Dangerholm, an extreme bike builder and tuner based in Sweden, has gained international fame for his extraordinary ability to create incredibly lightweight and high-performance bikes. He is now trying to make science-fiction a reality with his latest idea of a ‘bike of the future’ which has posed a challenge for manufacturers, but together with
www.trumpf.com Trumpf and its TruPrint metal 3-D printers, a prototype was produced ready to ride at
Eurobike 2024 last month.
Dangerholm, alias Gustav Gullholm, aims to ‘build bikes out of a pure passion for aesthetics and riding’. With perfectionism and a wealth of ideas, he has produced bikes that have made him one of the stars of the bike industry.
His most recent idea was a completely new handlebar. The Norwegian-born mechanic, who lives in Sweden, first built it with wood. He said: “Compared to what the Trumpf engineers achieved, my design was rather caveman-like.”
In addition to its futuristic design, the handlebars are essentially based on a unit with semi-internal ducts for the brake cables. Assembly and maintenance is designed to be completed without time-consuming disassembly and brake bleeding. A so-called snap-push connection made this possible, with the cables running along channels and being held in place by clips. These clips have undercuts, meaning they would require a very complicated mould to make the handlebar with carbon. 3-D printing is better in terms of process technology and gives a more elegant design.
Maxime Lallemand, Syncros components engineer at Scott, one of the leading manufacturers in the bicycle industry, said: “We have been working with Dangerholm for many years. This time, he wanted to produce a prototype of his idea of the ‘bike of the future’ with us for
Eurobike 2024 - not a design study, but a fully operational mountain bike. The new handlebar concept was also a particular challenge for us.”
The clock was ticking — with only five months until the start of
Eurobike 2024. For development, production on the TruPrint 3000 and ISO certification of the handlebars. So Scott developers Maxime Lallemand and Quentin Beauregard, MTB lead designer at Scott, called in Trumpf 3-D printing specialists to assist. They said: “For prototype development, aluminum 3-D printing is unbeatable in terms of cost and speed compared to classic carbon/mould construction. Technically speaking, 3-D printing pushes the boundaries in terms of form and function and this enables us to build a technically perfect handlebar and for Gustav that eliminates all visual distractions."
Maxime Lallemand and Quentin Beauregard had previously met application developers Chris Lengwenat and his colleague Nicolas Haydt, Trumpf technology experts for AM at
Eurobike 2022. In their luggage the pair had a brake lever, a brake caliper and a pedal - developed by the two Trumpf engineers and 3-D printed on a TruPrint with aluminum and titanium.
Mr Lengwenat said: “We went from stand to stand with our small suitcase and by the end of the day, we had many new contacts in the development departments of a lot of major manufacturers, including Maxime Lallemand who also introduced us to bike tuner Dangerholm.”
Aluminium 6061In the run-up to
Eurobike 2024, Trumpf, Scott and Dangerholm came together again. Mr Lengwenat continued: “The fact that 3-D printing with aluminium is even an option for components such as the handlebars is due to a new high-strength alloy. Aluminium 6061 has already found a lot of fans in the cycling world and we are currently the only ones in Europe with experience in 3-D printing with this material.”
For the experts at Trumpf, the handlebar project was an opportunity to exchange ideas with the carbon experts from Scott Sports who have many years of experience in the production of high-quality carbon bicycles and components.
Mr Lengwenat added: “Unlike conventional methods, such as milling, metal 3-D printing wins points for its freedom of form. Tools reach their physical limits, whereas powder can be built up in any shape.”
Mr Haydt continued: “The internal cable channels of the Dangerholm handlebars can only be realised with 3-D printing and we achieve high stability with low weight - this is what makes aluminium 3-D printing so interesting, especially for the bike industry."
Dangerholm, Scott and Trumpf completed the sophisticated handlebar design just in time for
Eurobike 2024. Dangerholm concluded:“3-D printing is like science fiction. You are literally holding a little piece of the future in your hands.”
Dangerholm also works with Faction Bike Studio from Canada for the derailleur components. Trumpf specialists fitted the bike with titanium components on behalf of Faction Bike Studio. These are exposed and error-prone rear derailleur components such as the parallelogram and the cage. The components were 3-D printed on a TruPrint 1000 using Ti64 Gd.23, a special titanium alloy with a particularly low oxygen content which has taken stability and design to a new level.