New Product Release! Oakley Design Carbon Roll Cage.......

Exclusive! Anti Splinter Carbon Fibre Roll Bar / Roll Cage for 997 / 996 models Innovation; the creation of something in the mind; the introduction of a new device, method or process resulting from study and experimentation. Oakley Designs Carbon Fibre Roll Cage is testament to this. The first carbon fibre roll cage in the world. Whilst carbon fibre roll hoops have been employed in F1, A1GP and GP2 etc. this is the first time we have seen a complete roll cage made from carbon fibre. Aerospace FEA software is used to analyse every layer of the structure providing a guaranteed level of strength and quality throughout the product. Benefits: Patented anti Splinter Technology Stronger than T45 Cages 75% lighter than steel cages and 60% lighter than a T45 cage TUV Approval - FIA approval pending 2009 Weld in or Bolt in fixtures Single bars can be replaced in event of impact Exclusive - the only Carbon Cages in the world! MSRP: $6500.00

I am no expert on the subject, but a couple potential issues stick out in my mind. If these are not the case, please correct me. A couple problems with carbon fiber is the fact that 1) it's brittle and 2) its strength is highly anisotropic, it has high strength along the direction of the fiber, but not across it. 1) Carbon fiber has high tensile strength, but low fracture toughness. The force require to initially deform the material is high, but the energy absorbed to break this is very low compared to steel (analogous to force vs work or tq vs hp). This translates to a much less effective bar in absorbing impact energy and preventing roof collapse in my opinion. 2) CF in the shape of a bar will have high strength along the length of the bar (direction through the center) but weaker in a direction perpendicular to the bar. This is seen all the time in F1 cars where CF suspension components can take 4Gs of the car's weight in a corner, but tapped against another wheel, stressed perpendicular to the designed load direction causes catastrophic failure. Bottom line is the bar/cage is designed to absorb impact energy, something TRADITIONALLY carbon fiber has not been used for. I am basing this of my pre-conceived notion of the topic and could be not an issue with this design, etc. Once this is approved in which case I assume these problems are resolved, these will sell like crazy.

Well, that depends on the layering and thickness of the fiber as well as the angle of the fibers at different layers during its construction. In the bicycle world, the use of carbon fiber has revolutionized the strengths of the frames, and their lightness. It is infinitely possible to control the places where you want strengths and the places where you want flexibility. Much better than alloys. The customization of the product is its highest attribute. The layering of the fiber can be controlled so that its strength along the fiber is in "check" with fibers running at different angles, so that when its cooked together, the sum of all pieces is exponential. But this makes it expensive in terms of the testing that must be done to achieve the results needed. BTW, is that "Oakley" like in sunglasses?

Right I agree with pretty much everything you said above. Carbon works with bicycles you are primarily looking for strength not toughness (remember force vs work). The PRIMARY purpose of a bar or cage is to absorb impact energy in the event of a roll over. The truss design of the cage is primarily going to eliminate problem #2; my main concern with this is the harness placement on the bar and causing a force perpendicular to the bar direction. Anytime you are the 'first in the world' to do something; something that has been conceived and not attempted before due to some fundamental design/material problems you are going to have to answer some criticism.

Point 1: If you've ever watched a carbon mast or spinnaker pole explode under load, you'd be significantly less likely to trust your life to one of these Point 2: Does Anyone else find this contradicting.... "Whilst carbon fibre roll hoops have been employed in F1, A1GP and GP2 etc. this is the first time we have seen a complete roll cage made from carbon fibre." "Weld in or Bolt in fixtures"

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No it's Oakley Design. Nothing to do with glasses company.

FYI the shipping weight is 20kg.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but I guess I don't understand what this is for. First of all, why would you want to spend that much on a roll bar? Particularly since at least with the PCA (and I'll bet NASA and SCCA), you can't race with it I'm sure it looks cool, and you can have an ultra-light roll bar so you can win your next DE I guess. And if you could race with it, you would want some serious testing done before you would trust your life to something like this.

I'm researching roll bars and am still opting for the DAS.

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These are obviosly for those who are pretty serious into racing. If Farnbacher Loles trusts this product enough to use it then I think the rest of the market should be able to trust it.