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The world's first carbon fibre monocoque bicycle...

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  1. cb
    Member

    ...on display at NMS from Friday.

    "The world's first carbon fibre monocoque bicycle must have looked almost space age to cyclists in the mid 1980s.

    It was designed and built in 1985 by Mike Burrows.

    He went on to use the same technology to build a machine that Chris Boardman rode to success in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

    The innovation was in the use of a new material, carbon fibre that could be impregnated with resin and moulded into a strong aerodynamic shape, ideal for track racing."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-36689295

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    The first production, one-piece (i.e. not lugged) carbon fibre road bikes followed in 1986. Built by Kestrel, a start-up of former Trek employees.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    Think it was on display when museum extension opened(?)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. Arellcat
    Moderator

    As it was in the museum storeroom:


    The original monocoque (note the direct pull front brake, not a million miles away from the V-brake of ten years hence)

    and the later roadgoing version that Mike Burrows developed for Giant:


    A giant among bike designers

    The way the bike industry bandies about the word 'monocoque' does grate a little with me, when we have monocoque saddles and cranks and pedal bodies now. Modern TT bikes might feature one continuum of carbon fibre, from head tube to rear dropout, but they're still built as frames. A true monocoque is a fully stressed skin, while faux-monocoques are one-piece frames. A frame by its very nature has a number of structural members, whose skins are stressed.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I see there's a 1989 Edinburgh Contour behind the fancy Giant. Still hunners of those going around town.

    Posted 9 years ago #

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