Scott Martin

What's your bike's frame made of? Steel or aluminum? Get with it, oldtimer. Titanium or carbon fiber? How quaint.

My next bicycle is going to be constructed of buckypaper.

For those of you who don't curl up at night with a copy of Nanotube Digest magazine, buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are pressed together to form a composite.

Why is it called buckypaper? Under the microscope, it resembles Bucky Badger, the rascally mascot for the University of Wisconsin.

Kidding! The material is named buckypaper because its molecules look like the geodesic domes promoted by inventor, architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller.

"This very well could be a very, very game-changing or revolutionary technology to the aerospace business," a bigwig at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control told the Associated Press.

"Missiles, schmissiles," I hear you saying. "What about bikes?"

Funny you should ask. Carbon nanotube technology is already being used to strengthen tennis rackets and -- oh, yeah -- bicycles. But only in small amounts. Standard epoxy resins used in these applications make up no more than 5% of carbon nanotubes, added in the form of a fine powder.

In contrast, buckypaper has a nanotube content closer to 50%. Can you say, "Superbike"?

Unfortunately, it may be awhile before you can buy a BuckyTrek or CerBuckyVelo. Buckypaper is being made only in the lab, but Florida State University is in the early stages of developing a company to make a commercial version. The long-range possibilities: buckypaper planes, buckypaper cars, buckypaper armor plating, buckypaper stealth technology.

Buckypaper bikes can't be far behind. Better start saving your buckies.

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