Red Bull is featuring a bunch of home-made bikes in their Fettler video series. Red Bull explains that a Fettler is “an individual craftsman or group of craftsmen committed to achieving perfection via hands-on moulding, sculpting and working of raw materials. Typically found in sheds.”
Adrian Smith uses 3D printing technology to manufacture make carbon fiber bikes in his shed. He starts by printing the cores for his designs, and then lays carbon fiber over the core to create a solid, structural object.
Design software is becoming easy to use and attainable for most people, and 3D printers can be had for just a few hundred dollars. Smith’s built his own 3D printer up from parts to keep it really cheap. Since starting, he has used his design skills, printer and carbon fiber fabric to build XC and Downhill bikes under the Carbon Wasp brand name in Leeds, UK.
Take a look after the jump for the first in the series about Michael Thompson’s 1000 hour investment into a wooden bike…
