One of the innovations we brought to the sports community is our carbon fiber shoe skate reinforcement. Custom shoe quad skates have been made over the years with aluminum insole shaped reinforcements to screw on the plate (piece holding the wheels) to the bottom of the shoe. This can lead to bends and deformations over time, which can be avoided by making the reinforcements out of carbon fiber, so a carbon fiber reinforcement was needed. We started this journey with fun lab tests to prove the strength and durability of our carbon fiber, comparing a typical metal skate reinforcement with an Ology carbon fiber replica, demonstrating the superior quality of our carbon fiber and manufacturing methods. The test in the video below demonstrates the unique characteristics of our carbon fiber and the elastic limits of the two materials; how some materials don't bend back, and how super stiff Ology carbon fiber can take almost twice the strain, spring back and show no signs of bending or damage, unlike any other carbon fiber available.
Pull Test
Carbon fiber's extreme strength comes from the individual fibers themselves, which are thinner than hair but much more difficult to snap by pulling. Encasing thousands of carbon fibers with epoxy in specific directions yields great strength and after curing is lighter than aluminum or steel when used in their traditional applications. The most important reason carbon fiber is the best material for most sports gear that can accommodate it is it's stiffness compared to aluminum or steel. Sure, carbon fiber is amazingly light and the most advanced tech out there, but it's stiffness is much more than these other materials while being light, and it does not bend permanently like metals. These impressive characteristics are why carbon fiber composites are chosen over metals in high stress applications where low weight and high strength equipment can decide who is a champion and who will be switching to carbon gear next season.
The Weigh-In
304 Stainless Steel
Our carbon fiber CarbonBases can weigh in at up to 60% less than metal reinforcements. As you can see, other than weight, another core issue with thin metal plate is that it bends. The heavy reinforcement plate above was taken from a used pair of Vans Sk8 Hi customs not made by Ology. The owner of these skates complained about weight, pain in the toe area, and a very unstable ride from the metal bending in the areas that received pressure or impact. The heel had been bent upward from impacts and general use, and the toe area was bent far down where the big toe pushes the hardest during toe-stops.
Ology Carbon Fiber (same thickness as 5051)
5051 Aerospace Aluminum (after pull test)
Another of our in-house sports innovations is the first true injection molded, carbon fiber inline skate hybrid. This project utilized the very same carbon composites used in Ology’s custom, carbon fiber quad skate design and it's strenuous materials testing. Check out Ology Inline for full details.