Singletrack

We looked at samples of 2018 bikes – the rear triangle
of the Myst now has a three-position dropout and this had
been constructed in a 3D model, attached to a regular carbon
swingarm. This is often machined or printed from solid plastic
to allow regular components to be fitted into place to check
fit. There were also colour samples to check on frame tubes.
While Pantone colours and paint chips can go a long way to
standardising colours, nothing beats seeing a painted frame in
real life rather than rendered on a computer screen.
Composite Gear’s factory was a much bigger outfit than
I’d seen so far. It was both more high-tech and low-tech than
I’d imagined. CNC plotters precisely cut carbon sheets, which
were then laid up precisely according to a very strict menu of
what went where, yet in another room, freshly made, high-end
time trial frames sat in a big bucket as they came out of the
moulds, before going to be finished and beautifully painted
and decaled and sold for thousands. On one machine, prebonding
surfaces were precisely machined and cleaned before
glueing. On the next machine, a guy seemed to just eyeball
the drilling of a shock-mount hole. And while that might be
entirely in tolerance, these things are often why designers like
to see the whole process for themselves before just assuming
that the factory is doing what it was meant to.
Generation Game.
An example layup demonstration for a Kili Flyer was set
up for us in the clean layup room. A worker moved with
effortless grace as she built up layers of carbon prepreg sheet
around a plastic-coated wooden form. Layer after layer went
on according to the predetermined menu as she added large
sheets and smaller reinforcing ones, all cut and oriented to
maximise the stiffness of the carbon fibres. When it was done,
she whipped out the wooden form to leave a hollow, but still
floppy carbon tube ready to be joined onto other frame parts
before it went into the oven. We then saw the pieces go into
another, female wooden form for the head tube to be wrapped
on. Then the front end was fitted with bladders and ready for
cooking in a heated steel mould.
While a company like Hope can painstakingly cut and
beautifully lay material directly into the final mould, they’re
only making a frame or so a day. At CG the moulds can’t be
left idle for a moment and they’re not even cool before the
next frame is fitted in and sent to be baked for 90 minutes.
Simon was invited to try his hand at laying up a top tube.
Even though to our eyes he did a good job of peeling off the
backing and smoothing down his tacky carbon sheet on top
of the others, our carbon mistress wasn’t happy and pulled it
off again, smoothing it back down again with an expert touch
that I can only equate to how a master sushi chef crafts a maki
roll.
Rob Crayons does like.
Simon making sure the colours are true.
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