Germany really has been busy this lockdown and we've already seen
the raw and wonderful FCKW and the
additive manufactured Moorhuhn grace the front page in recent weeks.
The latest project we've spotted from the Germans is this stunning Frace F160, a bike that's been milled entirely from a block of aluminum. The technique isn't new, after all who can forget
Cannondale's wild Pong V4000 prototype that graced the cover of pretty much every mag going in 1994, or Pole's construction technique, which uses two separate milled sections glued together.
Bernd Iwanow, the engineer behind this bike, does things a bit differently though. Unlike Pole's design, this is one solid construction, and there's no mistaking this bike for anything other than a completely milled frame thanks to the latticework of holes on every tube.
This was Bernd's first bike project but he has been milling CNC parts for the automotive industry since 2006 though his company CNC Future Technic. He was approached by a local bike manufacturer 2 years ago for a small project and enjoyed it so much that he decided to go all in and build his own bike. As he already had the machines, it seemed like the obvious choice to go with that technique for this project.
The bike starts life as a 70kg slab of 7075 aluminum that quickly gets turned into the mainframe. It may sound like this leaves a lot of waste but the off cut material then gets used for other parts. In total, 8 individual segments are machined and then connected using titanium screws to form the final bike. 7075 aluminum is not weldable so it's not a material we often see on bikes, but Bernd says it is incredibly stiff, which allows him to take so much material out of the frame. Despite this, it's not super light and the pictured build apparently tips the scales at 16.3kg (37lb).
Details
Frame Material 7075 aluminium
Wheel size 27.5"
Travel front: 160mm
Travel rear: 160mm
Head angle: 65.5 degrees
Seat angle: 76 degrees
Reach: 455 mm
Chainstay: 440 mm
Weight: 16.8kg (37lb)
Torture testing is the final step
This is Bernd's first bike project and it has taken two years to come to completion. As he isn't himself a mountain biker and doesn't come from a bike design background he found the geometry and kinematics the most difficult parts to work out, especially of the chainstay Horst Pivot. He began working it out in CAD and it took him several weeks of working with his test pilot, Frederik Tobiasch, and five versions of the bike to get to the current configuration but says it is now the part of the bike he is most happy with.
Test rider, Frederik Tobiasch, helped provide invaluable feedback to dial in the Horst Link system
Frace will be initially limiting production to 30 per year with a frame costing €5,000, the bike will be available from August 1. Keep an eye out for more from Frace in the future with an eFrace already being planned and developed.
More info.
Or maybe he's saving that for v2.0.
as @dominic54 said - there is no value add here - its not better. its just interesting.
not lighter.
not stiffer.
not cheaper
the 'not good for the environment' is trivial (if annoying to some) - the scale of manufacture is tiny.
so the only real thing it has going for it is that it looks unique - lets hope he can sell a few as he's doubtless put the hours in on it but suspect it won't change the game....
It's not innovative at all. Innovation is what the world needs, not people making crazy stuff for the hell of it. innovation is driven by doing a same/similar thing better. Efficiency, cost, materials, weight, strength all are at play - and while cool and interesting, this is an incredibly wasteful product that delivers little or no gains on the classic design.
Your ''duhhhh pretty bike look nice'' outlook is staggeringly stupid, frankly. And is the kind of thinking that has lead to the 'eco buzz-killers' you seem to hate so much.
Ironic really.
@mgolder yes Ikr, how dare this man defy humanity and build a bike while the rest of us struggle to save the human race from our own problems
Just chill guys, it's a nice bike
...i might go for a ride this afternoon
As for "beautiful", I think it can be quite hard for us "consumers fo the product" to distinguish the "design" and the application. I recall when someone first pointed me at the citrus juicer from Philip Stark. Apparently it was innovative and in a way it probably was. But it gave me itches and goosebumps (in a bad way) just looking at it. Imagining how it must scratch over your tabletop and the high pitch noises that must make, amplified by those long legs. I thought sure, loads of designers must have come up with this concept in a brainstorm, to then reject it just because it is pretty horrible to look at, let alone work with. Same goes for a cored out frame. Of course loads of people must have thought about this. Just the mere thought of how heavy this would become to make it strong and stiff enough, how it would hurt if you bang in it or even how it wears your clothes and kneepads, how much of a bitch it must be to clean this thing... Maybe it takes someone who doesn't have the faintest idea of what mountainbiking is, to then appreciate it as an art piece.
Anyone who makes their own stuff is already acutely aware of the flaws, and could probably point out many things they’d change on the next version. Product development is a process.
The world has too few makers and too many critics IMO.
In the case of iron, oxidation, i.e., rust, does not protect iron from oxygen and water, and significant amounts of iron are not recyclable because the iron has been converted to rust.
source: www.e-education.psu.edu/matse81/node/2087 - PennState - college of earth and mineral sciences.
newatlas.com/welding-aa7075-aluminum-alloy/58449
That article came out last year and really could be a game changer in the bike industry but I haven't heard much about it since...hopefully companies are exploring.
Maybe by then we’ll start seeing some alloy frames available in this 7075? Hopefully. Likely not. But I’m hoping still.
(For the rest of the day I will regret my choice of careers and wish I built bikes for a living...or boats, or cars, or surf boards, or skate boards)
This did remind me of it but that was a zinc die cast material totally different to this!
They start with a 70 kg piece of metal and end up with an 16.8 kg bike. it's still pretty f*cking wasteful.
lava lamp in some holes if you live in oregon"
plumb-bob in one to see your ascent angle?
For PNW's....hang salmon and park near a smokey fire...yum!
This is no more innovative or clever than those dudes who make frames out of bamboo. Why does a bike deserve props just because it looks different than the norm? If Trek had come out with a nearly 40lb enduro bike that didn't ride any better (maybe even worse) than what was already available then we'd all be slagging it off.
Hope could have built this (and they sort of did but only as a show bike) in the mid 90's but probably didn't because it isn't very good. In the UK in the late 80's early 90's we had Kirk Precision making frames with a similar aesthetic but from cast magnesium which is far more innovative than this. Empire bikes also had a similar aesthetic (I know it was welded cast and drawn pieces but it had the same look) but they are no more as it didn't offer any advantages over what was already available.
If the bike was just an experiment to see if a frame can be produced with just a CNC machine and no welding then it was a success. This though is a product for sale that apparently offers no advantages over what is already available and is really heavy and expensive and thus should be treated with disdain like all other rubbish 'innovations'.
Snap, krackle pop are the sounds this thing will make. And yes, wasteful manufacturing is a big deal, the practicality of this ridiculous looking think in the real world without even being a better mouse trap. Guess they had to do something to keep busy during lock up. Probably takes about 2 weeks to machine this fiasco. Should put a cermic speed drive train on it because trade show booth eye candy are all they are good for.
How much does a 70kg bit of 7075 cost to start with?
... and I love the usual deference of Pinkbike to the products they advertise. Commenting on the 70 kg: "It may sound like this leaves a lot of waste but the off cut material then gets used for other parts". Really? What other parts exactly?
But at least it looks cool I guess?
it's enogh to know for me.
heavier than my DH bike
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