All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

TOUR Newsletter 08/09 2012
Reading time 1:00 minute

"Lacquer on carbon frames"

More and more carbon frames have a noble finish in form of a matt lacquer-coating. But many cyclists ask themselves whether these surfaces are not very sensitive and require time-consuming maintenance.

Here are the basics you should know: Lacquer coatings of carbon frames cannot cope with powder-coated or anodized aluminium frames. The latter are more durable, require less maintenance and are more solid in use. The reason: Carbon frames are wet painted and dried at only moderate temperatures. But also the lacquers of carbon frames clearly differ from one another. Frames with a thin and clear lacquer coating come off well, whereas white frames are sensitive. Often very bright lacquer coatings crack during use due to the thick coating of lacquer. The best option for matt finish frames is black. Bright colours very quickly obtain a dirty appearance. Cleaning takes a lot of time, abrasive and intensive cleaning methods are out of the question. The normally recommendable treatment with hard wax can lead to a fat, shiny appearance. From a matt lacquer coating, in contrast to a shining finish, even minor scratches cannot be removed by polishing. This remains always visible. The spot will be shiny subsequently. To fussy cyclists one must recommend that they do not opt for a matt coating.

Author: Graduate engineer Dirk Zedler, TOUR technology expert and bicycle expert

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