The Specialized S-Works Torch is a limited edition model created for the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro this past summer. The idea behind its creation was to replicate the “pinnacle of sport” and to symbolically represent the idea of a growing flame using thermochromic paint. Thermochromic paint, quite literally from the Greek for “heat” and “color”, is a type of paint that changes color according to ambient temperature. In this case, the bright orange heats up and becomes clear, revealing the fluorescent yellow underneath. We received this bike after one of our customers was struck from behind by a vehicle while on a training ride. Truly scary stuff. Fortunately, they were ok (somehow!), but the bike arrived with broken driveside seat and chain stays.
Our first step is always the same, that being the general inspection. Precisely, we can see all the obvious external damage from the crash but we need to discover any other minor or hidden details resulting from the incident. We then proceed to the wet sanding booth and physically remove all paint from the damaged area to further investigate the qualities of the remaining carbon.
Carbon repair is time-consuming because everything literally needs precise working by trained human hands and there’s no shortcutting. Sandblasting is out of the question as it would completely demolish the frame integrity and citri-strip is messy and not always very effective, which is why we wet sand everything in our custom booths.
Once the bike comes out of the wet sanding booth we re-investigate the damage zones and construct a custom layup scheme which we replicate from the original design intent of the frame. As you can see from above, this chainstay is literally hanging on by carbon fiber threads. On to the layup.
This next layup step is where we take our hand-cut, custom designed pieces of prepreg carbon and delicately reapply them to the frame. This repair required many layers both for structural security and depth matching. The frame then undergoes heat and compression casting to remove the excess epoxy from the repair layup, and through the wet sanding booth again for it’s paint preparation.
The repair process is one thing, but re-painting this frame was an enormous challenge. There’s color matching of paints(two colors…both fluoro!), testing to discover the real ambient temperature activation for the top thermochromic layer, and precise layering of all the coats to ensure a uniform finish.
This frame was extraordinarily tough to replicate: we had to teach ourselves a few things, we learned, we were challenged, we progressed… that’s what champions do. But we like think of it as us carrying the torch of carbon fiber repair. Have a frame that requires difficult replication and repair? Don’t get too heated! Send it to us.
