I was asked to make some air tubes for a guy restoring a Suzuki World Superbike. It was from the 750cc era and he has most parts but the air tubes he had were copies of the genuine parts but weighed in at over 500grams. They were also gel coated black so he wanted carbon. It had to be the same weave and look as good as the factory part. After he asked me to do them he was given one section of the set in brand new condition for him to check out. I was sent the part and to say it was perfect would be a lie. It had pin holes in there and although it was nice it was not worth the £1600 Suzuki originally charged for the full set. 

Here are a few photos of the ones I made. 
 
Pattern ones.



weight of the pattern parts sections.


Starting lay up..




Bagged using a bagging tube through the middle of the tubes and another bag run outside the moulds then the two are sealed to each other to allow the inner bag to expand out and pull the carbon into the mould and the outer bag to seal it all and allow the vacuum fitting to be used.

Nice weight drop. Is that 2 layers of 200g?
I have a job like that coming up, but the pipes bend quite a bit. Did you get the tube bag from VacInnovation?

Looks great! thanks for sharing!

Matthieu Libeert
Founder MAT2 Composites X Sports
website: www.mat2composites.com

Cheers Matthieu. The second set worked out a lot better.. I now have to do some Honda WSB ones after someone saw those... lol..

The tubes are three layers all over with between 4 and 5 layers where it is weakest to just add a little strength but it is localised strengthening to be honest. The original ones are a bit squashy so adding a little reinforcement makes people happier even though the original ones are not as rigid.

Yes the vac bagging was from Vac Innovations.  I used a narrow bag for the inside of the tube and an 18 inch wide one for the main outer bag. Just remember the rolls are 75m long for tubes under 12 inches wide but 12 inch and over they are 150m long. They are a good bunch of guys and will be at the Composites show. I buy all my breather and vac bag from them now. Apart from when I need 1m or wider. I dont need too much of the wider bagging at the moment. Plus I need to make up a rack for wider rolls... lol.. 

I will post some photos of the Honda tubes when they are done.

My father in law is a steel fabricator, he made a steel A-frame rack for you know who, but he has'nt paid for it. It's flat packed and ready to go here at the shop, will hold either 6 or 8 x 2metre rolls, depending on how thick they are. I think he wants £300 for it.

Cool.... I have 3 sets of the air tubes I am waiting for the guy to pay me for.... He asked me to make them.. I did 2 sets in a few days and he has not paid yet... So I am probably going to sell them off if he doesnt sort out payment quickly and I have a few other jobs to get done...So I will let you know on the rack.. I would be up for that once I have cleared a few things here both sales and space....lol....

This is nice and timely!  I've been looking at a tube recently and couldn't figure out a good way of doing it without flanging one side and bonding.  The tube of vac film down the middle is a MUCH better way. 

You've also made a damn fine part!

No problem... lol..

They look brilliant and to be fair, for what is going on a race bike and should primarily be concerned with performance and weight only, they are more than adequate for the job in hand!! Even full of pinholes it would still do the job.

Your pursuit of perfection is impressive!

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant