Time Bicycles weave carbon magic
French manufacturer Time Bicycles has always designed and built its bikes to the beat of its own drum. They add their own je ne sais quoi by using methods that might seem more detailed, complicated and labour intensive than others, but the result has, historically, been bikes that are made to a higher degree of precision than 98 per cent of the competition. Time Bicycles have just released a video to demonstrate their preferred carbon frame building technique Resin Transfer Moulding. This process uses pre-woven carbon fibre braided ‘socks’, that are spun into tubes and then slid onto hard wax mandrels – the forms which define the finished shape of the tubes. Because the braided socks are raw fibre, rather than sheets pre-impregnated with resin as per most other manufacturers, the resin in pumped in afterwards, to soak the socks. Excess resin is forced out under intense pressure and heat - to leave only that which is required for optimum compaction and uniform strength while also achieving the lightest possible weight. A process that seems to be both artistic and scientific at the same time. The video is beautifully made and if as after watching it you don’t want to buy a spun carbon frame Time bicycle, then you might need a pulse check..