Have you ever wondered if you could make your own carbon bike frame? With the costs of carbon bikes these days you might think it would just be easier and/or cheaper to just head down to home depot, get some carbon and start shaping up your new frame…. with a few more steps of course.
If you know a little about how cervelo started this option might sounds like a viable idea.
Cervélo Cycles saw the light of day in 1995 when 2 engineers, Phil White and Gérard Vroomen, decided to take the work they had been doing on developing faster Time Trial bikes to market. Already involved in bicycle and Human Powered Vehicle design since 1986, the turning point came when a top-ranked Italian pro cyclist approached Gérard to design the fastest possible Time Trial bike for him. He had come to the realization that his bike sponsor was capable of building traditional bikes using off the shelf tubesets from Columbus or Easton, but did not have the interest or expertise to develop leading edge designs with the focus on time trialing and aerodynamics. He also realized that he could not look at the novel designs put before him and know if they were improvements, or just “different”.
The First Real Cervelo
With help of his team we started the bike design from scratch. We evaluated the bikes on the market, and set a design goal for the bike that was difficult and uncompromising. We wanted something that was unbeatable in aerodynamics yet sacrificed nothing in weight or stiffness, and unfettered by issues of marketability. It was to be a one-off design for this rider.
The result was a pretty radical bike that pushed the rules in almost every area. It tested extremely well for aerodynamics, as well as handling, stiffness and comfort.
Now not all of us are engineers or have all the spare time in the world to make a custom carbon frame, but you can always try. I did a little research on how its done and found a few great pages that actually take you through a step by step process. Check them out here:
