I saw an old post referencing how Bunnyman and GREG n SD made carbon fiber aerobars, but can’t turn it up in a search. Can anyone who has done this give some tips, or point me in the right direction. I’ve found a supplier for the CF sleeves, but is it just as simple as putting the sleeve on a mold and then adding epoxy resin? I would appreciate any practical tips. I’m trying to make ski bends, and one thing that is getting me is how to remove the molds once the epoxy cures.
Thanks in advance!
To those who may wonder, “why not jsut spend the extra $$ and buy some bars?” My short answer, very long arms, off the shelf extensions = too short for me and my current road bike setup. I’ve definitely looked into that route, after contemplating making my own aluminum bars just to save some $.
if you insist on this folly, I’d say you’d be better off working w/alloy… alu bars can even be lighter (if less sexy) than their carbon counterparts- and the fabrication likely would need less specialized equipment. ie. do you have an autoclave knocking around in the basement to “cook” (cure) the carbon / epoxy form?
I didn’t know you actually needed to bake/cure the epoxy for cf? Is this always the case? The tutorials I have looked at talk about simply allowing 24 hours drying time between coats. To be honest, I was thinking going CF because I thought it would actually be easier, but that was my thinking, so I’m looking for advice on whether or not I’m off base with this one.
As I understand it with pre-made CF sleeves, the toughest part is the mold. Otherwise, it seems like simply applying epoxy resin, drying, adding however many extra layers of cf and epox resin, and then finishing. The alloy route (for ski bends) would require either a mandrel bender (I have no access to one) or welding skills - also beyond me. Practically I may be out of luck and need to pay someone to build this for me, but I was hoping it might turn into a fun garage based project.
I didn’t know you actually needed to bake/cure the epoxy for cf? Is this always the case? The tutorials I have looked at talk about simply allowing 24 hours drying time between coats. To be honest, I was thinking going CF because I thought it would actually be easier, but that was my thinking, so I’m looking for advice on whether or not I’m off base with this one.
Should be doable. I don't think you have to bake it, there are a lot of car modders out there that make custom speaker enclosures, dash kits, etc. out of CF, and I guarantee that a 17 y/o modder doesn't have an autoclave handy.
If you want something structural, you need to get CF that you will want to bake. The resins have specific temps that they cure at for specific times. Dont kill yourself by doing this in a non-ventilated baking oven; please. If you are starting out, probably the safest thing would be to start with a very light aluminium ‘skeleton’ of handle bar tubing and make aero shapes out of foam that are wrapped with glass (cheaper than CF). Attach the ski ends with tows of kevlar. If you want to make something that is as thin as the 3T and not have it potentially break, YOU WILL BE SPENDING MORE THAN YOU WOULD IF YOU JUST BUY THE 3T. That is just the way it works. The only reason to make stuff yourself is if it is not currently available. Trust me, I am extremely cheap, and have investigated it repeatedly for different things. It is also not easy to make things structurally sound AND light. If you want to do composites, I would start with non-structural things first, then after you have been playing around with stuff for a while, make some more stuff and break it (on purpose) to learn some stuff about what you are making, and correct any errors if there are any. Not to discourage you, but if words like tow, vacuum bagging, unidirectional, prepreg, curing, mold release, bleeder ply, void density, foam core, nomex, modulus, west systems, epoxy vs vinyl resin dont mean anything to you, then you should probably do some more reading before making a set of aerobars out of CF; just for your own safety, and those biking around you.
Here’s a guy from Weight Weenies that makes a ton of his own carbon fiber stuff. saddles, bars, frame, etc. He races on a bike that he pretty much made from scratch and has evovled to the point that people pay him to make them stuff.
Thanks for the reply all. Stephen, I hear where you are coming from. No, I must admit that I don’t know much about many of those terms. Things like modulus, yield, etc ring true because I work in the construction/design industry. Actually on the design end, otherwise I would be leaning on some of the trades to help me make some aerobars :). This started out as a way to be cheap, then I decided to just see if I could buy what I wanted, then I discovered that my arms are just not made for all the short clip-ons out there (and compared to my wings, most are short in comparison. There’s my quandry - I’m admittidly frugal, okay, cheap -out of neccesity - and I can’t buy what I need off the shelf. Sounds like I need to go aluminum and just hire someone to make the welds?
BK - just took a peak at that site, very cool. Didn’t have a chance to check out kitchen tech yet though.
I might add, I’m not looking for something fancy, at least not in my mind. Two round tubes that turn up at the ends, say 45 - 55 degrees, no funky aero profiles, just simple and round. I would make them out of cheese if it were structurally sound, just to say I’m not married to the idea of carbon fiber, no matter how cool the idea might sound. Just need doable and affordable.
