Composites in Sports and Recreation

Composites are found in products used in 7 of the 10 most popular outdoor sports and recreational activities. Glass- and carbon-reinforced composites (alone or in hybrids with other fibers) continue to replace wood and metal in fishing rods, tennis racquets, spars/shafts for kayak paddles, windsurfing masts and boards, hockey sticks, kites and bicycle handlebars, as well as in niche applications, such as fairings for recumbent bikes. Several carbon fiber producers estimated in 2009 that sporting goods will consume at least 17.6 million lb (8,000 metric tonnes) of carbon fiber by 2013, worldwide, despite the fact that consumer purchases of sporting goods dropped 12 percent between 2008 and 2009 according to the National Sporting Goods Assn. (Mt. Prospect, Ill.).

Read more: http://www.compositesworld.com/articles/the-markets-sports-and-recreation-2010