Obsession with Carbon Fibre

[light_sabe_r]

My poor little ford festiva hasn't been getting much attention of late. I realised this when I looked at her windscreen wipers. The wiper arms were rusting

So on Saturday BF and I took off to our local Super Cheap Auto, and after picking brand new PINK silicone wiper blades I spotted the new wiper arms for Festy.

CARBON FIBRE.

After bursting out laughing I had a closer look, Not real CF but a print that looked so freaking cool!! And same price as the plain black ones...

What's a bike girl to do eh??

So now Festy's all decked out with pink blades and carbon fibre arms. ^_^

Now I LAUGHED at BF when he showed me a carbon fibre bottle cage... He's laughing at me now for picking this bloody thing. I have no carbon on my bike so it so wrong to now have carbon fibre on my car???

[SouthernBelle]

You think you're obsessed. Although I refused to shell out the big bucks for carbon bottle cages.

Has anybody seen the new Trek bike models with carbon decals? The guys at my LBS were talking about it. The bike is not carbon, just a carbon print decal. I don't know which model it is though.

[RoadRaven]

We have actually sold the CF bottle cages that have come with bikes - they are not rugged enough - yes they look purty... but I don't believe they are made to be used! :p

[roshelleuop]

I agree with Road Raven!!

Yes, they are lighter and suppose to better your time, but what about when I'm riding in a race (riding SOOOOO much faster becuase I have CF bottle cages;) )and I put my water bottle back and the entire thing brakes!!!! Woah, there goes the bottom piece of my cage and my water bottle!!! Do you think THAT is going to improve my time ?!!?!?!?! :D :D :D LOL!!! No!!!! LOL!!!

Roshelle

[RoadRaven]

Isn't it silly that we are "sold" this idea, but the difference in weight between carbon fibre bottle cages and other cages is a matter of grams and would really only be significant to a climber like Rasmussen!

You have to be elite before such tiny ammounts in weight difference make a useful contribution to your cycling performance.

[Kitsune06]

Figured this was as good 'a place as any to put my CFQuestion....

You know how you can pick up 'real' carbon fiber patches for places on your bike that get lots of friction/rubbing (for my poor baby, it's her right chainstay (no chain guard and the quick-fix duct tape is getting brutalized) and for some reason either side of the head tube (probably from leaning the bike when parked)

Would these actually be any good for these applications, or should I just stick with the regular stickers/decals or the lizardskinz chainstay guard?

BTW Light_sabe_r- my best friend in HS had a festiva, and she was SO much fun to ride in. She and my metro "Hi-ho, Geo, away!" had lots of fun 'racing'. ;) Have fun with Fiesty!

[velogirl]

I use carbon cages and love them -- they're not a waste in my opinion. Yes, they're a tiny bit lighter, but the real reason I like them is because my bottle stays put -- it won't bounce out of the cage. They're easy to put a bottle into and to pull a bottle out. They don't stretch out like metal cages. And they don't leave icky black marks on my bottles.

ps -- I race on the bumpiest roads in the world -- central valley farm country. I also ride centuries and other endurance events.

[Kitsune06]

Threadjack
Light_sabe_r- this is sorta unrelated, but it's a how-to on a way to turn your car into a hybrid (http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/tech/0401scc_ford_festiva_mazda_b6/).with the neck-snapping Mazda B6T engine in it. I couldn't resist. :D

[Nanci]

http://tinyurl.com/kwuys

I have this carbon cage and I love it! If it broke, I'd probably die. If I can only have one- it's gonna be a pretty one!

[Trekhawk]

I have two of these on my new bike and I love them. They fit really well on my compact frame and are easy to get my bottles out of.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=BUY_PRODUCT_STANDARD&PRODUCT.ID=1700&CATEGORY.ID=92&MODE=&TFC=

I ride on some pretty crappy roads and havent had any problems with them yet.

[PinkBike]

light_sabe_r

pleasepleaseplease tell me where you got the pink wiper blades??????? i've already painted the wiper arms pink on my miata, but pink blades would be so cool!

[light_sabe_r]

I got em from my local super cheap auto. http://www.supercheapauto.com It's an Aussie Auto accessories and parts chain.

I have absolutley no idea what the US equivalent is sorry. :rolleyes: