The new bike, dubbed J.Laverack Aston Martin .1R, contains bespoke titanium lugs and components, created by both companies – weighing just 7.5 kg. The lugs and components are paired to corresponding carbon fibre parts. The titanium components are made on Renishaw’s RenAM 500Q metal additive manufacturing system.
Collaboration and Initial Design Concept
“Our relationship with Aston Martin started when a member of the design team became a customer of ours,” said David Clow, co-founder of J.Laverack. “Because he used the bike to commute, it caught the eye of other Aston Martin team members and planted the seed for a collaboration between the two companies, and we set out to design a high-end, luxury bespoke bike together.”
For J.Laverack, the bike had to be aesthetic with the aim of making a visually “boltless” bicycle from the lugs and carbon fibre tubes. Nearly every element could be tailored to the exact measurements of the rider.
Aiming for Bespoke and Technologically Advanced Design
“We started this project from a blank sheet of paper,” said Oliver Laverack, Co-Founder of J.Laverack. “We wanted to totally rethink bike design to make the most bespoke, beautiful and technologically advanced bike possible. It would be made to measure — to the millimetre — as a series of perfect one-offs.”
“During the development of the bike, we realised that 3D printing would enable us to make high-performance, geometrically optimised one-off parts,” said Laverack. “AM requires no tooling and is perfectly suited to low volume, customised applications. However, AM is a relatively new technology, and we had limited experience with it. We were looking for a development partner that we could have a strong relationship with, who could support and guide us with designing and manufacturing the AM components throughout the project.”
Renishaw’s Support in Titanium Manufacturing
J.Laverack required support from Renishaw in manufacturing the titanium lugs, brackets, fork dropouts, headtube, rear dropouts, seat tube lug and X-wing.
“Working with Renishaw on the additive manufacturing was a no-brainer,” emphasised Clow. “Not only is it a world-renowned British engineering company, but we were also impressed by its work on the British Cycling Olympic track bikes.”
“We assessed the best way to lay out the individual parts on the build plate, determined the best angle to orientate them and designed a support strategy,” said Joe McMurtry, Mechanical Engineer at Renishaw. “Because every AM part is different, so too is the approach, and we had to adapt accordingly to achieve the highest quality components. When making the top head tube, we decided to build the part on the plate without supports, adding extra stock to be machined off later to ensure there was no possibility for error when removing the part from the build plate,” said McMurtry.
Optimising Parts and Manufacturing Techniques
Renishaw engineers built the parts at an angle which eliminated overhangs and allowed them to create a geometry that didn't require internal supports. Metal additive manufacturing provided the design freedom needed to make complex geometries that would not have been possible using traditional subtractive methods, while enabling the light weighting of components.
Once the design and support strategy was optimised, Renishaw began to print the components in aerospace-grade 6AI/4V titanium in 30-micron layers, then heat treated and post-processed them so they can be sent for Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Using AM, as opposed to more traditional frame-building approaches, meant Renishaw could remove materials from certain areas of the frame where it is not needed, helping to reduce weight from the bike.
Complex Design Elements and Durability
Brake hoses are concealed within the handlebars, which is a complex part that uses the same design and manufacturing technique applied to the front splitter of a Formula One car. Each bike takes over 1,000 hours to create, including over 500 hours of CNC machine time. The titanium lugs have an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio due to the internal lattice structures, which enhance stiffness and torsional stability.
Final Thoughts and Future Plans for Renishaw and J.Laverack
“This bespoke titanium and carbon bike is a great example of collaboration between British companies that are committed to innovation,” said Chay Allen, Customer Applications Manager at Renishaw.
“I think we've made the most beautifully designed and engineered bike in the world,” said Oliver Laverack. “It is sleek, stiff, fast, and we can make them totally bespoke to the individual. It really is a masterpiece in British engineering and shows what a true collaboration can achieve. We were impressed with Renishaw's knowledge and support throughout the project,” said Laverack. “The team was able to make recommendations and changes to ensure we ended up with the best possible parts. Now we've seen the power of what AM can achieve, we'd like to plan to take the AM learnings and roll it out into our core product range.”
