Using Carbon Fiber on the Frame
Carbon Fiber is used in all sorts of applications on cars and motorcycles to save weight while still keeping something structurally strong. Up until now, though, carbon fiber hasn’t really become a norm for motorcycle frames. That will likely be the next step for the technology, according to Motorcycle News.
The reason the publication suggest this is because of the carbon frame that BMW used on its Vision DC Roadster as well as its experience with the HP4 Race and the slew of BMW cars that have carbon fiber. It’s clear that BMW has worked with carbon fiber plenty and bringing it to the masses could be the next move.
The Vision DC Roadster is really where this starts to make sense. The company used a unique carbon fiber tube design that’s conjoined with corner pieces made of aluminum or BMC carbon fiber. This construction ends up looking like a typical trellis frame, but way lighter weight and stronger.
While BMW has said it will be five years or so before it makes electric bikes, I bet you can expect the carbon fiber frame technology to start appearing well before that. This could help make motorcycles lighter, faster, and better.