In a world of nitty gritty weight and watt-saving, many component manufacturers are giving their best shot at these performance-enhancing upgrades. This project is our first dip into the what we call the "hyper bike" world, where anything goes and innovative ideas are pushed to their limits all in the name of potentially saving a few watts. These types of projects are never straight forward, as the brief is constantly changing as we try to stay at the front, preferably ahead, of the latest aerodynamic discoveries and trends.

This project is on-going and is not yet in production. This process diary mainly focusses on my conceptual, graphic, and 3D printing input to the project.

Balancing areas of visual weight with rigidity and aerodynamics - emphasising the leading edge and prioritising rigidity between the attachment point of the derailleur mechanism and primarily the top pulley wheel.

Larger pulley wheels = less drag. This is due to the chain now bending and deforming less along its route through the drivetrain, which prevents energy generated by the rider from being lost through friction. This may seem insignificant, but consider how many links are passing over those pulley wheels every minute, and the difference that these minor savings make over the course of an entire race.

3D printed moulds serve as a low-cost method for rapid prototyping. In this case specifically, they allowed us to test the product and the material we intend on manufacturing it from - forged carbon fiber.

These actually made it through a 5-ton press and mild heat-curing cycle, which was way more than we expected our humble PLA+ moulds to endure. They're definitely sacrificial though, confirming our suspicions of this process struggling to perform even a small batch production run. 

At the end of the day, the prototype can still be tested on the bike and provide valuable insights for future prototypes down the line. This also provided us with the platform to experiment with mould design and techniques, and allowed us to push our simple desktop 3D printers to new limits.

Concept design and photography: Liam Snaddon

Lead designer and CAD: Mark Hopkins

3D printing of moulds: Marc Van Der Meer and Liam Snaddon

Structural composite consulting and carbon layup: Murray Duggan

Mould prep and finishing: Bryce Carter