Better Business / Member news
Renishaw launches new olympic bike ahead of Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Renishaw, the global engineering technologies company and official additive manufacturing partner to British Cycling, is celebrating the launch of the newly unveiled olympic track bike set to debut at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Collaborating with Lotus Engineering and Hope Technology, Renishaw has continued its partnership with British Cycling to design and manufacture essential components for the track bikes, with a primary focus on reducing weight and enhancing aerodynamics.
Among the components Renishaw has contributed to are the crank, seat stay bridge, dropouts, and a groundbreaking seat post made from aluminium, a first in its kind. Leveraging additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, Renishaw and British Cycling have been able to iterate designs throughout the manufacturing process, creating intricate and aerodynamic geometries that would be unattainable using traditional manufacturing methods.
A notable achievement is the design of the internal structure of the titanium crank, optimised for lightweight yet robust performance. Renishaw employed an internal lattice structure, impossible with conventional manufacturing, to maintain strength while meeting strict weight requirements for the bike.
Ben Collins, lead additive manufacturing application engineer at Renishaw, expressed excitement about the partnership, stating, “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.”
Renishaw’s contributions extend beyond development, with Oliver Caddy, lead project engineer at British Cycling, emphasising their support in wind tunnel model production and prototype parts. Furthermore, crucial elements of the bike, including seat posts and cranks, have been produced using additive manufacturing, demonstrating its significance in the cycling industry.
The new bike, a testament to collaborative innovation, will be utilised by Great Britain’s cyclists at the Paris 2024 Olympics track cycling events, between August 5-11 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games National Velodrome.
Main photo: Renishaw
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