Carbon Fiber

[gary hyp]

Hi , I'm shopping for a rear fender hugger on ebay and I'm seeing some advertised that they are wet lay-up and vacuum bagging and others are saying that they are not one of those cheap wet lay-up type, (they do say that they are vacuum bagging).
I'm hoping to get a few items but not all at the same time $$$$ and I'm hoping they will all match. I also would like to have a good quality parts without the Ducati oem carbon price tag.
Any advice would be very appreciated.

[joshuaz2]

i like the shift tech hugger cheaper than the duc parts but quality seems good.
vacuum bagging is the strongest way to lay up carbon and have the lightest weight. the difference in wet layup and prepreg is how consistent the mix is in the cloth. pre preg comes wetted with just the right amount of resin so that you have a quality layup even if you dont know what your doing. it also requires baking or autoclaving to cure which makes for a slightly stronger part. but in this case its not really necessary.

[disgo duc]

theres lots of choices out there like:shift tech,opp racing,magical racing,and carbon dry,if you go with any of those you will be fine.

[reynolds_brad]

Alright so here is the low down on bagging, vs non bagging, prepreg vs wet layup.

Pregreg is the highest strength and most commonly lightest as the carbon to resin ratio is set before the layup is even put in the mold. prepeg requires the piece to cure in a oven so its not for the hobbyist. prepeg also is commonly done with vacuum bagging but doesn't necessarily require it.

The thing with vacuum bagging is a through ply or peel ply is used with a combination of breather material. This allows the excess resin to pass through the peel or through ply layer and get sucked up into the breather material. Thus getting rid of all excess resin and ending up with a product that is not only light but also strong.

You can make a piece with only a mold and no vacuum bagging however you will not end up with a optimum part cause it will have more resin then it actually needs. Ive done parts both ways and I have to say bagging a part overall is so much easier as far as getting a part that is light and has no lifted air pockets.

Ive seen many vendors parts and have made a few of my own.

Shift tech knows their shit. I was really impressed with the overall weight of their items and how well they were constructed.

I say this because many vendors such as MDI and even Magical racing use fiber glass layers not only as backing layers (non finished side) but also sandwiched layers. They do this mainly to save $$. I have personally seen and held in my hands a full set of MotoGP body work. Actually i had to clean it, and there is nothing like this going on in those parts, they were carbon and only carbon. I don't know about you but if your buying a carbon part you want just that and that alone. Im sure if you per say bough a nice piece of jewelry for your significant other you wouldn't go out and buy some plated POS would you?

Magical's however saving grace is that they have beautiful finishes in their molds and use 2X2 twill which is memorizing in my opinion. I freaking LOVE their swingarm cover. It looks permanently wet and the weave in the carbon looks flawlessly out of place. not a stand in a wrong direction.

OPP has some pretty good stuff too. all carbon, looks to be prepreg and bagged. I just got something from them the other day , one of those saw it and had to have it types of movements. never really heard of them and just thought I'd give it a try. I am in the process of remaking their part though as i want it in 2X2 twill. More on there stuff at a later time.

I say if you like 1x1 twill go shift tech, and if you like 2x2 go magical. Avoid DP carbon, its overpriced and isn't all that great.

[Chouch]

I think when it comes to carbon pieces, you really get what you pay for.
If you go cheap, dont be surprise if the quality aint there or the piece turn bad after couple monthes. (I'm not including the DP product in there...)

And just like Reynolds said, Shift-Tech products are just great.

The rear hugger was my first purchased from Shift Tech. More than pleased with it.
And Guido is really fast at answering any questions. And I love the free T-shirt.

[zekiel]

I bought some pieces from carbonworld.de and I suspect that they are shift-tech's supplier in the states. That's just my guess, I could be wrong. I've bought parts from shift-tech and the prices sort of even out.

But... shift-tech often doesn't have all the parts available so dealing with Carbonworld direct is an option I've done before.

Top notch stuff as far as I can tell, the inner facing carbon that no one is really meant to see is almost as nice as the outer facing and the edge looks like there is no FG fill.

[dh1100]

Shift-tech - dp stuff is flimsy

[ukmidnite]

Originally Posted by zekiel

I bought some pieces from carbonworld.de

Do all the parts match ok?
I was worried about buying a few bits that are all going to go topside of the bike (keyhole-surround, tank guard and tail section) if they don't all match it might look stoopid

[gary hyp]

Has anybody bought any carbon from eastcarbon on ebay?? This is the item I'm looking at -Item number: 220524232108
At $119 and made in hong kong is giving me some reservation.

[Bill vH]

Originally Posted by gary hyp

Has anybody bought any carbon from eastcarbon on ebay?? This is the item I'm looking at -Item number: 220524232108
At $119 and made in hong kong is giving me some reservation.

They have made some special parts for me from 2x2 twill and the fit and finish is excellent. NOT solid carbon however and it will be interesting to see how durable they are. They also sent me the hugger to try and it looks pretty good. I did have to move a couple of the holes around a bit to get the fit I wanted. BTW the shipping is pretty quick considering it's coming from HK.

Goin' fer 25