CARBON-FIBRE
We know it’s light, looks beautiful and is very expensive. But what is carbon-fibre and why is it important?
Carbon-fibre can be used to make very lightweight and very strong components. This makes it great for the aerospace industry and motorsport, with whole bike frames such as the Ducati Superleggera and BMW S1000 Race and even whole cars, such as McLaren, now being made from it. It’s a versatile material that can be tailored to what attributes you’re after – weight, strength, or just plain good-looking. Carbon-fibre products tend to be expensive because it is very time-consuming and hard to make carbon components in bulk numbers, because of the processes involved. It is also only strong along the weave in a certain way, so care has to be taken to work out where the forces are going to load the part.