DYAD SUPREME (Xenith T2, Dakota d29 Team)
30% super-high modulus M40 carbon fiber, 70% high modulus M30 carbon fiber. Reducing the M40 percentage to 30% and blending the M30 with the M40 increases frame weight by about 7%, but increases shock damping for a more comfortable ride.

Key point is that we’re not just using “high modulus” as marketing verbiage to define all our frames, while hoping you to have no idea what modulus is all about. There’s a place and a reason for high modulus, and there’s a place and a reason for mid-modulus. Describing anything as “mid” may run contrary to the advice of the Marketing Department, but mid-modulus fiber, especially when blended with high modulus can still be light and stiff with some degree of damping and flexibility for a supple, comfortable ride.

R&D/MANUFACTURING
We’ve designed, built and ridden carbon fiber monocoques as well as tube-and-lug carbon frames, and our monocoques were always lighter, more durable, and simply rode better. Materials overlap in lugged frames which concentrates stress at the bonded joint. It also weighs more and contributes to a deader frame feel. Monocoques are completely unified. Stresses are distributed over a greater potion of the frame structure, making for a lighter, stiffer, stronger frame and one that rides with a snap and liveliness that’s its own reward.

A monocoque’s structural integrity relies heavily on the lay-up schedule, the master plan for the location of each and every carbon ply. We start with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software that visualizes where structures bend or twist and simulates the distribution of stresses and displacements, this allows us to design, refine and optimize the materials and lay-up before cutting molds and burping prototypes, which are then relentlessly fatigue- and deflection-tested for every frame size. Failures get kicked back to the lay-up room for some material massaging and ply re-arrangement until they’re good to ride.

Then we suit up for the hard part of our job. The ride! We ride and record, ride more and record more. We enlist our pro riders for evaluation and comment. The beauty of carbon is its ability to be easily tuned by manual manipulation of the plies, like tensioning a drum head or guitar string for absolutely perfect ride quality -- the just-right balance between stiffness and resilience, the ability to feel the road.

It’s important to remember every carbon frame is handmade. There’s a skill and artistry to accurately applying small squares, rectangles and triangles of carbon fiber according to the schedule our engineers assign. Just because it’s hidden beneath a cosmetic layer of 1K, 6K or 12K weave doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and it’s no less skillful or significant than precision welds or brazing work.

These carbon fiber swatches are laid up on a silicone mandrel, one at a time, in an interwoven and overlapping pattern. As each section is complete the silicone mandrel is removed, each section is joined to the others, and expandable air bladders are run through the frame. The frame goes in a steel mold, the mold goes in an oven, bladders are pressurized, the oven is heated to melt and disperse the resin, and then the whole thing is cooled to harden and cure.

All these steps are necessary to ensure compaction, which is where it’s at for carbon fiber structural integrity. That’s why we’ve taken monocoque molding technology to the next level with our Near Net Molding technology (featured on the 2012 Xenith SL and the Dakota dXC Team frame kit). Near Net Molding is a revolutionary process utilizing air bladders and a polystyrene pre-form core that recedes as the oven heats, assuring an interior that is “near net” in finish, without the wrinkled fiber or resin pooling common in most of today’s carbon frames. Every gram of resin has been compressed, every length of fiber has been flattened and aligned.

After hours of hand finishing, before heading on to the painters and clear coaters, EVERY frame is weighed to make sure it’s neither resin rich nor resin deficient. We also measure the stiffness of each frame in 6 critical areas as a check on lay-up production, guaranteeing every frame we produce will deliver the ride qualities we defined and demand.