Carbon tax on carbon frames and components

Today is Carbon Sunday, the govt introduced the so called "carbon tax"

One of my friends raised some good points

1.Consider the environmental impact of a custom steel frame - locally built, 20 years+ lifetime, easily repairable, against a carbon frame that is seen as 'disposable' after say 5 years. That's a big part of the reason I went back to steel.

2.Carbon fibre manufacture is high emission. Higher than any other material used for bicycle construction, taking into account the materials life cycle.

Thoughts, would we see the price of carbon frames and components increased?

 

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Permalink Reply by Terry C on July 2, 2012 at 19:10

Cheap steel frames are made from what is known as 1020 steel. This is a very basic form of steel tubing, and to provide the necessary strength, the tubes have thick walls, making for a heavy bike. Some of them felt like they were made of water pipe !  More expensive steel frames are of course, chro-moly steel, also known as 4130. This is much stronger than 1020, and therefore the tubes can have very thin walls, making them much lighter while retaining the necessary strength. There are many variations on the mix used in the manufacture of tubing. Famous brands like Reynolds and Columbus have their own formulas, and as the weight comes down, the price goes up !    

Permalink Reply by Alasdair McLellan on July 1, 2012 at 20:33

It might be time to find some sources on the energy cost of manufacturing certain materials. I'm keen to know what the real answer is but so far all I hear is 'of COURSE it costs more in energy to manufacture CF composite frames!'.

If this were a Wikipedia article there'd be a big blue [citation needed] tag.

Permalink Reply by Teddles on July 1, 2012 at 19:18
Remember when you carbon frame dies, it winds up in land fill. When a alloy frame dies it can melted down and can live again :)
Permalink Reply by Michael Bland on July 1, 2012 at 19:39

Recyclable in its purest form .  8~)
     

Permalink Reply by heather on July 1, 2012 at 20:31

Dare I say that steel bikes are more environmentally friendly than aluminium, which uses much more energy to smelt.

Permalink Reply by Alasdair McLellan on July 1, 2012 at 20:34

Possibly - but the best steel tubes are made overseas. I'd say that this energy equation is actually way too complex for the layman to work out.

Permalink Reply by David Southern on July 1, 2012 at 21:25

Aluminium is congealed electricity.

Permalink Reply by heather on July 1, 2012 at 22:19

So price of aluminium bikes will rise more than carbon, and excuse for that carbon bike will become more feasible. I will stick with steel and chro-moly.

Permalink Reply by Terry C on July 1, 2012 at 22:27

Most steel bikes are Chro-moly - - same thing. 

Permalink Reply by heather on July 2, 2012 at 18:40

Some ladies step-thru bikes are heavy steel and not alloy.

Permalink Reply by Sam Young on July 1, 2012 at 19:55

We won't - because I doubt bicycle manufacturers are being taxed. It's presently just the 300 biggest companies in Aus. Not to mention the frames are (almost?) all made over seas anyway. 

Maybe if there was a global carbon price, which effected more companies, we'd see the relative cost of carbon bikes go up. 

Permalink Reply by Terry C on July 1, 2012 at 21:33

The 300 biggest is a myth. Here in Tasmania, we are paying carbon tax on our Hydro generated power !

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