Italian bike manufacturer Pinarello has produced the Bolide F HR 3D, which they call "the first and fastest high-performance 3D printed bike ever made."
October 7, 2022 - Italian bike manufacturer Pinarello has produced the Bolide F HR 3D, which they call "the first and fastest high-performance 3D-printed bike ever made. The frame and fork were printed using Scalmalloy, a mixture of scandium, aluminum and magnesium that provides high strength and is designed for 3D printing.
A 3D printed bike made for the track
The company explains, "The unique design concept behind the Bolide F HR 3D is a perfect combination of strength and stiffness with aerodynamics, relying on a production method that allows for millimeter-scale, near-demanding production to further achieve this."
△ Close-up of the front section of the aerodynamic 3D printed bike Bolide F HR 3D
The special serrations on the seat tube and seat post aren't whimsical; they're actually a bionic way to improve the bike's aerodynamic performance.
△ Seat tube and seat post with aerodynamic bionic design
Researchers found that the combined drag of the seat tube and seat post accounted for almost 40 percent of the total drag of the frame and fork. By studying how humpback whales are able to maneuver compactly in the ocean, they found that the nodules (the protrusions on the front of their fins) contribute significantly to this ability. The researchers then tried to apply this shape to a bicycle, and they also found that the seat tube and seat post could minimize and reduce drag by creating flowing vortices in the grooves between the special serrations."
△ The bike was custom designed specifically to break the UCI hour record
The Bolide F HR 3D was designed by Pinarello, in collaboration with competitive cyclist Filippo Ganna and his team INEOS Grenadier.Ganna will use the custom-built, 3D-printed aerodynamic bike to attempt to break the UCI hour record, which is when a person rides around a race track and tries to get up as far as possible in an hour get up as far as possible within the hour.
In the sports world, competitive bikes combined with 3D printing technology have been shown to play a key role in improving performance. Bike saddles, for example, need to be optimized for the comfort, health and performance of the athlete.
△Canyon's 3D printed bicycle frame
More 3D printed bikes
Canyon 3D has partnered with software and 3D printing service provider materialise to design a sustainable bicycle with all components fully recyclable. The company used Materialise's selective laser melting (SLM) 3D printing technology to print the bike's frame and fork.
Not the first project involving bicycles, Materialise has printed 2,000 parts for bike maker Pinarello's Dogma F race bike in 2021. The bike's seat components were weighted down, creating a full-service custom production workflow for the project.
△ Bicycle frame is 3D printed and bonded together in three parts
In order to meet the project's sustainability requirements, the frame and fork were 3D printed from recycled aluminum powder.Canyon also wanted to reduce the total amount of raw materials used in the frame manufacturing process, which would not only improve the bike's environmental impact, but also reduce frame weight and provide performance benefits. The frame consists of a skeleton that forms its structure, which is enclosed within the shell to provide additional protection and more desirable surface characteristics. The frame is divided into three parts, each manufactured by 3D printing, and each piece takes approximately six hours to produce. Once printed, the frame and fork weigh just 2 kilograms. While Canyon says it has no current plans to put the bike into production, the project could influence how the company designs and builds future models.
With 3D printing's ability to consolidate multiple parts into a single lightweight component and produce parts with arbitrarily complex geometries, bike manufacturers have increasingly realized the benefits of the technology in recent years.
