The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi
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World’s First 3D Printed Bike Frame
It’s a titanium alloy mountain bike from Empire Cycles. It consists of titanium alloy printed parts glued together.
3D printing is in its infancy… and expensive, so why do it? Well the big reason is that they can custom make intricate parts that are super light yet super strong. They do this by refining the design to remove any bits that are not contributing to the strength of the part.
Other advantages over traditional manufacturing:
Weight savings, traditional titanium frame weights 4.63 lbs, the 3D printed version 3.09 lbs – a weight saving of 33%
Lot more freedom in design, not limited to gluing tubes or molded segments together.
Design can be modified easily, you basically just edit a 3D model
Rapid prototyping and iteration, create and test designs quickly
There’s a lot more interesting stuff they can do too, such as print the actual serial number into the frame, or your name, or an RFID chip for identification. I imagine sponsors would love to have their logos printed into the frame.
The 3D frame cost $31,000 so don’t expect to buy one off the shelf anytime soon. Until then use a name sticker like everyone else.