THE use of carbon fibre in MotoGP is significant, with everything from the fairings and sub-frames to the sinks used to wash components in are lovingly crafted from the lightweight material.
The use of carbon fibre as a material to build a MotoGP frame though is not so common, with Ducati being the last to utilise the technology, although its ‘frame’ was not a traditional design and proved to be troublesome when it came to setting up the bike.
Since then, the structural use of carbon fibre has been limited, with some teams using carbon inserts in their frames to increase rigidity, and others laminating the traditional frame in a carbon fibre wrap for similar reasons.
Aprilia tests carbon fibre frame MotoGP bike
Now though we can see that a team is taking a second look at carbon fibre, as Aprilia has been seen to be testing a frame that looks suspiciously like a carbon one at Misano, with Lorenzo Salvadori doing the riding.
The news was shared by MotoGP mastermind and racing journalist Mat Oxley, who shared an image of the bike on his Twitter page. In it you can clearly see an Aprilia RSGP with what looks like a full carbon fibre beam frame running from the headstock to the footpeg.
Should Aprilia indeed be looking to roll out a carbon frame in the premier class it would be big news, although an even bigger news story would be if they can make it work and even better take a win with it. Carbon frames are historically tricky to ride when compared to a conventional aluminium item, with most pointing to the lack of flex and high rigidity being the main issues.
