The Atherton family are World Championship-winning mountain bikers who will race their own downhill mountain bikes during competitions and sell a range of bikes all over the world after launching Atherton Bikes in January (with Piers Linney of Dragons’ Den).
The introductory bike range will be made from carbon fibre tubing and lugs produced on a Renishaw multi-laser RenAM 500Q metal additive-manufacturing (AM) system.
The initial production will be at Renishaw’s Additive Manufacturing Solutions Centre in Staffordshire, followed by a transition towards in-house manufacture by Atherton Bikes. The lugs for Atherton Bikes are the first bike components to be built on the four-laser RenAM 500Q system.
Jono Munday, additive-manufacturing applications manager at Renishaw (
www.renishaw.com), said: “Renishaw is a world leader in metal additive-manufacturing machines.
“Due to our position as a leading metrology business, we are also perfectly positioned to help customers develop an end-to-end solution, from AM build all the way through machining and post-processing, providing an end-use engineered component.
“Manufacturing the lugs on the RenAM 500Q enables rapid production time. This means that the bike frame development can be turned round quickly and customised to the exact requirements of the rider, whether that is the Atherton Racing team on the World Cup circuit or an individual retail customer.
“Whereas traditionally a lot of tooling was required, additive manufacturing is an entirely digital process, so the lugs can be modified in CAD and reproduced more efficiently.”