CF skid plate

[Nickc711]

jesshamner what kind of bike do you ride? Cannondales under $1000 are all made overseas now...total turnoff and their prices did improve on them either

[jesshamner]

Specialized rockhopper. It is by no means a lightweight in the cycling community but it does the job. So I have to pedal a little harder...so what. I'm doing it for fun and fitness, not to win. But I'm always thinking about upgrading to lighter parts. I have to get a new set of cranks and bottom bracket so I'm going to go lighter when I get around to buying one.

[jesshamner]

Brandom Sommers has been running plastic skids for a long time. It might be the same material that you're talking about Peterock.

It seems to me that quads are about as light as they're going to get unless we start paying big bucks for lighter more advanced parts like the bicycle guys do.

[NRath]

QUOTE (jesshamner @ Nov 15 2007, 10:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hiper wheels are cf right? Well, they seem like some sort of composite actually. And our swingarm skid is plastic. Couldn't the skids be made out of the same material as Hipers?

If we have a cf axle, we can have a hollow cf steering stem. Bicycle guys are also using cf handlebars. Maybe a cf seat pan? cf handguards? cf or titanium bumper and grab bar? Axis titanium shocks. Assorted Ti bolts. Ti a-arms. cf ecu tray. Just some things that came to the top of my head.

Uh-ohhh, Jess has gone off the deep end!! Must see a good X-mas bonus coming! Relative to the total package, you're not saving that much weight by replacing those few plastic parts with CF. But there is some savings, just minimal. Mtb's are only playing with about 15-30 lbs- every little bit is significant there. Starting at 360, 3 lbs in a seat pan and ecu tray aren't much especially as compared to the cost. And it just hit me, that would be one heck of a staple to hold a seatcover onto a CF pan!! A CF stem is a great idea with a few lbs to lose, but it would take a lot of R&D. It would still be metal at the top and btm. The CF to metal transition is the tricky part. GT's full suspension are a sweet example of it.

As for the Hiper's, it's almost hard to believe they call them carbon fiber wheels. They have carbon fiber fibers in some proprietary nylon/plastic material. I'm not knocking their performance- their awesome wheels and I love the ones I have. But they're far from a "carbon fiber" wheel. How good would the marketing be if they were called plastic wheels?

I've been looking at my mtb hanging in the garage knowing I need to get it out- I haven't ridden it once this year.

[jesshamner]

Not its not a large percentage of weight savings but I still can't help to think about the blaster and how its so easy to ride.

The cf to metal is already being done successfully. Cannondale even tried that with the cf axle. cf and ti steering stem and clamps would be great. What about ti spindles? LOL. I wonder how much those would cost.

Has anyone weighed the ti header compared to the stainless header to find out if there is a weight difference?


Neil, you should have told me and we could have rode at the group ride. If we would have went mt. biking on sunday, maybe you wouldn't have a busted elbow.

[DMAC10]

QUOTE (peterock @ Nov 15 2007, 10:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Get your hands a chunk of elevator apron plastic (I believe that is what it's called) from a farm implement store. Anyway it's about 1/4" thick and comes in white or black. Cut to size and strap to the bottom. I had this on my hybrid for 2 years before I sold it and it works great. Extremely light and durable. It's somewhat flexible and thicker so it doesn't crack like a lot of stock plastic skids you see.

I have a chunk in the garage yet, I'll have to see if I can put one together to show you what I'm talking about.

Hey Jess
I ran a similar pc of the 1/4 plastic ( white ) before finally getting an aluminum one.

It lasted an entire season in the MidSouth series ( No breaks ). I still have it at the house, your more than welcome to it. If your interested I will take a pic of it, if I can dig it out. Let me know.

[jesshamner]

Thanks for the offer DMAC. I honestly don't think I need it. I have been running for this long with no belly skid and stock skid with no problems.

But I think you all are missing my point. I'm not asking if I should buy the cf skid, I'm really trying to figure out ways to make our quad lighter. I was questioning the structural integrity of the cf skid that linked above.

[peterock]

I see where you are going with this. I honestly think the chunk of plastic would be lighter as well. Even lighter then the carbon fiber.

[cannondale27]

Ti spindles are coming I am sure of that.Dont forget just the stubs are steel.The rest is aluminum and wouldnt save any wieght having it all Ti.You guys are going to be amazed at the wieght savings a bunch of us are doing.Losing 10-15 lbs just off the frame is done already.Speed1b,Timbo,Annimalscannible,Wayneschofield and I are in friendly competition to make the lightest Dale.It can be done very cheaply but is a huge amount of work drilling and cutting everything.Fun though.

[wayneschofield]

Kevlar would make a good bash-guard.... it is difficult to make nice and neat at the edges though, the very fact that is is very tough makes it very difficult to cut cleanly....

As for lightening.... there is no single lump of iron that we can remove to lighten the things so, just like when building a race car (well a European one at least), you need to look at every component and do what you can to lighten it or leave it off.

So far I have done (From the front to the back.....)

Every bolt in Ti or Ally (depending on load) internal engine bolts excepted
Ti lower A arms (under construction) with alloy rod ends and Ti pins
Ally upper A arms (under construction) with alloy rod ends and Ti pins
Fox Evo-Ls (when I get them)... I know 'floats' are lighter but they don't work as well....
Ally tie-rods and rod ends
Ti front body brackets
Ti spindles
Mag hubs (when they arrive from BW)
Hard anodised Ally bearing spacers front and rear
Ti caliper brckets
Ti wavy brake disks (oh yes!)
Hard anodised ally caliper pistons
Carbon ECU tray (reshaped a bit to suit new DTA S40 ECU)
Ti headlamp brackets
Carbon/Ally steering stem
CNC ally steering stop
CNC ally steering stem clamp
Ti battery clamp strap
Lightweight wiring loom (thin teflon insulated wire)
Lightened engine cradle
Custom ally/Ti case saver
All spacers in Ti or ally including rear case ones where the swingarm bolt passes through
Ti shock body and Ti spring (rear)
Ti shock top-hats
Ti swing-arm bolt
CNC alloy footpegs
Ti head pipe (when it comes)
Carbon/Ti can (when I've finalised the design of the system on the dyno I'll get the full thing in Ti)

I want to do a carbon axle but might have to do with something less exotic in the interests of safety... got to do some stress-calcs first before the carbon company (Tri-Cast) will supply the tapered tubes for me.

I haven't decided on the bars yet, I figured on getting the rest of it done and see if anything comes up, it's not like they're hard to swap is it?

I don't think I've forgotten anything from the list.....

I'd like to have it down to around 150kg when it's all done.

Carbon bodywork would be nice but it would have to be re-styled, you won't get carbon to go to the stock shapes without problems.... same goes for the seat base.....