"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
07/29/2016 at 11:42 • Filed to: None
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"You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much" (youcantellafinn)
07/29/2016 at 11:42 • Filed to: None | 3
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It’s because they are very labor intensive to make.
bobbe17
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
07/29/2016 at 12:04 |
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I've been to Trek a few times and am always impressed with their facility and the work they do. I know quite a few people that work there and managed to get them to help us out with some carbon fiber work on the MSOE supermileage team. It's definitely a great company.
Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
07/29/2016 at 12:13 |
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That and the fact that there’s carbon fiber, and then there’s carbon fiber. Also there’s CF resin, and there’s CF resin.
If Trek wanted to, they could build a real full-CF bike for $200. It would just be heavy and wouldn’t last.
This tidbit brought to you from a conversation from a guy who builds custom restomod muscle cars for a living. Many of make extensive use of CF, and he sells them for well over $100k, but he doesn’t cheap out on the raw materials.
TooLazyToNotBurner
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
07/29/2016 at 12:16 |
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I was under the understanding that Trek only builds the top of the line bikes in the US with everything else outsourced.
I don’t know that I agree that carbon is more labour intensive than the other materials. More technologically dependent for sure, but having high quality hand welders is perhaps more tricky than material handlers for the molds.
RallyWrench
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
07/29/2016 at 12:26 |
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That’s true, but once past prototyping, almost without exception, the frames are produced in Taiwan for relatively cheap. The profit margins are ridiculous.
CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
07/29/2016 at 12:34 |
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comes nowhere near titanium bikes...their welding procedure is gnarly
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You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
> TooLazyToNotBurner
07/29/2016 at 14:58 |
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I think only their Project One bikes are built in the U.S. The Project One bikes are their top end frames, but the buyers get to customize the paint and component build on them.
The thing about CF is that everything needs to be laid out by hand in the molds. Once all the parts are laid up and baked, then everything needs to be glued together by hand and baked again. That is a lot of handling and a lot of labor intensive work. Every step also has a long cycle time.
The aluminum bikes can have major bits of the production automated. The actual welding is labor intensive, but outside of that there isn’t a lot of labor intensive and time consuming steps going on. Steps like tube cutting and forming will have much shorter cycle times than laying up the CF.
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You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
07/29/2016 at 14:59 |
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Titanium is a special beast.