Startup Arevo Inchas has produced what it says is the world’s first carbon fiber bicycle with 3D-printed frame.
Arevo is using the bike to demonstrate its design software and printing technology, which it hopes to use to produce parts for bicycles, aircraft, space vehicles and other applications.
Former Amazon and Google exec ushers in the era of the 3D printed bike with @ArevoLabs - 18 day production cycle and strength five times that of titanium claimed: https://t.co/bNNDdsi9cg pic.twitter.com/a7LDbFghh7
— CyclingIndustryNews (@cyclingindustry) May 17, 2018
Traditional carbon fiber bikes are expensive because workers lay individual layers of carbon fiber impregnated with resin around a mold of the frame by hand.
The frame then gets baked in an oven to melt the resin and bind the carbon fiber sheets together.
Arevo’s technology instead uses a deposition head mounted on a robotic arm to print out the three-dimensional shape of the bicycle frame.
The head lays down strands of carbon fiber and melts a thermoplastic material to bind the strands, all in one step.
AREVO Advances in #3DPrinting with New CEO, Series B Funding, #3DPrinted Bikehttps://t.co/UJNXQ5FETr@ArevoLabs
— 3DPrint (@3DPrint_com) May 17, 2018
Silicon Valley executives Jim Miller said Arevo is in talks with several bike manufacturers.
The company eventually hopes to supply aerospace parts.
“We can print as big as you want - the fuselage of an aircraft, the wing of an aircraft,” Mr Miller said.