Sunday, February 16, 2014

Real Fake Carbon Fibre



After making the tank shroud, I ended up with a considerable amount of leftover CF to play with.  Knowing that a bellypan takes quite a beating, and that paint would require several coats of clear, I decided to experiment and see if I couldn't use "real" carbon fibre cloth as a laminate overtop of the fibreglass bellypan.  It did take a few tries, and getting around some sharp curves was a bit tricky, but the end result looks half decent.  I did put a good coat of clear overtop, and while there are some high and low spots in the clear, which has an impact on shiny-ness, it is a racebike, and it should be OK.

Of course, once it was cured and test-fitted to the bike, the all-important sponsor stickers have to go on.  Here is the end result.  I nice side effect was that the "pimple" I had to make to clear the leo vince exhaust looks a lot smoother, and part of the original design idea.  There is one last carbon piece to be fitted... I decided to splurge a bit on a very fancy tail section, in CF, which should be in my hands early next week.  It will take a bit of work to fit, but should work OK and complete the CF transformation of the bike.

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