You probably know that carbon road bikes use "carbon," but don't you feel like there's so much you don't know, like why it's lightweight or why it's expensive? Here, we'd like to unravel the world of carbon a little. We'll try to explain it simply, avoiding academic explanations as much as possible. We hope you'll read to the end.

What is carbon? What is carbon resin?

① Material

When we say "carbon," it's probably understood as "carbon fiber hardened with resin." In reality, it's essentially that simple, and carbon material is made through the following steps:

1) Acrylic fibers are baked at a high temperature of 1000 degrees to create carbonized fibers.

2) These extremely fine fibers are woven to create carbon cloth.

3) Resin is impregnated into the carbon cloth to create prepreg sheets.

This is the form in which it's delivered from TORAY to bicycle manufacturers like ICAN. It's still a flexible material. The fabric has different grades, and there are also differences in weaving patterns like plain weave and twill weave. It's an expensive material, 5 to 25 times more costly than glass fiber.

② Manufacturing Method

The carbon material prepreg sheets that arrive at ICAN are cut by computer control according to our engineers' designs, and then manually laid up along molds. The number of layers is varied depending on the part. The fiber direction is important as it affects strength. For tubular parts, balloons or molding materials are inserted inside to ensure clean hollow sections. Everything is meticulously calculated, and there is almost no variation in product quality. We also employ unique technologies to minimize the generation of air bubbles.

After this, it is finally baked in an autoclave (pressure vessel). The finished product is completely hardened, and you can already see the prototype of the product. After this, it undergoes finishing processes such as grinding, drilling, and painting, and after product inspection, it is completed. The rigidity of finished carbon products can be adjusted to some extent depending on the design. However, if rigidity is increased too much, tensile strength decreases. Finding the optimal characteristics for each component is where the engineers' skill shines.

Note that these are for dry carbon, which is the best method for high rigidity and light weight, but there is also wet carbon, a method where hardening resin is impregnated without using an autoclave and allowed to air dry. This method is often used for automobiles, but we do not adopt it.

③ Applications

Carbon fiber is mainly used in bicycles for frames and wheels, but if you look closely, you'll notice it's used in various other places such as handlebars, stems, seat posts, and component parts.

④ Advantages

・High strength and high rigidity: 7 to 9 times higher tensile strength than steel.

・Lightweight: 2/3 the weight of aluminum with the same strength.

・High design flexibility: Structure and strength can be freely designed by combining fibers.

⑤ Disadvantages

・High cost: Requires a large number of processes to be commercialized.

・Weak against UV light: Risk of discoloration and quality degradation outdoors.

・Weak against impact: Vulnerable to impact and bending in unexpected areas.

・Difficult to recycle: Technology for recovering CFRP, a composite material, is still under development.

・Conductive: Lack of insulation can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Carbon Road Bike Frames

Frames are made with the main triangular section and other parts as separate entities. While smaller parts can be made with higher precision, a larger, integrated piece is better for overall rigidity, and the optimal solution is calculated based on this. The effort involved in polishing is considerable, and this part can only be done manually. Drilling holes in each part is accurately performed by computer-controlled machinery. Painting carbon is actually difficult and requires special techniques. Inspection processes are also rigorously performed.

You can watch the ICAN frame manufacturing process in this video.

Carbon Road Bike Wheels

Wheel manufacturing requires exceptional care. The quality of production becomes fully evident during the post-completion check. However, material cutting is accurately performed by computer-controlled machinery. While assembly must rely on human hands, a perfectly manualized manufacturing process keeps errors to a minimum. Beyond precision and rigidity, the beauty of the finish is also a specialty of ICAN.

Here is a video of ICAN's wheel manufacturing process.

Summary

Did you know that carbon fiber technology originated in Japan? For this reason, most carbon materials are supplied by Japanese companies such as TORAY. Currently, there is no material superior to carbon fiber as a lightweight, high-rigidity material. There is still room for further technological development, and it holds the potential for mass production and lower prices, so the future of carbon fiber can be said to be bright. We at ICAN are passionately committed to carefully evolving this future-leading material and creating even more wonderful products. Of course, we are also proud of the perfection of our current product lineup. We promise that whichever product you order, it will never disappoint your expectations.

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