Reported December 2008

A See-Through Bike Frame: The Arantix mountain bicycle and Ascend road bicycle have frames made from carbon fiber shaped into a form called IsoTruss. The lattice structure is woven by hand into pyramid-like shapes made of isosceles triangles (the kind with two sides of equal length). The frame is specially designed to make the bicycle resistant to bending and twisting, with a greater ratio of strength to weight than metal frames. This technology is currently promoted as an alternative to heavier, weaker materials in everything from automobiles to building materials.

How to Weave a Bicycle: To construct the bike, artisans take a single strand of carbon fiber and wind it back and forth by hand over a cylindrical mandrill until it is the right size. They then wrap Kevlar around the fibers to bundle it. Then they bake it in an oven, which bonds all the carbon together.

The Research Society, the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Lester Muranaka
Public Relations
Delta 7 Sports LLC
Payson, UT 84651
(801) 592-0950
lester@Delta7Sports.com

Materials Research Society
Warrendale, PA 15086-7573
(724) 779-3003
webmaster@mrs.org

Mike Breen and Annette Emerson
American Mathematical Society
Providence, RI 02904-2294
(800) 321-4267
http://www.ams.org
paoffice@ams.org

Ivars Peterson
Mathematical Association of America
Washington, DC 20036-1358
(800) 741-9415
http://www.maa.org
ipeterson@maa.org