How Carbon Fiber Rims Work, and What Makes FusionFiber Different

Travis Tomczak is the Global Marketing Director at Forge + Bond. The company manufactures bike wheels and accessories using a lightweight material known as FusionFiber. How does carbon fiber rim manufacturing generally work?  What are some of the challenges associated with carbon fiber manufacturing? Are there limitations in terms of how the material can be used, or how it performs? How is FusionFiber different from carbon fiber in terms of the materials used and the manufacturing process? How are sheets of FusionFiber manufactured? How is a sheet of FusionFiber shaped into a product at Forge+Bond, for example a rim? Are there any performance advantages of FusionFiber over traditional carbon fiber? Is it more expensive to manufacture rims from FusionFiber than carbon fiber?  Is FusionFiber infinitely recyclable, or does the material degrade each time it's recycled? Can the scraps or recycled rims, for example, be used to create new rims? Where can consumers recycle their FusionFiber rims? With so many different polymer choices and layups available, could a particular blend of FusionFiber make sense for handlebars or even bike frames?  What is Forge+Bond's connection to CSS Composites, the company that produces FusionFiber rims for brands like Evil and Revel? With such a new material and technology, what sort of product testing has Forge+Bond done? How do you handle product warranty claims? What's next for Forge+Bond? The Singletracks podcast is brought to you by TPC -- The Pro’s Closet. Spring is the perfect time to upgrade, and TPC has an industry-leading selection of new and Certified Pre-Owned bikes, plus frames, wheels and accessories. Each Certified, Pre-Owned bike is inspected, tested and serviced, and every bike includes thirty day returns. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tpc.bike/singletracks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and enter code Singletracks40 to save forty dollars on every order over two hundred.