perspective, NACA profiles aren't very stiff when you make them into frame tubes) it opens up new possibilities in frame and component design.
Blabbering over.



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eagle34
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Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:06 am

by eagle34

"Soon we can take a piss on disc brakes..."


Haha, Agree!

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Nefarious86
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by Nefarious86

109er wrote:My team has been using the Vittoria wheels all year. I was impressed with them from the offset. What made me really impressed was when a teammate crashed at mile 1 in a 115 mile road race. He caught the field a little more than 2 hours later and initiated the winning breakaway with 30 miles to go. All impressive. What stood out was his rim had a hole in it and the brake track had been crushed but the wheel held up and rode fine.

Pics needed
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