Portuguese invest millions in carbon fiber frame factory

Portuguese invest millions in carbon fiber frame factory

The Carbon Team factory has an annual capacity of 25,000 units. – Photos Carbon Team

CAMPIA, Portugal - To serve the need for carbon fiber products in Europe a group of investors have founded ‘Carbon Team’ in Portugal. After the success of Triangle’s aluminum frame production founded by Rodi, Miranda and Ciclo Fapril, these 3 Portuguese companies joined forces with Bike Ahead composites (Germany) and Art Collection (Taiwan) to bring mass production of carbon fiber frames to Europe.

Our business plan is to develop and industrialize carbon fiber parts

Carbon Team sees a growing interest for its project now the European bike manufacturers feel the need secure their supply chain for the assembly lines in Europe. The initial investment for the Carbon Team frame project was 8.4 million euros. The construction of the 9,000 square meter factory started already in the 4th quarter of 2019 and was completed at the end of last year. The facility is locatie in Campia, Vouzela on an hour drive from Porto international airport and nearby the heart of the country’s bicycle industry in Portugal Bike Value.

The construction of the 9,000 square meter factory was completed at the end of last year.

“The factory has a capacity on 25,000 carbon frames on a very high level of production automation with 120 employees per year when everything is fully operational,” explains Carbon Team general manager Emre Ozgunes. “We expect to reach this capacity by 2024 and if needed we can expand this new factory by another 7,000 square meters.” For this year Carbon Team has planned the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 certification.

First frame past tests

“Our first Carbon Team bike frame was designed by Art Collection and was produced together with Bike Ahead in Germany. This amazing looking 800 grams (M size) MTB HT frame is 100% Monocoque frame which requires no gluing. The frame has already passed the rigorous lab tests in Germany and is certified. Carbon Team uses prepreg carbon fiber and an autoclave process to get the best result in terms of mechanical properties in combination with design. Thanks to the implementation of Industry 4.0 with a high level of digitalization we can achieve 100 % traceability of the production process.”

Carbon Team uses prepreg carbon fiber and an autoclave process.

Interest from the industry

“Our business plan is to develop and industrialize carbon fiber parts,” says Emre Ozgunes. “Our open model was initially developed and produced to show our capacities to our future clients. Our standard operating procedure for our carbon team hard tail frame started at this 1st quarter of 2021 as we are in contact with several orders from bike assemblers who want to use our frame to launch their products. At the same time, we are already developing carbon fiber bike frame projects for our future clients.”

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“We are very positive about the future of this project. Carbon Team fills an important gap in the supply chain in Europe and can become a key player for the industry in as provider of carbon fiber bike parts,” concludes Emre Ozgunes.