Atherton Bikes have collaborated with Renishaw to develop AM methods
Atherton Bikes, who have produced World Championship winning bikes multiple times with their founders the Atherton family, winning three World Cups alone on their own bikes, have collaborated with global engineering technologies company Renishaw for additive manufactured bike components.
The collaboration will develop their in-house additive manufacturing (AM) processes to keep developing durable, world class, competition-ready mountain bikes. They use their expertise and experience to produce bikes that are used internationally.
Bryan Austin, Director of Sales at Renishaw, said: "By investing in AM processes, Atherton has the design freedom to develop the best parts for its bikes, something that was difficult to achieve using traditional casting methods."
Based in Wales, Atherton is located only a short drive from the Welsh mountains, where they let their customers test their new bikes. To reduce manufacturing times, Atherton has moved all manufacturing processes in-house.
The in-house processes will include additively manufacturing lightweight and robust lugs to reinforce joints between tubes and help distribute the stresses put on the bike in harsh terrain.
"The small size of our office in Wales was a challenge, because most machines are produced to fit an industrial unit, so Renishaw’s experts suggested we opt for the RenAM 500Q,” said Dan Brown Co-Founder of Atherton Bikes.
Talking about the benefits of the machine, Dan added: "The machine’s compact size, high speed and build accuracy made it a perfect solution. With this machine we are able to keep up with the bespoke and high demand manufacturing requirements, especially during the busy race season.”
Renishaw have supported Atherton throughout the process through more than just supplying the machine such as manufacturing parts before the company decided to invest in the RenAM 500Q, Dan Brown said: "Some of our colleagues were personally trained by the Renishaw engineer at New Mills who personally manufactured our parts. His specific knowledge about our production process allowed our staff to quickly adapt to in-house manufacturing after the training session."
