![]() ![]() The Bastion team worked closely throughout the development with Raoul Luescher from Luescher Teknik, a world renowned expert in Quality Control and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and Inspection of carbon fiber components with a background in the aerospace industry. The goal was always to obtain a high-quality end-product. So we developed our own novel molding process and after months of trials are now producing what we believe are some of the highest quality carbon fiber components in the industry.” NDTesting a 3D printed bicycle cockpit James Woolcock, Engineering Director, Bastion said: “When we looked at the more complex loading compared to the frame and in the fork in p articular, we identified the need to use non-uniform and non-symmetrical lay-ups which is just not possible with filament winding. However, unlike the tubing in their frames which is filament wound, Bastion has created a new process using hard tooling and pre-impregnated carbon fiber to manufacture the legs and steerer of the fork, and the crossbar of the bar-stem. Throughout the system a combination of 3D printed titanium alloy and carbon fiber is employed. This assists routing of the hoses and wiring, but also means any loss of steering control in the event of a loose stem bolt is virtually impossible. To facilitate the internal routing a D-shaped fork steerer tube has been used, but unlike other D-shaped steerer systems, the matching bore in the stem is also D-shaped. Although extremely challenging from a technical perspective we are glad we persisted and the evidence is in the beauty of the end product.” James Woolcock, Engineering Director at Bastion provided additional details: “Even though most systems on the market use a larger 1.25” upper headset bearing we felt this was too much of a compromise on the visual weight at the top of the bike and not something we wanted to accept. Unlike many similar products on the market, their system utilizes a more traditional 11/8” upper headset bearing resulting in a more svelte and refined aesthetic and enabling them to maintain the existing styling of their bikes. The icing on the cake so to speak has been the ability to hide all the hoses and wiring which is something customers are increasingly asking for as it creates a much cleaner aesthetic and also delivers a small aerodynamic advantage.” The new cockpit and the addition of our breakthrough technology to the fork and bar-stem extends the same beautifully refined and smooth ride quality to the front of the bike, matching the rear. To date, we have made use of aftermarket carbon fiber forks and bar-stems and we have felt there is a small, but noticeable disconnect in the ride quality between the front and rear of the bike. Now we can use whatever fork offset we need between 40 and 55mm depending on the design. Especially on smaller frames the limits on the fork offset can inhibit achieving this optimized handling condition while maintaining toe clearance. However, hiding the hoses and wiring for an appearance benefit has been something which has increasingly been requested of them by their client base in recent months.īen Schultz, Managing Director, Bastion explained further: “When we are designing a custom bike for someone, fork offset and head tube angle are two of the most important variables in getting the bike to handle the way we would like and the customer expects. The Australian company just unveiled the latest development at the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia (HBSA) in Melbourne: a fully integrated 3D printed bicycle cockpit system incorporating an internally routed fork and one-piece bar-stem made entirely in-house at their facility in Fairfield, Australia.įor several years the company has been planning to create such a system, citing the ability to tune the fork offset for further optimized handling for each rider and further improved front-end ride quality through controlled flex and damping characteristics as the main motivation for the development. Since 2016, Bastion Cycles as been a pioneer in applying 3D print ing to custom bicycle production (with internal Renishaw metal systems). ![]()
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