I entertained the idea of carbon wheels once for my second Gen II Busa...never kept it long enuff to get them. Now its outa the question. Whats the weight diff?
Believe me pictures don’t do them justice. I need to remove tyres, rotors and sprocket from existing wheels then I’ll compare weights.Those wheels are gonna look sick Craig.
Rubb.
Easily sourced from Japan for $2500AUD for the full set, downside is the ever moving goal post of completion. I’ve been waiting 8 months now.
Wow, 8 months...hopefully they are awesome when they get there...
They are very complex to produce, much of the complexity comes from the fixing clips and moulding behind each panel which are designed for plastic fairings (clip together plastic joints etc). Also there is a slight degree of shrinkage that can occur which is why some carbon panels e.g. the inner fairing/dash carbon panels don't always have a good fit. Much of the cost goes into mould production, a side fairing could take a 5-6 piece mould. Carbon whether wet layup or pre-preg still has to be applied by hand with vacuum bagging, release layer etc so its quite labor intense and a high consumable system of production. It can also have a fairly high rate of scrap regarding quality control of the first few items produced. For race use it is the way togo as panels are approx half the weight of production, also you could potentially produce and entire top fairing and both side in one piece, also rear faring, seat etc could be a single unit which would obviously speed up pit time and maintenance. Carbon can be brittle even though it is strong lugs and clips can snap off. It can be repaired again by patching up however once the weave is damaged you lose that cosmetic carbon effect that everyone likes. I often get asked to repair car spoilers etc but usually steer well clear because the only way to fix a damaged carbon weave is to re-skin the entire panel, if not a repair sticks out like a saw thumb. Many cosmetic carbon products are merely skinned in carbon and then backed up with fibreglass using polyester resin, looks great and cost effective but not very strong. Ideally all wet layup carbon should be moulded using epoxy resin which adds to the inherent strength.
8Months! to be fare maybe production shut down for a while due to Covid.
Awesome response-thank you.
That tank would be hard on us old fat guys....
...and theres not much suspension travel on the front.
Yes that would be one way todo it. I have seen carbon fairings incorporating both sides and nose in one piece (forget who makes them) I'm sure someone else on here will know. Ideally a 'spare' Busa needs to be used as a basis to produce a full kit, probably using model clay and or foam to gain the shapes eventually building up ready to mould stage... weeks of work! Vehicle/motorcycle design being largely subjective would ideally require a prototype to be produced to gain initial customer feedback.The intricate tabs sounds like a hassle Craig. Could it be simplified by using a 1 piece tail and maybe 1 piece side fairing so that the whole bike would only have 2 seams.(side fairings to nose) You could skip the tabs and slots and just have the 2 seams butt up against one another with both sharing an aluminum mounting bracket underneath. Then the kit could include any extra needed hardware to attach your products to stock Busa attachment points. Not an' expert,no fuggin' clue really,but over the years I have attached a lot of different parts from one brand to another.Sometimes removing a strip down the middle of a fender(glassing it back together unseen,underneath) to narrow it for applications on narrower forks. Or chopping,widening,lengthing fuel tanks,etc. Sort of reverse engineer them. Build the pieces to look the way you want...then build the hardware to attach them. Keeping in mind of course what they are going on so that your attachment kit doesn't need 1 meter long (exaggeration) ally brackets and such. I think if you came up with a cool design at a fairly resonable price,the would sell like hotcakes.
Rubb.
.. also a couple showing how they use clay to produce a prototype and the surface finish required.
I dare say it did/does have an impact and also the supplier won’t ship til they have been test fitted to their demo bike to ensure 100% fitment.
They are saying 1/4 of the weight and instead of being two piece side fairings they become one, tail section becomes one with the hump and indicator pods, same as the front.
Sounds interesting makes sense producing indicators moulded in, think I’d still want the hump removable. Is it for road use? Would love to see some pics in due course
It's 100% road legal, the entire rear section will come off with 6 dzus fasteners.
Have you any pics yet sounds interesting?
