Bolide F HR 3D: the first high performance 3D printed bike

Bolide F HR 3D: the first and fastest high performance 3D printed bike ever built. Designed for Filippo Ganna’s uci hour record attempt.

“We are always pushing the level of product design to new extremes to allow our champions to achieve their goals,” says Fausto Pinarello, Pinarello’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“Constant innovation and research are the foundations of success if you want to build the fastest time trial bike for the track. From Miguel Indurain’s World Hour record to the recent gold medals in the team pursuit in Tokyo, Pinarello has always set the gold standard in this segment."

“Working closely with Filippo Ganna and the INEOS Grenadier’s team to develop this revolutionary product is part of our company DNA. And the result of that extreme research, the spirit of innovation it engenders, and the technology it produces is then spread through the whole range of Pinarello products.”

All cyclists always want to ride the best bike available, especially when it comes to aerodynamic performance and power transmission. But for this unique project, the demands are even higher than usual. The Bolide F HR 3D needed a totally perfect fit, designed around the rider, conforming to Filippo’s unique anatomy to maximise both his comfort and overall aero performance. Comfort is often underrated, but when it comes to an UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot attempt it is absolutely crucial because it allows the athlete to go faster for longer. The importance of stiffness is also often underestimated for track bikes, but any flex under power causes the wheels to scrub, losing the athlete crucial centimetres every time they push the pedals.

With that in mind, this project needed to blend strength and stiffness with aero gains, with a production method that would allow for millimetre-perfect sizing and the full utilization of everything Pinarello’s engineers learned from months of intense research. Now, Pinarello is proud to introduce a world-first: a 3D printed frame, designed for a world champion and for his UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot attempt. It will be available for Filippo Ganna and for the global market.

3D printing allowed us to introduce new shapes and features that are impossible to replicate with existing carbon fibre techniques. With this new method we have created a unique aerodynamic shape and reached an incredible level of stiffness. Moreover, it made it possible to add internal reinforcement, create a totally new shape of head tube and importantly, it also drastically cut development time because we were no longer held back by the traditional time constraints of mould production for a carbon fibre frame.

“This is such a unique project; we believe it’s the beginning of a new manufacturing era. The next step will be to make it more affordable by finding ways to scan riders with more affordable equipment and automatically design each unique bike. From a world champion, to every World Tour rider, and eventually to each and every cyclist out there,” Says Federico Sbrissa, Pinarello’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Pinarello is proud to introduce a world-first: a 3D printed frame, designed for a world champion and for his UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot attempt. It will be available for Filippo Ganna and for the global market.

3D printing allowed us to introduce new shapes and features that are impossible to replicate with existing carbon fibre techniques. With this new method we have created a unique aerodynamic shape and reached an incredible level of stiffness.

Moreover, it made it possible to add internal reinforcement, create a totally new shape of head tube and importantly, it also drastically cut development time because we were no longer held back by the traditional time constraints of mould production for a carbon fibre frame.

“This is such a unique project; we believe it’s the beginning of a new manufacturing era. The next step will be to make it more affordable by finding ways to scan riders with more affordable equipment and automatically design each unique bike. From a world champion, to every World Tour rider, and eventually to each and every cyclist out there,” Says Federico Sbrissa, Pinarello’s Chief Marketing Officer.

The AirStream technology

The legs of the rider are moving up and down all the time in a rather complex but very repeatable path. The air flows around the seat tube and seat post is never straight. It is always alternating as the rider’s legs are constantly deflecting the air around them.

This alternating airflow makes it very difficult for the air to stay attached on the seat tube. The consequence is that the airflow is constantly separating from the seat tube, reating a large low-pressure area around it which in turn creates large amounts of drag. This is partly why the combined drag of the seat tube and seat post is almost 40% of the total drag of the frame and fork.

The University of Adelaide studied how humpback whales can do very tight manoeuvres in the oceans.

Nature has great way of natural development and has been doing it for millions of years. Humpback whales are well known for their ability to perform very tight turns as well as spectacular jumps out of the water.

Researchers have found that the tubercles (the protrusions in the front of their flippers) contribute significantly to this ability. In fact, researchers at the University of Adelaide have been working on this shape since 2006, first using them on aircraft wings and fans and then on bicycle frames, filing an international patent application for a bicycle frame in 2016.

Unfortunately, just putting a few bumps on the front of the seat tube is not enough to make anyone faster.

So to optimize our HR bike, Pinarello and its aerodynamic R&D partner NablaFlow ran many simulations, finding some effective designs, and some less so.

After extensive CFD and wind tunnel testing with live riders, our new AirStream technology was born, incorporating a unique pattern of AeroNodes on the frame that takes full advantage of the University of Adelaide's pioneering research.

Frame design

3:1 Rule. The new frame has been designed to reduce as much as possible the frontal area also taking advantage of the removal of the 3:1 UCI rule.

There have been some substantial gains from making the wheel hubs as well as the bottom bracket (BB) narrower than normal. The BB was narrowed down to 54mm (from 70mm), the wheel hubs from 120mm down to 89mm on the rear, and from 100mm down to 69mm on the front.

AirFoil sections

The next obvious improvement was to take advantage of the removal of the 3:1 regulation. This allows longer and slimmer airfoil sections to be used. It is very well known that airfoil sections that have an aspect ratio of 6:1 or even 8:1 do perform significantly better than the old 3:1 ratio.

3D PRINTING A NEW REVOLUTIONARY MANUFACTURING PROCESS

Metal 3D printing was first pioneered in cycling by Pinarello at world-class level in 2015, when the handlebar for the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot bike for Bradley Wiggins was raced to a record distance. 3D printing is well known for its ability to create difficult shapes with ease and to allow to manufacture each unit custom shaped for one single athlete.

To find the expertise, the knowledge, and the appropriate equipment we worked with Metron A.E. in the U.K.

The HR bike’s frame and fork were designed to take advantage of a new alloy called Scalmalloy, a high strength Scandium Aluminium-Magnesium alloy that it is an aerospace material specifically designed for 3D printing.

The choice of material and machine is crucial here.

Metron used a large format EOS M400 machine to 3D print the Scalmalloy parts. Indeed, the frame was only five parts, with the front triangle made in three pieces and the seat-stays / chain-stays as two more pieces.

These pieces were made individually and after meticulous cleaning and support removal, the parts were bonded together using an aerospace-grade epoxy.

In addition, titanium has been used on the fork head and on the handlebar extensions which are the higher stress areas.

A bike that is destined to be ridden by a world champion, besides having exceptional aerodynamics, must also have extraordinary strength. So, an exact copy of the frame which will be used in the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot attempt was send to EFBE in Germany for an independent strength test. The frame, fork and seatpost were put under a gruelling test regime that included the full range of fatigue, impact and torsion tests as specified by ISO4210. As a result, the new Bolide F HR 3D is the first fully ridable, UCI-compliant aerodynamic bike passing the ISO4210 and that will be ridden by a world champion on a world UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot attempt.

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