How do stick companies vary the flex of a stick?

[mickz 107]

I tried searching for an answer but I couldn't come across a thread with one.

I've seen videos of factories manufacturing both composite and wood sticks but how do they separate a 85 flex from a 110 flex? I'm pretty sure they're both made of the same raw material but is there something they do differently to achieve a particular flex during production? Is it some sort of trade secret?

[whbd18 0]

Different compounds/hardness of epoxy used when bonding the composite fibers together is what im guessing

[vitaminZ 0]

According to SPREEDIZZLE on another forum:

It is all in the layering and make-up of the carbon and graphite fibers. Depending on the weave pattern of both materials, you can make a sheet of this material very ridgid in one direction, and very compliant in another....simply by manipulating the weave. The same can be said with the number of layers of material. I am at work right now and can't access You Tube due to firewalls, but if you seach on there for something like Trek OCLV construction (the bike company I used to race for) they have some pretty intensive displays and instructions on there on how they manipulate carbon fiber on bike frames to give it different riding properties. The exact same principles used to construct these bikes is the same ones used in anything constructed from carbon fiber.

[mickz 107]

According to SPREEDIZZLE on another forum:

It is all in the layering and make-up of the carbon and graphite fibers. Depending on the weave pattern of both materials, you can make a sheet of this material very ridgid in one direction, and very compliant in another....simply by manipulating the weave. The same can be said with the number of layers of material. I am at work right now and can't access You Tube due to firewalls, but if you seach on there for something like Trek OCLV construction (the bike company I used to race for) they have some pretty intensive displays and instructions on there on how they manipulate carbon fiber on bike frames to give it different riding properties. The exact same principles used to construct these bikes is the same ones used in anything constructed from carbon fiber.

Hmmm that's very interesting to note. So I guess if they change the weave of the carbon fibre, different flexes in the same stick will be relatively the same weight.

What about wood sticks? Do you think they treat the wood with something to make it stiffen up?

[vitaminZ 0]

Hmmm that's very interesting to note. So I guess if they change the weave of the carbon fibre, different flexes in the same stick will be relatively the same weight.

What about wood sticks? Do you think they treat the wood with something to make it stiffen up?

well different types of wood are different stiffnesses for one thing, and the different direction of layers of wood could work like with composites

another thing they do is to use fiberglass layers for added stiffness

[Spreedizzle 1]

According to SPREEDIZZLE on another forum:

It is all in the layering and make-up of the carbon and graphite fibers. Depending on the weave pattern of both materials, you can make a sheet of this material very ridgid in one direction, and very compliant in another....simply by manipulating the weave. The same can be said with the number of layers of material. I am at work right now and can't access You Tube due to firewalls, but if you seach on there for something like Trek OCLV construction (the bike company I used to race for) they have some pretty intensive displays and instructions on there on how they manipulate carbon fiber on bike frames to give it different riding properties. The exact same principles used to construct these bikes is the same ones used in anything constructed from carbon fiber.

Too funny. As I started to read this thread I was instantly thinking of cutting and pasting my post on the topic from the IW forum.

Guess you beat me to it. :P

[ntwusc 62]

Hmmm that's very interesting to note. So I guess if they change the weave of the carbon fibre, different flexes in the same stick will be relatively the same weight.

Actually, I've seen a couple models of sticks that list about a 5 gram weight difference between flexes

[Monty22 835]

According to SPREEDIZZLE on another forum:

It is all in the layering and make-up of the carbon and graphite fibers. Depending on the weave pattern of both materials, you can make a sheet of this material very ridgid in one direction, and very compliant in another....simply by manipulating the weave. The same can be said with the number of layers of material. I am at work right now and can't access You Tube due to firewalls, but if you seach on there for something like Trek OCLV construction (the bike company I used to race for) they have some pretty intensive displays and instructions on there on how they manipulate carbon fiber on bike frames to give it different riding properties. The exact same principles used to construct these bikes is the same ones used in anything constructed from carbon fiber.

Hmmm that's very interesting to note. So I guess if they change the weave of the carbon fibre, different flexes in the same stick will be relatively the same weight.

What about wood sticks? Do you think they treat the wood with something to make it stiffen up?

Fiberglass

[thejackal 46]

According to SPREEDIZZLE on another forum:

It is all in the layering and make-up of the carbon and graphite fibers. Depending on the weave pattern of both materials, you can make a sheet of this material very ridgid in one direction, and very compliant in another....simply by manipulating the weave. The same can be said with the number of layers of material. I am at work right now and can't access You Tube due to firewalls, but if you seach on there for something like Trek OCLV construction (the bike company I used to race for) they have some pretty intensive displays and instructions on there on how they manipulate carbon fiber on bike frames to give it different riding properties. The exact same principles used to construct these bikes is the same ones used in anything constructed from carbon fiber.

Hmmm that's very interesting to note. So I guess if they change the weave of the carbon fibre, different flexes in the same stick will be relatively the same weight.

What about wood sticks? Do you think they treat the wood with something to make it stiffen up?

Fiberglass

check out a few different models of the cheapest wood sticks and the direction the veneers run in the shaft, compare.