Urwahn Introduces New 3D Printed Titanium Body Variant for its SOFTRIDE Bicycle Platform

German bicycle producer Urwahn Bikes has launched a restricted version model of its SOFTRIDE bicycle platform that includes a 3D printed titanium alloy body.

Slightly than growing a brand new body design, the producer has utilized the brand new course of to the prevailing SOFTRIDE, holding its geometry and structural idea unchanged and altering solely the fabric system. This methodology is just like approaches utilized in aerospace and medical purposes, the place freezing the design and altering a single variable permits the results of a brand new materials or course of to be evaluated extra instantly.

Beforehand produced utilizing 3D printed metal, the SOFTRIDE now in titanium Ti64 achieves a body weight underneath 1.45 kg. In doing so, the producer is positioning the bicycle in a phase usually dominated by carbon.

Sebastian Meinecke, Managing Director at Urwahn, says the mission is targeted on structural improvement quite than status. By prioritizing materials conduct over visible change, the SOFTRIDE Ti64 exhibits how superior manufacturing and excessive efficiency supplies could be utilized to future mobility ideas.

Reengineering the SOFTRIDE in titanium

The mission additionally represents a case of AM being utilized to a major construction quite than to secondary elements. Though absolutely metallic 3D printed bicycle frames have been available on the market for greater than a decade, most metallic AM use within the sector nonetheless concentrates on smaller, extremely careworn elements reminiscent of joints or mounting options. 

On this case, the load paths and general traits of the body rely upon the 3D printed titanium elements themselves, inserting higher emphasis on long run fatigue conduct and structural stability.

Having chosen titanium Ti64, a fabric valued for its power to weight ratio, fatigue resistance, and secure mechanical properties over time, the body impacts each pressure transmission and vibration administration. The SOFTRIDE’s suspended rear part stays a part of the design, so these results complement the platform’s present suspension idea quite than changing it.

Alongside the change in materials and manufacturing methodology, the mission additionally exhibits how the SOFTRIDE platform is getting used throughout totally different configurations. The body is meant to help a number of drivetrain choices, together with belt drives, gearbox programs reminiscent of Pinion Sensible.Shift, and electrical help. 

The identical body idea is getting used for each typical and electrical variations, with the electrical configuration integrating the MAHLE X20 system. This light-weight system permits the SOFTRIDE Ti64 to retain its dealing with whereas delivering responsive and environment friendly electrical help, in keeping with Mahle SmartBike Methods.

3D printing titanium bicycle frames

From a sturdiness and lifecycle perspective, titanium’s resistance to corrosion and its response to repeated load cycles are related for long run use in each city and efficiency oriented using. This makes it a fascinating manufacturing materials for bicycles, and is being more and more employed hand in hand with 3D printing throughout the cycle sector.

As an example, bicycle producer Titan Tremendous Bond developed a totally 3D printed titanium alloy bicycle body utilizing the BLT-A320 system from Shiny Laser Applied sciences (BLT). In doing so, the producer produced structural elements reminiscent of head tubes and handlebars, addressing deformation management and weight discount in elements with wall thicknesses as little as 0.9 mm. 

The method diminished manufacturing cycles by about 30% and materials use by greater than 20% whereas assembly dimensional accuracy necessities of 0.03 mm. This indicators that high-end bicycle manufacturing has begun treating metallic AM as a sensible manufacturing route for full, load-bearing body constructions.

Elsewhere, metallic 3D printer producer Eplus3D partnered with Möve to develop the Avian e-bike with a titanium body based mostly on 3D printed lugs produced on the large-format EP-M650 metallic PBF system. The strategy changed hydroforming and tooling with printed Ti6Al4V lugs and connectors, enabling full battery integration and tighter tolerances. 

Assist constructions had been minimized by way of parameter optimization, decreasing post-processing and materials waste. The lugs had been bonded quite than welded, and floor ending was performed by abrasive blasting. In consequence, the mission shortened improvement time by about six months.

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Featured picture exhibits a technician assembling a bicycle body part in a workshop. Picture by way of Mahle SmartBike Methods.