Despite the fact that the cycling industry is roughly 150 years old, bicycle design and engineering continue to evolve, especially as materials evolve. Four years ago, the founders of Rolo identified what they believed to be a gap in the carbon composite road racing bicycle frame market. Not being engineers, the two founders realized quickly that they would need to craft an engineering solution if they were to attempt to achieve their stated goal of designing, manufacturing and selling the highest performing road bicycle frame in the world. Having identified the key performance targets, and having designed the basic elements of the frame, they focused very quickly on Altair and its modeling capabilities. Together, they designed and built virtual test jigs to replicate the industry standard bench tests for fatigue, as well as stiffness and comfort. The result is that Rolo now manufactures the lightest, stiffest and most comfortable road racing frames as well as the only custom lay-up frames in the world, and achieved this objective in record time. Speakers Adam Wais, CEO, Rolo Bikes

1. Developing the ultimate
road racing bicycle frame
Adam Wais | Founder & CEO | Rolo Bikes
Altair ATC | Paris | September 30 | 2015

2. BACKGROUND
OBJECTIVES
ACTION
RESULT

3. BACKGROUND

4. In 2010 - as customers - we asked ourselves what the best
road bicycle in the world was.
What did we think determined the ”best” bicycle?
The hierarchy of importance in road bicycles:
1. Fit
2. Handling
3. Physical characteristics
THE ‘BEST’ BICYCLE?

7. The industry has moved from metal tubed frames to carbon
composites.
Some custom metal tube builders switched to carbon tubing
while large manufacturers mold frame sections.
WHAT WHY HOW

10. OBJECTIVES

11. Establish the engineering targets
• EN 14781
• Weight, stiffness, comfort: the Tour Magazin test protocol
How do we achieve those targets? Is it even possible? Do we
have to make and break dozens of frames? There has to be a
better way.
PERFORMANCE

12. Weight: under 750g
PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES
Head tube stiffness: over 96 Nm/deg
Bottom bracket stiffness: over 65 N/mm
Comfort: under 200 N/mm

13. ACTION

14. How do we do the engineering and who can help us?
Replicated the EN test jigs as well as the Tour Magazin test in
Hyperworks using Optistruct.
Manufactured test frames which were then tested physically to
correlate results and refine the virtual jigs.
WHAT DID WE DO?

15. OPTIMAL STRUCTURE

16. 1. Front impact
2. Falling frame impact
3. Fatigue test - frontal forces
4. Fatigue test - pedalling forces
ABUSE LOAD CASES

21. 1. Head tube stiffness
2. Bottom bracket stiffness
3. Comfort test
TOUR MAGAZIN TESTS

25. FRONT IMPACT TEST

26. FRONT IMPACT TEST

27. BOTTOM BRACKET STIFFNESS

28. HEAD TUBE STIFFNESS

29. HEAD TUBE STIFFNESS

30. The virtual jigs now permit us to tailor the carbon lay-up to the
customer’s weight, stiffness and comfort preferences.
We are the only manufacturer in the world who can do so.
VIRTUAL JIGS

31. RESULT

32. THE BICYCLE
Weight: under 700g (target under 750g)
Head tube stiffness: over 97 Nm/deg (target 96 Nm/deg)
Bottom bracket stiffness: over 115 N/mm (target 65 N/mm)
Comfort: under 160 N/mm (target 200N/mm)

33. Depending on the lay-up, our frames are about 50% stiffer than
the competition in the bottom bracket, more than 15% stiffer in
the head tube and roughly 66% more comfortable.
Our development time is much shorter and roughly 33% of the
cost or less than that of our competitors.
THE TOOLS

36. WHAT NOW FOR
COMPOSITES?
Composites design and engineering tools are ready.
Optimization at all scales has never been easier.
Now manufacturing needs to catch up.

37. Adam Wais
adam.wais@rolobikes.com
www.rolobikes.com
Mob: +46 736 333 699