Renishaw provides additive parts for new British Cycling track bike

As official additive manufacturing partner to British Cycling, global engineering technologies company, Renishaw, has provided components for the newly unveiled Olympic track bike for Paris 2024.

Renishaw has helped to design and manufacture a number of components on the bike, including the crank, seat stay bridge and dropouts, as well as a first-of-its-kind seat post created in aluminium. Using additive manufacturing (AM) to manufacture these parts allows the British Cycling team, alongside Renishaw, to change the design throughout the process and create complex and aerodynamic geometries that would not be possible using traditional manufacturing technologies.

Renishaw helped to design the internal structure of the titanium crank to deliver an optimised lightweight part. By using an internal lattice structure that is not possible using other manufacturing methods, Renishaw has been able to maintain the strength of the part, whilst keeping it lightweight enough to accommodate the overall weight limits for the bike.

“After Team GB brought home seven Olympic medals from the Tokyo Olympics, we were delighted to be asked to continue our partnership with the British Cycling team and develop components for the Paris 2024 bike,” said Ben Collins, lead additive manufacturing application engineer at Renishaw. “Bringing together the best of British engineering talent, we have been able to refine the design even further and showcase how additive manufacturing can deliver strong, yet lightweight parts for cycling, while demonstrating these benefits to other industries. Every bike is tailored to the measurements of the athletes, which is more difficult and costly using traditional manufacturing techniques, so it’s a great example of the role of AM in bespoke manufacturing.”

“It was great to see the success of Team GB and the bike in the last Olympic cycle and we are excited to see how the bike performs in Paris after creating the split seat post, seat bridge, dropouts and crank,” added Mr Collins. “Our aim for this Olympic bike is to push the boundaries with AM technology further, whilst still achieving high-performance components that are tailored to the riders and meet Olympic requirements for strength and weight.”

Oliver Caddy, lead project engineer at British Cycling added: “The Renishaw team has been incredibly reliable throughout the entire process of developing parts ahead of the 2024 Olympics. It’s clear that they are as committed as we are to delivering excellence on this project. It’s also appreciated by the athletes that are working hard to ready themselves for their events in the summer.”

Renishaw
www.renishaw.com/en/metal-3d-printing