February 17, 2025
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February 17, 2025
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Renishaw Wins Gold at Olympics with British Cycling

Key Takeaways
Renishaw helped British Cycling in 3D printing bike parts
Renishaw helped British Cycling in 3D printing bike parts/Source: Olympics

Renishaw, a global engineering technologies company, was instrumental in providing additive manufacturing (AM) expertise for the production of a highly successful track bike for British Cycling at the recently completed Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It can be said that Renishaw wins gold at the Olympics as it contributed to the winning team by developing a bike with maximum speed, balance, and aerodynamics.

This made design and manufacturing capabilities, such as metal additive manufacturing (3D printing), an important part of the organization’s efforts to help Team GB maximize its medal haul.

Renishaw Wins Gold at Olympics

Renishaw Wins Gold at Olympics with British Cycling
(Left to Right) Track Cyclists Katy Marchant, Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell won gold medal/Source: Olympics

Team GB’s track cyclists had a fantastic performance at the 2024 Olympics. Team GB won 65 medals, including 11 in cycling and eight on the track. A standout moment was Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell, and Emma Finucane winning gold in the women’s team sprint, coming from behind to break the world record for the third time in one day.

Following the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, British Cycling decided to expand its existing partnerships with Lotus Engineering, Renishaw, and Hope Technology to develop and manufacture its bike for the 2024 Olympics. However, due to COVID delays to the 2020 Games and shorter deadlines to present a new bike for 2024, it faced significant time constraints in delivering an optimised bike.

“The carbon fibre parts produced using traditional machining methods for the Tokyo bike met all the requirements we had, but time constraints for the Paris bike meant that this method was no longer viable for some bespoke parts. After seeing the benefits of AM and what it helped us achieve on the Tokyo bike, we knew it could be a manufacturing method to explore further.”

Dr. Oliver Caddy, Lead Project Engineer at British Cycling

Ben Collins, Lead Additive Manufacturing Applications Engineer at Renishaw, added, “After determining that the British Cycling team could not produce core crank and seat posts components in carbon fibre within the shorter time frame required, we began creating some additively manufactured prototypes in plastic.”

Renishaw and British Cycling agreed to 3D print seat post and crank, as well as smaller components including the seat bridge and dropouts
Renishaw and British Cycling agreed to 3D print seat post and crank, as well as smaller components including the seat bridge and dropouts/Source: Renishaw

Renishaw and British Cycling agreed to 3D print seat post and crank, as well as smaller components including the seat bridge and dropouts/Source: Renishaw

“Additive manufacturing enabled us to create complex geometries that removed any unnecessary weight while delivering the strength required for the athletes to reach racing speed. To develop a more aerodynamic seat post, engineers designed more free-form geometries to hollow out the part as much as possible, something that would not be achievable using traditional methods,” added Collins.

“We are delighted for British Cycling on another successful Olympic Games and to be able to play a part in this. It’s a fantastic achievement and a great showcase of the benefits of additive manufacturing.”

Ben Collins, Lead Additive Manufacturing Applications Engineer at Renishaw

British Cycling’s collaboration with Renishaw resulted in the development of a first-of-its-kind aerodynamic seat post with a hollow center and backwards leaning design that allows airflow through the bike’s center. Additive manufacturing enabled the rapid production of one-of-a-kind titanium seat posts tailored to the exact measurements of each individual rider. Over the course of the project, Renishaw manufactured over 1,000 parts to support 32 track bikes and spares.

Great Britain’s track cyclists rode the new cutting-edge bike at the track cycling events held at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games National Velodrome from August 5th to 11th.


Abhimanyu Chavan
Abhimanyu is the founder of Manufactur3D and has spent more than 7 years in the 3D printing industry. He has written over 2000 articles on the technology and industry and he continues to write and share content to promote the technology across the globe, and more so in India. You can follow him on social platforms.
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