Genuine carbon parts what does that mean?

Made with real carbon...I bet most of you didn't know that there was even a material out there that looks like carbon but isn't! WELL THERE IS.

As some of you are aware I make carbon parts for the early 851 and 888 bikes and I am helping a couple of people with their genuine Corse machines and a few other enthusiasts with their much loved projects, I try to supply parts that are no longer available made to the same specification as original, occassionally exceeding them by using improved materials, aramid in place of efibre in strategic areas.

Now I am relatively new to the two wheeled market but have many many years experience in the four wheeled trade, having worked in the restoration game since the late 1980's. However there is so much bull**** that I heard and I have seen some real rubbish that I am getting quite cheesed of with the whole thing.

I am open about what I do and only supply parts that I am happy to be associated with, however you are not always getting what you think that you are from others.

When a mould is taken from a part any marks including part numbers, manufacturing logos will be marked on the mould and will be reproduced as per the original on the new part. Copying genuine items is easy! I have even been approached by somebody Who I will not openly name, to make parts for them and insert the badges and markings of manufactures so that the parts are indistinguishable from the genuine item! I refused to have any dealings with this person as I do not want to be associated with this sort of practice.

The only way that you can be sure that you have genuine components is to buy them from the official suppliers, any thing second hand and even new, unless it can be tracked back to source and verified caution needs to be taken. It is even possible that some of these items have infiltrated the market already, the person has undoubtedly got some one else to do this for them, though I have no proof and I am speculating.

I sell through ebay as do many, however not all is what it seems out there, there are various grades of carbon, a cloth that looks like carbon that is not carbon, glues used that would only be suitable for putting stamps on letters and a huge range of resins. There is more difficulty by the fact that there are various types of epoxy resins out there also...it really is a minefield.

Contrary to what many believe there is not a huge mark-up on quality carbon products, they will have invested heavily on tooling research and development costs, there is a financial cost to this. The materials are also expensive, dry carbon cloth can cost £35-40 per square metre and quality epoxy resin costs about £35 per kilo, nearly a litre, so work it out and think for yourself, why is it cheap? Pre-preg carbon varies in grades and qualities it can be bought for about £45 a square metre to over £100 per square metre, it looks the same but performs differently.

When I make parts, by the time that I have made something, if I cost it properly there is very little in difference with respect to OE price. They make more profit because thay can buy materials in larger quantity and hence obtain more favourable rates. The strength of your parts and suitability of what is put in a component is down to the person laying up the materials in the construction of a part.

As an examble there is alot of bull written about carbon clutch covers, though I have to agree that I would be reluctant to use anything bought from the bay of fleas.

Firstly we need to look at why they were initially used by the race departments. Well it was for weight saving, however you need to remember that race teams have huge budgets so replacing damaged parts is of no concern, they are there to win, not save money. The clutch covers may look similiar to those that are available on the 'bay of fleas', hoewever the genuine Corse parts were constructed in such a way so that there was differing layers of carbon and aramid into a ply effect.

The others generally sold elsewhere have one layer of carbon and severeal layers of efibre (GRP) to bulk it out. If you are lucky these are made with epoxy resin but most use polyester resin to make them cheap to manufacture, however with regards to strength they have no comparison to the genuine Cose parts. In fact you'd be just as well to use coloured cardboard and sticky tape!

My point is that I can buy and get my hands on a geunine Corse part take a mould and produce countless items that look right, with the cast numbers in place but not constructed in the same manner, would you know how to tell the difference?

You are so relient upon the manufacturer that you really ought to buy directly from source be it the official supplier or your regular composite technician, there are many out there working on their own, your difficulty is finding one that is prepared to stand by their components.

As for me, well I am looking at branding my parts to distinguish them from the countless of faceless generic carbon parts out there and the few 'snide' copies, I dont want to be branded with some of the rubbish and I dont want to be known for making blatant copies of reputable manufacturese genuine components!

Off my soap box now...discuss...