Montreal, Quebec — When Michael McGinn, head of design at Guru bikes, needed a Rapid Prototype of the new CRONO 2.0 bicycle, he called AXIS prototypes, Canada’s largest rapid prototype / rapid manufacturing service center.

The GURU product development team had just finished design of their new CRONO 2.0 bike when it became clear they would not have the time to cut the molds and produce a first off in time for North America’s premier bicycle trade show – Interbike 2009, held in Las Vegas Nevada from September 22-24.

We were quite pleased with all the value added aspects the prototype brought forth.There was the obvious: it allowed us to really create hype by having an exact physical replica at the trade show to show off, it allowed us to book countless more orders

“We were quite pleased with all the value added aspects the prototype brought forth. There was the obvious: it allowed us to really create hype by having an exact physical replica at the trade show to show off, it allowed us to pre-book countless more orders with distributors and some of the world’s top riders; And there was the not so obvious: we obtained priceless feedback from industry professionals which allowed us to tweak the design even further, allowing for improvements that we would not have obtained had we gone directly to tooling. We also used the prototype for professional photo and video shoots which was superior to anything 3D rendering software could have produced” says Michael McGinn.

The CRONO 2.0 is the next generation of the world famous CRONO, which holds more time trial/triathlon records than any other custom carbon fiber bike in the world and is considered by many as the world’s best. Motivation for the CRONO 2.0 was driven by the need to revamp the aerodynamics of the CRONO while maintaining the customizability of rider position for every CRONO 2.0 manufactured, essentially leveraging the two most important aspects of bicycle aerodynamics: rider positioning and frame aerodynamics.

To manufacture the prototype within budget and whose weight was in line with the actual carbon fibre model, AXIS prototypes used an ABS like Plastic resin used in high end SLA (Stereo Lithography Apparatus) 3D printing technology machines and specialized software that essentially replaced the of the bicycle frame with a 1mm thick skin and internal truss system to reinforce the frame. The bike was then assembled and finished to give it a perfectly realistic look. The GURU assembly team then added aluminum inserts and bolts which allowed them to mount all the remaining hardware such as the wheels, crank, seat post, handlebars and wiring. “You really couldn’t tell it wasn’t the real thing…Some clients at the show wanted to ride it!… The trade show was a hit.” says Michael McGinn.

AXIS Prototypes
www.axisproto.com

GURU Bikes
www.gurubikes.com

::Design World::