Carbon Fiber - Going all out at one time!

[Skybarney]

Hi Everyone,  I thought I could avoid the carbon fiber thing but after putting carbon Zards on my bike I have decided that all the plastic looks cheap now.  So I am going to CF the hell outta the beast.  None of the painted parts are going to get changed but I want to change all the other stuff.  

Got a decent quote from Jeff at Monster Parts and am going to get another at Moto Wheels tomorrow.  All that being said, I want all the carbon to match.  I do not want it to look like it came from five different places.

Please post your thoughts on this decision and what you think of the various manufactures.  I am NOT going to buy anything from China ( :

After that I will have little left to change except the wheels.  For those I will go CF but not till this next summer as I think that I need to get more miles on it than dollars spent on accessories.  That equation is already upside down  

Mods done on a 2000 mile bike (so far)

Oberon bar end signals
Shortened front signals (wired into above)
Sylvania XTE headlight bulbs
Rizoma Next fluid reservoirs
MW folding shortie brake and clutch levers
Zard Carbon pipes
BST high flow filter
Flashed the ECU for no o2/servo
Rizoma tail tidy
Motodynamic integrated tail light
Rizoma frame plugs (new style)
Evap can removal
Wire tidy for above removal
Ohlins rear shock
14 tooth front sprocket
DP CF exhaust hanger (back ordered for two moths so far)

I have the mod bug badly  
 

[Stormtrooper]

I've had good success with www.tekarbon.com.  I got my radiator side panels and heel guards from them and have no complaints.  They are located in Los Angeles but I have no idea if they manufacturer their own carbon or if its from a sweat shop in China.  Ironically, my DP (made in Italy) carbon tank center strip is of fairly poor quality in comparison.  The clear coat is oh so thin and the weave isn't perfect, and the carbon is a very dark gray not a deep black.  So much for getting what you pay for.  I've also seen many others complain about the DP carbon yellowing quickly as well.

[memper]

The yellowing come from the sun reacting. They used the wrong epoxy. Surfboard epoxy doesn't yellow but its more expensive.

[Case S2R]

I would be surprised if any ducati parts manufacturer makes their own carbon, they buy carbon and use it to manufacturer what they sell.  The also buy the resin and if the are using quality parts the carbon cloth and resin will be together (literally).

Surfboards (traditionally) use polyester resin, carbon fiber uses epoxy resin, not the same. 

Yellowing can be from cheap epoxy, not using UV coating, you gotta think, all these carbon parts we add to our bikes do nothing for performance and are not structural. Non performance and non structural means it does not need to be "quality" carbon and resin, just needs to look good.  This makes it a product that is typically off shored and if it is not from Asia it will likely be from Eastern Europe.

If you stick with high quality items you should be OK and if it does yellow in a few years sand it down and re clear it and it will be better than new.

Case

[Skybarney]

I've had good success with www.tekarbon.com.  I got my radiator side panels and heel guards from them and have no complaints.  They are located in Los Angeles but I have no idea if they manufacturer their own carbon or if its from a sweat shop in China.  Ironically, my DP (made in Italy) carbon tank center strip is of fairly poor quality in comparison.  The clear coat is oh so thin and the weave isn't perfect, and the carbon is a very dark gray not a deep black.  So much for getting what you pay for.  I've also seen many others complain about the DP carbon yellowing quickly as well.

Thanks for the heads up on the DP stuff.  I wondered if they outsourced it as I also noticed irregularities in the weave when looking at the parts.   I am going to go look at what Moto Wheels has and try to figure out a direction.  What is scary is that once I do all the plastic there is nothing left to do!  Hopefully in five years when the unlimited mileage warranty is over I can do some stuff that is not just bolt on.....