News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
In 2014 Dr. James Novak 3D printed the world’s first full-size bicycle frame as a single piece. It went on to win the Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper award at RAPID 2015 and was exhibited around the world over several years, including the Red Dot Design Museum (Essen, Germany) and BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels, Germany) with Materialise. The bicycle is now available as a NFT (non-fungible token), another world-first
Bicycle accessories manufacturer fi’zi:k has introduced Argo Adaptive, an all-new 3D printed saddle that will be presented exclusively at the Sea Otter Classic between 07-10 April 2022. Utilizing Carbon DLS 3D printed “digital-padding”, the new saddle expands the Argo family and joins the best-selling Antares Versus Evo within the fi’zi:k Adaptive range.
German design company DQBD is leveraging the Stratasys H350 3D printer to produce personalized cycling saddles that offer a higher level of comfort and performance efficiency compared to regular versions. DQBD is additively manufacturing several of the saddle’s load-bearing parts at scale, saving thousands of euros in costs and cutting lead times from months to just several days compared to traditional molding methods.
From the ice to the roads, Californian startup KAV has expanded its range of protective gear today with the launch of a 3D printed bike helmet. The new product follows the company’s original release last year: a custom 3D printed helmet for ice hockey.
Superstrata, the company founded by Arevo Labs to commercialize composite 3D printed bikes and e-bikes, has shipped the first Superstrata bike. The bike marks a significant milestone as it represents one of the very first continuous fiber-reinforced composites 3D printed consumer products ever to hit the market. As such it was highlighted by 3dpbm as one of the best 3D printed products of 2020.
Bicycles were one of the first consumer products to embrace 3D printing, with dozens of examples of both concept models, one-offs and actual production already underway. One reason is that personalization and weight-optimization play a big role in bicycling; another (related) is that two key materials for bicycles are carbon fiber composites and titanium, which are also key materials in 3D printing. For Tom Sturdy of Sturdy Cycles in Somerset, UK, titanium is it and he turned to AM service RAM3D to 3D print it.