CFK often is seen as the silver bullet to solve all engineering problems.  Its weight/strength ratio is unmatched, but it sure has some downsides.  One is the price and another the machining.  Tools get blunt fast and to keep tight tolerances is an art for itself with this material.  As a result its absolutely uninteresting for larger brands to produce complete reels out of this material.

But it saves roughly 35% of the weight compared to Aluminum and used in the correct way even adds strength to the design.

 

During the optimization phase I integrated a smart trick into the design that doesn’t reduce the physical weight of the reel but makes it “feel” lighter.  By not attaching the reel straight below the reel foot but slightly moved forward, the lever arm where the weight of the reel acts, reduces (measured to the balance point of a rod/reel system).

This reduction is about 15% of the entire reel weight, which is quite significant.  In other words, the reel feels about 15% lighter than it actually is.  Not bad by just fine tuning the design!  The reel in the end turned out as a hybrid between CFK for the frame and the spool and anodized aluminum for the hollow shaft and the raised pillars plus the reel foot.  The main shaft of the reel is stainless steel.

All the screws of the reel are aluminum as well, which has two benefits.  First of all it saves weight and second it also prevents the reel from contact corrosion which usually happens between different kind of metals.  Such a reel of course deserves only the best available bearings – in this case stainless steel ABEC standard with non-contact rubber shields.  They will last a lifetime.

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Feel the difference.

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