As the cycling industry continues to push technology (even if the UCI finds ways to hold advancement back, but that’s another story), not all of the advancements that we see in new products comes strictly from the cycling world. The German brand Lightweight, who makes wheels, frames, accessories, and now clothing, is a brand that many cyclists lust over. Some pros will go as far as passing on sponsored equipment and purchase their wheels to get the benefits that Lightweight wheels offer. So what do cycling wheels, an electric car, agricultural sprayer booms, CT scanners and satellites all have in common? They are all made by or have components from Lightweight’s parent company, CarboFibretec GmbH.
“This is something a lot of people do not know, and cannot value, because we do not communicate it that much,” said David Bergmann, International Sales Manager at Lightweight. “I think it is good for people to know what they are buying, and what makes the difference in performance and in terms of price.”
CarboFibretec GmbH, parent company of CarbonSports GmbH, also known as Lightweight, works in a number of industries creating carbon fiber components that go into products used around the world. Aerospace, medicine, and industrial applications are just a few. Have you flown on a Dornier 328 jet, or possibly an Airbus? Chances are some of the carbon fiber parts came from CarboFibretec GmbH. Some agricultural boom sprayers use carbon fiber in a hybrid boom design with their carbon tubing. They have even worked with ‘Leichtbau und Kunstofftechnik’ (ILK) at the Dresden Technical University and other companies to develop a prototype lightweight electric car called InEco.
“A lot of people don’t know that we are working on industrial projects,” commented Bergmann. “The bike business is just 50% of our revenue. The other 50% are driven by industrial projects.”
Along with structural pieces used in architecture, and arms used on robotic painters from Dürr in the automotive industry, one of the most impressive pieces and important for cyclists, is their work in the aerospace industry in areas like the Sentinel Project. Sentinel-3, a satellite that measures changes in surface levels of land and oceans around the world, utilizes covers that were produced by CarboFibretec GmbH. So how does a satellite translate to cycling wheels?
Lightweight’s 2012 Red Dot award winning Autobahn disc wheel benefits directly from the aerospace business. Because of CarboFibretec’s space certification, Lightweight has access to aerospace materials that not all brands have the ability to use. These HD fibers used in their ultra-high end Autobahn disc, which cost about 1700 euros per kilogram, went on to win the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics under Kristin Armstrong in the time trial.
“We had an American Olympic gold medal with Kristin Armstrong in the time trial with our road disc,” explained Bergmann. “I did not know, but her husband did a lot of research and testing, and found out it was the best option for the race. He checked the percentage of the climbs and did watt testing with the disc. They purchased the wheel privately to use. She was quite happy, though she got in a little bit of trouble with her sponsors, but that’s part of the game.”
Beyond the material benefits, Lightweight also benefits from shared production knowledge from their other business sectors. Engineers from other areas also help with the design and R&D of their wheels. Again, the connection between satellites and wheels is made.
“The engineers who work on these wheels, also work in these other fields,” continued Bergmann. “What they learn in other areas, they can implement in our wheel technology. The way to build this disc was developed for our satellite housings. We renewed our disc wheel model, and that was the result. It is satellite technology implemented into the wheel, which gives us a great advantage, due to know-how, and due to material access.”
Lightweight doesn’t just use aerospace materials and advanced engineering for the heck of it. With everything they do, their must be a benefit to the customer.
“If we spend so much money on fibers, and the process that we use is very complicated, the labor, the time involved in the product is very high, the hand production in Germany, but the customer benefit is always the focus,” Bergmann explains. “We would not put it on the market if we could not grant the customer the benefit. The customer benefit in the disc wheel, 780 grams weight, 90 newton/millimeter stiffness, makes it the lightest and stiffest disc wheel on the planet.”
Another important area for cyclists is CarboFibretec GmbH involvement in agriculture. Remember, we have to eat, and good, fresh vegetables are an important part of all of our diets. Boom sprayers are an important tool farmers use to apply fertilizers and pesticides to crops. Traditional aluminum booms are heavier and typically shorter than carbon booms, and can effect efficiency and accuracy in precision farming.
“The weight and stiffness of carbon fiber over aluminum makes spraying much more accurate,” said Bergmann. “Our carbon sprayer is over 30% longer than the typical aluminum boom sprayer, and has the precision of 20 square cm. For farmers with large acreage, they save on fertilizer and pesticides as they are more accurate, and it allows them to reduce the amount of pesticides that they use, which goes back to sustainability and health of our food.”
Sustainability is another theme of Lightweight, and comes through in their new clothing line. In 2017, the brand is launching an understated clothing line for on and off the bike. From a jersey and shorts to a polo and pants, all items use natural and recycled fibers, and limit the amount of chemicals used.
“We want our customers to live a healthy life, to work out, and to eat healthy food,” continues Bergmann. “We want them to have a fabric on their skin that is treated chemically as less as possible. When you are out performing, your pours are open, and not only letting sweat out, but also bringing in the chemicals from the fabrics on your skin. I think it makes sense to keep the chemicals as low as possible and the sustainability to take care of our environment.”
The next time you look at a set of wheels from Lightweight, or maybe their Urgestalt frame, think about how technology from the aerospace, automotive, agricultural and other commercial industries went into making them. Yes, they might be pricy, but they are some of the most advanced products on the market, and made to be the best performing in the world.
Heckling Editor, Image Taker, Crash Test Dummy, and Beard Master at Bikeworldnews.com
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