3D Print Custom Bike Parts

We spend so much time thinking about how 3D printing can be integrated into cars and airplanes that we sometimes forget about simpler forms of transportation. Australian start-up Bastion hasn’t, however.

Formed by three Toyota Australia engineers, the company plans to produce custom performance bike frames that include titanium 3D-printed lugs and spun carbon tubes. Bastion will use the Lab 22 facility run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) for production.

The company will create ribbed titanium lugs that allow them to tune the compliance and stiffness of the bike based on customer preferences. The lug design has allowed the company to produce the frame tubes from carbon fiber via filament winding — a process not typically used for frames because of limits on separating compliance and stiffness qualities.

The lugs are formed from aerospace-grade titanium alloy powder using laser sintering in an inert gas environment.

Each bike will go through finite element analysis (FEA) to verify its performance prior to customer approval. The company claims it can produce a custom bike within four weeks of ordering.

Bastion joins at least two other companies in the 3D-printed bike space, Empire and Flying Machine. A U.S. company called Industry also produced a 3D printed bike prototype for the Connected Conference.

Lab 22 is a $6 million additive manufacturing facility focused on metal 3D printing. Flying Machine has also used the facility to produce a bike.

Source: BikeRadar