Carbon Fiber shortage!?!?

[I'm Not Worthy!]

I ran into a fellow rider who is looking into buying a new all carbon frame (Trek, I think) and said that there's a long waiting list due to the lack of carbon fiber in the market. Apparently Airbus is using it all for the new A380's. He was saying that the anybody who uses carbon fiber is being hard hit, smaller airplane manufacturers, boat builders, etc.

Has anybody else heard this? Is there any hint of truth to this? I just thought carbon fiber was epoxy and cloth mixed together.

[mad_mark]

I heard this as well. Apparently it's pushing up prices of raw materials and making them hard to get hold of unless you placed advance orders and have a history with the supplier. Around here there are lots of people in aerospace industries, friends in that line of work told me the problem is real.

It's not the resins, it's the raw cloth that's the problem.

Mark.

[97CSI]

Carbon fiber is spun. No unlike synthetic yarns used in making a carpet. Starting material is like so many other things. Oil. So the price is definitely going up. Once the precursor material is 'spun' into a fiber it is fired at very high temps to drive off the impurities and make as many of the carbon atoms as possible reorient themselves into the tradition hexagonal carbon-ring. The higher the modulus (and cost) of a fiber the more time/heat it takes to make it more 'graphite-like', which is a more scientific description than is 'carbon'. Production is expensive (high temps, proper gaseous atmospheres, etc.) and relatively slow. Don't know how much truth there is to the shortage, but can believe it possible due to the limited number of manufacturers. And, the French are one of the largest makers of same. They probably give Look all they want, and then Airbus. Great stuff. Was fun to play with in grad school.

[yeehawfactor]

trek has a very severe shortage, many models are already done for the year.

specialized and cannondale are doing fine.

[Smiley]

I say lets blame the Chinese for gobbling up the inventory . Who needs carbon anyway , Its just sand in the end .

[cs124]

trek has a very severe shortage, many models are already done for the year.

specialized and cannondale are doing fine.

I've heard this too. My LBS is a Trek dealer and he's really struggling to get Madone 5.2 & 5.9s. He has managed to sell a few Kleins to some of the less patient customers though.

[reoccur]

Hello A frend of mine has a 1997 flanders alum. frame he wonts to sell me .It looks to be in grest shape.however I have never hered a thing good or bad about these frames can you guys help ? my frend never rode it he bout it cheep and striped the parts to bildup an old litespeed he had . so she hangs in the garage

[Climb01742]

the u.s. military is using all the ti. now airbus is using all the carbon. what are we supposed to ride? steel????????????? :D








oh, no, we're saved. there's still plenty of aluminum. :banana:

[Big Dan]

Climb, if they go and take all your carbon bits they can make a couple of those new planes......
:bike:

[Climb01742]

but then how would i get faster, dan? ;)


just doing my small bit to keep the american economy going. a boy needs his toys.

[Brons2]

They're going to have to ramp up production of the stuff because Boeing's latest plane, the 787, will fly in 2008 and it's going to be all composite.

[SGP]

oh, no, we're saved. there's still plenty of aluminum. :banana:


ehem, we need that for our beer cans. though glass bottled beer is better.
:beer: