FLASH-POINT BLOG ARCHIVE: Jun 2005

Molded the new laminate for FP-60s. The out-of-round issue has been solved, and they are lighter.

Molded a number of FP-60s today. They look good, but have an out-of-round issue near the valve hole. I'll try something with the laminate to drop some weight, make them rounder, and reinforce the valve hole.

Been awhile since last post, I've been riding
just not writing...urban routes through downtown Indy and several tuesday night
world races and they seem to be STRONG.
I wish I could say the same for me. Form seems to be coming and going.

First Flash-Point 40 Mold is in. It wasn't heat treated, so we'll have to return it after prototyping. Geometrically, it looks good.

Production Hubs are in. They look good.

Molded two FP-40s for Nate to take to OEMs in Canada. (Special thanks to Joe for putting in the time to build them up.)

Tried molding some FP-60s with a minimalist approach to wall thickness. Not enough bending strength, have to make next batch with more plies.

(Finally)

I was looking over the front wheel and found the beginning of a spoke hole collapse (cracking around the spoke hole.)

It has just barely begun, and I can still ride the wheel until a replacement is available (again July).

Created BOMs for Flash-Point Wheel building process. Also made program for cutting Flashpoint laminates.

I took a 3 day weekend and headed to western North Carolina where I was planning on riding but ended up watching it rain. I did get out one day for a short ride and while riding down hill it felt like I had a flat rear tire. I didn't but the wheel just felt really soft, which was a very strange feeling. Our head wheelbuilder took a look at the rear rim this morning and the spot that Todd was worried about has come disbonded from the aluminum. I will stop riding this until the rim is replaced (probably will be July). So far, the wheels only have about 100 miles on them.

During the production process we have 8 quality 'gates' - check points where we evaluate the product and determine if the standards have been met to progress to the next stage.

1) Each lamination is inspected and checked for structural integrity, conformance to building standards, symmetrical and that all required sub-parts have been included.
2) After molding, each rim is visually inspected for structural and aesthetic flaws, checked for out-of-round and adequate deflash (removal of excess resin extruded in the molding).
3) The next QC gate happens after we have completed machining the braking surface. Here we check for grooves, chatter marks, bent or dented alumium that has not been machined, measure the thickness of the braking track to make sure that the surface is within a tight tolerance. In another post we will explore the remaining gates around drilling and wheel building.

The wheels ride nicely. They hold speed well, climb well, and feel really solid. I am not too worried about the shaky rear rim.

Todd has told me to take it easy on the rear rim and listen for any weird noises. Some of the carbon on the rim was pushed into the aluminum part of the rim and he expects that it will be a problem.

I now have a pre production set of Flash-Point wheels to ride. The rims look pretty cool with the woven carbon. It is also still fairly light since we have come up with a tricky new production method. We actually decided to go with a slightly different hub design that doesn't have the frustrating set screw hidden behind the cassette which makes hub adjustment easier. Finally, black spokes (good choice) tie it all together.