With the Bespoked customized bike present returning to Dresden beginning tomorrow, let’s have a look inside Actofive Cycles, who machines stunning mountain bikes within the German metropolis. We’ve been intently following Actofive for a couple of years – from the event of their variable journey path to enduro bikes, to their chainrings and modular cranksets. However we additionally had the distinctive likelihood to get a more in-depth look behind the scenes on one among our final visits to Dresden.
Take a look at these machined aluminum gems with us, and a few uncommon up-close appears on the within their machined masterpieces…
Actofive Manufacturing unit Tour: CNC-machining mountain bikes in Dresden, DE
Totally CNC-machined, Actofive produces among the most refined mountain bikes you will discover wherever within the biking business. However they’re truly fairly a small specialist producer, sitting inside an outdated industrial constructing on the sting of Dresden, Germany.
Beneath, these old-school riveted metal trusses and tucked in with a number of different forms of small producers is a extra up to date field hiding the trendy capabilities of Metzner Engineering and the house of Actofive Cycles.
As soon as contained in the inside sanctum, a lot of Actofive fashions and growth prototypes cling on the wall of the unassuming workshop.
Metzner Engineering: The person behind the machine
Actually, there are 2 secrets and techniques that make Actofive.
One is the person behind the model, Simon Metzner. And the opposite, the exact Portatec CNC milling machine. Working collectively, these two create each Actofive mountain bike and part.
The CNC-machine and several other of its distinctive options are produced by the corporate of Simon’s father, primarily for the aerospace business. However as a substitute of taking up the enterprise, Simon all the time had different concepts of methods to use these machines. And with mountain biking being his ardour, Simon Metzner went out on his personal to start out up Metzner Engineering, a contract CNC-manufacturing firm created to permit him to additionally additional his MTB part and bike growth.
So by mixing his experience in manufacturing course of optimization, the CNC capabilities of his small workshop, and deep mountain bike design information, Simon has developed Actofive right into a sought-after small German mountain bike producer creating true CNC-machined MTB gems.
From prototype to manufacturing
We have been first actually launched to Actofive’s high-pivot alloy P-Prepare about 3 years in the past. However Simon has been engaged on that first adaptable-travel enduro bike for at the very least a couple of years longer, since 2018. That’s when he frolicked his personal shingle as Metzner Engineering, after leaving the household CNC machine manufacturing enterprise.
In its first iteration, the bike began with a welded metal entrance & rear triangle joined along with CNC-machined alloy hyperlinks. And it has continued to evolve in lots of iterations alongside the way in which. That authentic metal bike now sits in Simon’s workplace with a machined rear finish fairly much like as we speak’s manufacturing P-Prepare.
And whereas CNC-machining aluminum has all the time been form of in Simon’s blood, he isn’t fully beholden to 1 materials, and even the subtractive machining course of. He’s toyed with different supplies – like titanium – and likewise with the potential of contemporary 3D-printing capabilities.
However machining aluminum has outlined the event of Actofive’s bikes and elements these final 6 years, particularly the usage of intricate and well-thought-out milling designs. And it types the premise for Actofive’s distinctive clamshell, or sandwich building.
And Simon continues to indicate that he has extra concepts on methods to refine each his designs and their manufacturing. So there’s lots evolution left to do in CNC-machined aluminum.
Inside Actofive’s manufacturing unit tour: MTB components in-process
Wanting across the Actofive workshop throughout our manufacturing unit tour confirmed a fairly good pattern of their full providing, in varied phases of completion.
Listed below are a few I-Prepare path bike entrance triangles. The 2 halves have every been machined from either side – the skin that we are able to see, plus the intricate inside webbed truss construction that Actofive doesn’t let anybody else see.
We had a peek, and it’s much more spectacular that the effective instrument marks you see on the skin. The design of the inside construction permits Actofive the power to fine-tune energy and stiffness at varied areas inside the mountain bike body, whereas preserving it light-weight.
However Actofive is cautious of giving freely the secrets and techniques of how they obtain their steadiness of lightweight-to-strength. And particularly resistant to offer away the design of their interlocking system that’s used to bond the 2 halves of a body collectively to create the entire bike.
We additionally had an opportunity to observe some Actofive crankarms be machined of their first step throughout our manufacturing unit tour.
From alloy slabs to machined gems
The center of the whole lot that Actofive produces begins out as easy slab of aluminum billet.
And actually, most of Actofive’s elements come all the way down to machining one aspect to get the ultimate outdoors form. Then, flipping it over (and securing it to a destructive fixture on the milling machine) to hole out the second aspect.
The only components like their extra inexpensive Signature X crankset, the P-train rear finish, and the I-Prepare seatstays depart it at that, the place you’ll be able to see either side which were machined. However extra complicated hole components just like the mountain bike entrance triangles & Signature cranks, get 2-sided machining for every body half which might be then bonded collectively to create the extra complicated hole construction.
However in fact, transferring huge heavy chunks of aluminum round is kind of troublesome earlier than all that further materials is machined away (and picked up for recycling). So Actofive has this good little crane of their machining room, which permits Simon the power to simply maneuver the whole lot on his personal.
After which, as soon as held down on the milling machine’s worktable with a powerful vacuum strain, the intricate designs could be carved out of the uncooked billets of aluminum. Most frequently in densely packed, nested layouts to optimize essentially the most quantity of elements out of a single piece of uncooked aluminum materials.
CAD upstairs + CAM downstairs
Every little thing that Actofive produces in made in-house within the manufacturing unit that we toured.
Simon has a design workplace upstairs instantly over his machining room.
There the whole lot is designed and refined in SolidWorks, creating the computer-aided design (CAD) knowledge to drive the computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) processes one ground beneath.
