I made this comment in another section ... Hopefully it's OK here ... How did I work out the cost of the CF and resin? It's alimentary, dear Watson. Go to Weightweenies ... and check the frame weights of the CF bikes. The lighter Cervelo R3's come in under 900g. There are other CF bikes around 1300g frameweight. For ease of maths, lets use 1000g.Modern CF bikes are so friggin' fragile you need a velvet glove just to bump them ... I think they're a joke pulled on consumers by the manufacturers ... who just LOVE the regular sales ... There is $100 worth of CF and resin in your $6500 Cervelo frame .... and it breaks like an egg if you knock it.
A quality lamination will have above 50% fibre to total weight ratio. Under 50% and the properties of the resin start to dictate the laminate .. which is BAD .. because the resin has a tensile strength of approx 8000 psi, while the fibre is over 150 000 psi ultimate. Over 66% is too dry, and the laminate will split like a tree without enough sap. Let's assume these fabricators are good .. and they get 60% fibre to weight ratio.
So, for a 1000g frame, there is 600g CF and 400g resin. Looking at the weaves, I'd guesstimate that the cloth is 300gram/metre. 200g/m might be a bit thin, so they'd need extra layers to build up thickness. More work. At 300g/m, that gives us 2 sq metres of CF cloth. Price varies with quality, country of origin, properties of the fibres etc. CF is hugely variable. But for now, we'll assume the factory are paying a respectable $30/m for a high quality cloth. The price of resin could range from $4/kg up to $20/kg... depending on what's used. Let's assume they used $20/kg resin. 400g will cost $8. That gives us $68 in CF and resin to build a frame.
In the real world, the manufacturer is buying CF by the container load, and resin also by the container load. They may be mixing the resin inhouse to get the properties they desire. So it's entirely possible that the CF is costing them $18/m and the resin costs $10/kg for high end goop .. or $4 a kg for low end goop.
I'd guesstimate the manufacturer is making that frame for $65. S/he's selling the frame to Cervelo or similar firm for $650 .. which gives him a 1000% profit margin .. on the materials. Cervelo need to make a profit, and they need to cover their overheads, promotion, sponsorship, warrtanty claims, R & D for the previous frames, R & D for the future frames, and the cost of the tooling. I'd guess they make about $650 profit/ frame, and set aside $650 to cover their costs.
So they sell this frame to an importer for around $2000 .. which gives them the profit they need, covers their costs, and pays the manufacturer. The importer needs to cover costs and make a profit. S/he sells the frame to the retailer for around $4000. The retail adds his/her margin, and the frame sells for around $6500.
And that is how $65 worth of CF and resin ... ends up retailing for $6500. People are paying the retailer, and the importer around $4500. Cervelo is getting $2000, which covers the frame, overheads, and profit. As times get tough .. if Cervelo are smart .. they might sell DIRECT to cyclists. They could sell their frames for $3000 deliver to ANY major population centre in the world .. and EVERYBODY would win, including them.
Just gotta drool over the bling factor .....
