Black gold: 8 motorcycles made with carbon fibre

1. Ducati 1299 Panigale Superleggera
Ducati stole the show at this year’s EICMA expo in Milan when it uncovered the lightest and most powerful production superbike it has ever built. Boasting a tuned V-twin engine capable of a claimed 215hp/147Nm, the stinking donk is wrapped in a chassis made of carbon fibre. The bike’s swingarm and wheels are all made of the lightweight woven material and the result is a superbike which tips the scales at a meagre 156kg. That’s quite a power-to-weight ratio.

2. BMW HP4 Race
Just days after Ducati unveiled its all-carbon 1299 Panigale Superleggera, German manufacturer BMW followed suit with the all-carbon S 1000 RR track special called the HP4 Race. At this stage, the firm is calling it an “advanced prototype” which means it’s not quite ready and as a result hasn’t released any official specs in terms of power and weight. Pictures reveal, like the Ducati, its frame, swingarm and wheels are all constructed entirely of the lightweight and super strong carbon fibre.   

3. VanderHeide Superbike
Earlier this year, brothers Rolf and Sjors van der Heide unveiled an exclusive Aprilia RSV4-powered machine made almost entirely of carbon fibre. As well as the frame, swingarm, bodywork, fuel tank and wheels the VanderHeide Superbike’s Hossack-style girder front fork has also been constructed of the lightweight black stuff. The bike has a claimed dry weight of 175kg, almost 20kg heavier than Ducati’s all-new Superleggera, as well as a price tag of well over $200,000.

4. Ducati GP9
Ducati and carbon fibre aren’t strangers with the Bologna factory rolling out a carbon-fibre framed MotoGP prototype for Casey Stoner in 2009. Ducati ditched its signature and title-winning signature steel trellis design for both the swingarm and new monocoque frame to be made of carbon fibre and, like most times the bloke rides in anger, Stoner immediately impressed and topped the timing sheets of his very public debut on the bike. Two years later, after struggling on the Bologna-built GP machine, Valentino Rossi would push for a conventional aluminium beam chassis for the GP11.     

5. Skycraft FMX
A purpose-built FMX concept bike broke cover three years ago boasting innovative design solutions for a niche bike otherwise adapted from a machine designed for motocross. It was built by Triple Eight Race Engineering and it boasted a lightweight thick-woven carbon fibre frame which doubled as a fuel tank and used a carbon-fibre swingarm which also doubled as the bike’s exhaust. There were no shrouds to get in the riders’ way, which also made for an unprecedented turning circle, and the thing tipped the scales at just 75kg.

6. Bimota DB7 Oro Nero
It was some six years ago when Italy’s Bimota released the world’s first carbon fibre-framed production bike with the DB7 Oro Nero. The Oro Nero, which translates to black gold, made its public debut two years earlier at the 2008 EICMA motorcycle expo in Milan and while the construction material wasn’t unusual at the time, the execution in a trellis-style chassis application was a relatively new concept at the time. It was powered by Ducati’s 1099cc Testastretta engine and the Oro Nero weighed in at 6.3kg less than its aluminium framed counterpart, a weight saving which also translated to a €12,500 premium at the time.

7. Motoczysz C1
The hugely innovative Motoczysz C1 was the work of the late Michael Czysz and the carbon fibre monocoque chassis was probably of the more so-called ‘conventional’ features of the 2007 machine. It had adjustable trail, coaxial front suspension, a twin-clutch set-up and the airbag was built-in to the monocoque chassis design. Czysz had MotoGP ambitions for the C1, though a rule change which reduced the allowed engine capacity to 800cc thwarted the American architect’s GP dreams.  

8. Cagiva GP500 C194
It was way back in 1994 when carbon fibre frames first appeared in Grand Prix racing with John Kocinski’s C194 500cc GP prototype. His conventional beam design was made with a mix of both carbon fibre and aluminium componentry, but its pioneering debut resulted in a bike judged too stiff by its rider and abandoned for an all-aluminium affair just two races later.