US-made, recyclable carbon street wheels: Forge+Bond expands into street biking with its all-new CR Collection

May 2, 2024

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Forge+Bond, CSS Composites’ in-house model, is increasing its line of recyclable carbon wheels with the all-new CR Collection. The brand new sequence is the model’s first foray into street biking and contains two carbon wheelsets: one sporting a 35mm-deep rim and the opposite a 45mm-deep rim. Each rims are recyclable and made in Gunnison, Utah.

Forge+Bond launched in 2023 with a set of gravel and mountain bike wheels and managed to face out in an already saturated market because of its unique use of thermoplastics to fabricate its FusionFiber carbon rims.

Most carbon parts are made of sheets of epoxy-impregnated carbon fibers. The carbon fibers are ‘glued’ along with a resin that is cured in a chemical course of referred to as thermoset. As soon as cured, the resin can’t be returned to its earlier type, that means it can’t be damaged down and remolded. Conventional carbon merchandise are tough and dear to recycle, downcycle or reuse. And so, when the carbon product —be it a motorcycle element, a ship or a spaceship— reaches the tip of its lifecycle, it’s often discarded in landfills.

The thermoplastic course of used to create FusionFiber merchandise makes use of a long-chain nylon polymer because the matrix impregnated into the bottom carbon fiber materials. On this course of, the “glue” —on this case, the nylon polymer— might be melted and reused for a brand new or completely different product. Each the scraps from the manufacturing course of and a damaged rim might be melted down and formed into a brand new short-fiber product.

All kinds of thermoplastics has been used within the aviation, aerospace, automotive, and medical industries for a while, however it is solely simply rising within the bike trade. It’s, nonetheless, rising. Manufacturers like Chris King, Revel and Evil align themselves with CSS’s mission of “creating merchandise that keep out of landfills” and supply a wide range of CSS-made FusionFiber wheelsets. As CSS’s in-house label, Forge+Bond is the primary to return out with FusionFiber wheels explicitly designed for the calls for of street biking.

“We could have began our firm round our line of stellar MTB merchandise, however as cyclists, we all know whether or not you are driving filth or tarmac, you need the perfect of each worlds: efficiency and luxury,” says Brett Stahl, VP of Advertising and marketing at FORGE+BOND. “The CR Collection achieves this excellent stability by way of using our patented FusionFiber materials, permitting riders to