3D Printed Titanium Is Creating a New Kind of Bike

There’s a whole new kind of bike coming to market and, as J.Laverack unveils Speedform at Rouleur Live London, it’s joining the category.

What’s the new bike category?

The new category is that of aero titanium bike and until now it wasn’t possible.

Looking back at current bikes, there’s nothing more completely opposed as round tube titanium bikes that are prized for their ride feel, and aero bikes focused on speed. The reason is pretty simple, round tubes just don’t lend themselves to aerodynamic performance.

Round tubes optimize strength and weight but aren’t all that aerodynamic. Since titanium is only available as a round, or at least round-ish, tube that means if you want the ride feel of titanium then you’ve got to lean into that at the expense of aerodynamic performance. Given that the biggest force that slows a rider is air resistance that’s become more and more of an issue in recent years.

To solve that dilemma carbon fiber is the material of choice. Carbon is lighter than titanium but it can also be shaped into the truncated airfoil shapes that best cut through the air. Carbon fiber can also theoretically be tuned for ride feel but the investment of the molds needed to accomplish all this puts it out of reach of small brands.

Additive manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing, is making a mashup of these two types of bikes possible. Names at the leading edge of custom framebuilding, such as British framebuilder J.Laverack, suddenly have a new tool available and they are making use of it to build bikes that are custom, titanium, and aerodynamic. As J.Laverack unveils Speedform it could be the first to market in this new aero titanium bike category.

J.Laverack unveils Speedform but what is it?

According to the brand, “Speedform is the world’s most bespoke, fully additively manufactured, aerodynamically optimised and CFD-tested titanium road bike.” That’s certainly parsing words as we’ve twice seen the No. 22 Reactor Aero break cover at MADE in North America. Regardless of the exact details though, the two bikes are quite different. No. 22 is leaning into a very futuristic hard edged design language while J.Laverack is looking much rounder.

J.Laverack did share details about the design though. The design language comes from a 2017 track project and has been through a 20-month development cycle. The end result is “three precision 3D-printed titanium sections welded seamlessly into a sculpted aerodynamic form.”

There are also some numbers. J.Laverack worked with Loughborough University and “commissioned a detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis.” According to Professor A. Duncan Walker, Chair in Applied Aerodynamics at Loughborough University, that analysis showed “At typical road cycling speeds, this equates to drag reductions of 20–26%, or savings of up to 17 watts — impressive gains achieved through intelligent design and advanced additive manufacturing.”

Unfortunately there are some missing details about the weight or the performance compared to a modern carbon aero bike. J.Laverack does share that the max tire size is 32mm with the frame optimised for 30mm. There’s also internal routing with a T47 bottom bracket, a 3D printed KT1 seatpost, and dropped seat stays. We can also see from the provided pictures that there are some carbon fiber Enve parts rounding out the build package.

Speedform pricing and availability

Good news/bad news here. J.Laverack claims the bike will be available “middle of next year in limited numbers” which could make it the first to market. It’s also stated that “each frame is custom-built to the millimetre using parametric design, allowing J.Laverack to tailor geometry precisely to each rider’s needs.”

Unfortunately pricing is not yet available. Expect that if you want to ride one of these you will need to be able to take a five finger number in stride.

For more information visit the J.Laverack website.

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