Renishaw uses additive manufacturing expertise to produce parts for the gold-medal winning cycling team.

Renishaw has used its expertise in additive manufacturing to contribute metal parts to the new track bike for the Great British Cycling Team (GBCT).

The team raced in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games from 28 July to 8 August, where a total of 30 medals were won by the home nations.

The partnership between Renishaw and British Cycling began in 2019, when the company produced new parts for the track bike that would be used at the Tokyo Olympics. This bike was used to win seven gold medals at the games. 

Lotus Engineering and Hope Technology first collaborated to develop the new bike, with a particular focus on speed to maximise performance and push for medals. British Cycling then approached Renishaw to join the development team after it recognised the benefits of metal 3D printing when developing lightweight yet complex components.

“The Commonwealth Games is a brilliant opportunity to display the innovation of British engineering as well as British talent on our home turf,” stated Ben Collins, Senior Additive Manufacturing Application Engineer at Renishaw. “The riders need the best equipment to perform at such high levels. By providing tailored AM parts to the cycling team, we can deliver the performance the team requires while also highlighting the potential of AM in producing high quality strong, lightweight and complex components.”

The additive manufacturing team at Renishaw used its expertise to rapidly manufacture and prototype plastic and metal parts for the bike design to ensure the part provided optimal aerodynamics. 

British Cycling benefitted from the rapid precision of AM when designing parts requiring customisation such as the handlebars. For the Tokyo Olympics, custom handlebars were tailored to the riders’ hands for optimum ergonomics. A necessary contingency that proved beneficial was being able to make last-minute modifications before the race.

Renishaw has also collaborated with bespoke Welsh bike manufacturer Atherton Bikes to produce parts for the brand’s competition-ready mountain bikes. The company’s systems are used for a wide variety of applications, with GKN Aerospace recently installing a RenAM 500Q system at its facility in Bristol.

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