8 years and where is the carbon fiber?

[SportTwin]

Hop in the "Way-Back Machine" and travel to June 1996 when Sport Rider magazine featured a fantasy shootout between a Kawasaki ZX-7R, Suzuki GSX-R750 and a Yamaha YZF750R; and articled their first 100,000km CBR900RR.

They also ran a 5 page article entitled "Senior Thesis" about a student named Hans Moritz. His project was a carbon fiber monocoque motorcycle: a single piece comprising the entire frame and bodywork mounting directly to the engine, linkage and front suspension to become the motorcycle. I have only ever found a single picture of the bike (http://www.sportbikerider.us/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayit&Picture_ID=6826) and it really doesn't do it justice. The important part is that the entire frame and bodywork weighs in at a feathery 39lbs and in the article Hans says that he overbuilt the frame and could probably get it down to about 9lbs! Incidentally Honda hired him the day he graduated.

So heres my gripe - were are all the carbon fiber monocoque chasis? This is well over a decade old technology (just ask Formula 1 drivers) and it STILL hasn't filtered down to consumers?! Does someone have an update about this? It seems like the consumers have been left out of a tech that could drop the weight of a production bike to around 300lbs (according to the article) even if its price tag is extraordinary.

What gives?

[SOAB]

you answered it yourself. pricetag. how much money do you think any of the big 4 will make from those bikes?? probably not much...

[SportTwin]

Good point - the high cost of carbon fiber is prohibitive, but I was thinking aftermarket parts. I probably wasn't very clear on that. The amount of money spent by the people in this forum on aftermarket car parts is obscene, judging by some of the posts. Theres got to be a similar market in motorbikes, espcially in light of the performance gains, and the low entry costs to buy a bike in the first place.

[benyl]

It is the cost. Pure and simple. What people spend on mods is crazy, but they won't spend $30,000 on a 600cc motorbike (I am guessing at the cost by the way) when they can get one with an Aluminium frame for 1/3 the cost and can mod the shit out of it to overcome the weight.

Do they use carbon frames in MotoGP?

[SOAB]

not that i know of.

you can get Carbon Fiber bodywork, tank, airbox etc. pretty much anything that is plastic, you can get in CF. even rims! but they all cost a pretty penny.

i've also seen a CF swingarm but that is way way too expensive (we're talkin over 10g's here).