ActoFive’s key manufacturing outputs…
Actofive’s specialty is creating 3 issues. CAD/CAM knowledge, steel filings, and out of that… precision machined alloy elements.
The Portatec CNC mill is the brawn. However the brains of the Siemens controller manages all of the machining processes, tooling, and the place these instrument reduce. Whereas Simon can remotely function the whole lot from his laptop upstairs, for manufacturing, the whole lot is dealt with instantly on the machine. There’s a lot uncooked knowledge governing the machining course of, this ensures that any potential minor breakdown in communication couldn’t negatively have an effect on the ultimate work.
Apart from knowledge, Actofive’s manufacturing unit is roofed with these small aluminum filings we noticed in our tour.
Certain, the majority of fabric will get effectively collected for recycling, however loads of chips fly round. That’s why machining occurs in its personal fully enclosed room. However each time Simon strikes round to manage the method, filings keep on with his garments & footwear. And since they’re not magnetic, it’s a chore to completely hold below management.
So he has separate garments and footwear for engaged on bikes & elements within the store. And simply resigns himself to common cleansing and swapping to separate clothes earlier than leaving the workshop.
Lastly, specialised machined alloy elements. Actofive is the bike model that drives Simon Metzner’s ardour. And from that we get full-suspension Actofive mountain bike frames, cranksets & chainrings.
However he does loads of contract manufacturing too. There’s actually a little bit of crossover within the bike business – issues like bashguards, prime caps, and even some extra superior parts like rocker hyperlinks & seatstays for different bike corporations. However there’s loads of different industrial machining, too. Simon defined that he spends the overwhelming majority of his growth and manufacturing time on the Actofive mountain bike aspect of issues, however nonetheless greater than three-quarters of his revenue comes from contract machining.
Actofive Manufacturing unit Tour: MTB cranks, chainrings & frames
Signature X cranksets have been a giant shift in making Actofive elements extra inexpensive, from slightly below 400€.. or half the price of the unique hole Signature cranks.
Actofive direct mount chainrings add 120-150€ on prime of that.
The rocker hyperlink on the I-Prepare is one other nice instance of Actofive’s inventive 2D manufacturing. Like most of their MTB elements, it’s made by merely matching two halves (from either side) which might be then joined along with a easy keyed interface and a single bolt for easy energy.
MTB frames begin from 6000€ for the easier I-Prepare body set. A P-Prepare will set you again at the very least 7000€.
Apparently, one approach to come up with an Actofive mountain bike body for a bit cheaper is perhaps to put your arms on a present demo. With Bespoked on the horizon, Actofive is providing offers of their on-line store on earlier variations of the I-Prepare that have been already proven. And they’re even providing the customized mk2 I-Prepare bike prematurely, that will likely be on show within the Dresden Airport present over the weekend.
Anodized eye sweet colours
After all, one of many cool advantages of an all-machined-alloy mountain bike (or elements) is the power for some flashy anodized finishes. Actofive has a associate handle their eye-catching colours, however they’ll even do some enjoyable stuff with two-done finishes one aspect to the opposite.
I particularly just like the half blue + half silver race bike of Czech enduro World Cup racer y Vojta Bláha/DVO who confirmed off his bike to us for the DVO Prime launch earlier this summer season.
Contained in the precise clamshell Actofive mountain bikes…
OK, so right here’s an actual uncommon sneak peek inside an Actofive…
This pink/orange I-Prepare entrance triangle is manufactured in 2 halves with a clamshell design. By machining all sides individually, Actofive can creates the precise clean outer form that they need for the bike, however can fluctuate thicknesses all through varied sections of the body, very similar to you discover with butted tubing.
However in actuality, the within of the I-Prepare is rather more complicated that that, that includes a sequence of reinforcing webs that adjust the tube wall thickness rather more than could possibly be achieved by any tube-to-tube fashion building.
After which the actual secret comes with the mechanically overlapping finger joint from one aspect of the body to the following. This enormously will increase the floor contact space between the 2 halves, leading to a powerful bond when the body is assembled with adhesive. And it additionally reinforces the joint on the prime and backside edges of the body, defending it in opposition to influence with rocks or different obstacles.
One factor I actually love about Actofive’s bikes is how one can see the machining marks that present how the CNC tooling cuts backwards and forwards into the aluminum billet. However in fact, since they machine the within of the body simply as a lot as the skin, our Actofive manufacturing unit tour additionally gave us an up-close glimpse at how these instrument paths are even seen within the body.
Like on the within of this I-Prepare’s headtube.
What comes subsequent for Actofive?
That was just about it for our Actofive manufacturing unit tour. We obtained to observe some Signature X cranksets be machined – 60 crank arms at a time in that batch. And Simon revealed us a little bit of what was coming quickly this yr. Suppose UDH compatibility throughout all frames, in fact, together with the power to retrofit the entire frames they’d beforehand produced. And these newly machined, open-back seatstays that changed the I-Prepare’s authentic welded tubing stays.
Plus, there’s much more that we’ll see over the approaching searching for with extra next-gen P-Prepare & I-Prepare updates.
Keep tuned for that!
Actofive after darkish
And with that, we’ll depart you with Actofive ‘After Darkish’.
A lot of Actofive’s CNC-machining processes take 8 hours or extra to finish. So Simon tries to schedule it in order that he can arrange a machining activity on the finish of his workday, to run in a single day. And he’ll typically even lowering instrument speeds a bit to make sure much less likelihood of any hassle when the machines are left to work on their very own.
Actofive has a webcam within the machining room so Simon can dial-in to maintain tabs on progress – whether or not he’s upstairs working at his desk on one other undertaking, or again dwelling for the night time.
And whereas the lights exit within the human aspect of the Actofive workshop, the sunshine typically stays on all night time because the CNC robotic chugs away, machining mountain bikes by the lonely night time.
Actofive.com
