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Robot Bike prints R-Zero custom ti & carbon trail hardtail mountain bike

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Robot Bike is taking their unique 3D printed titanium lugs & carbon tubes, and developing a new aggressive trail bike platform. Offering more customization than ever before, the R-Zero Platform is about erasing design limitations. Using the same tech refined on their custom enduro and trail mountain bikes, they’ll build a trail hardtail where you pick whatever wheel size, hub standards, and geometry that you want.

R-Zero Platform – custom 3D printed ti & carbon trail bike

Robot are in the final stages, developing & testing their newest R-Zero Platform. Called a ‘Platform’, the basic principle is that with their “parametric CAD model and construction method” they can fabricate a hardtail that is truly one-off custom for every single buyer.

You pick the wheel size that you want (even 26″ they say. How about 24″?) You pick the hub & axle you want. You decide the geometry that is right for you – super slack, or super long? Don’t worry, Robot will do whatever custom bike fitting you need too.

Then they enter all the details in their design software, and a unique-to-you lugset is created. Take that over to the titanium sintering/Selective Laser Melting machine (the robot), and it 3D prints your lugs. With their double lap joints, Robot securely slides in your cut to size carbon frame tubes, and the result is a trail ready hardtail mountain bike to tame whatever singletrack you can find.

First Prototype & tech details

Robot sent us these dark teaser photos of the first complete prototype, which belongs to one of their founders. The R-Zero Platform is Andy’s baby, so it makes sense that he gets the first bike. His R-Zero is a 29er with a 130mm fork, a slack 66° head angle, 74° seattube, 435mm frame reach, tight 420mm long chainstays, and 65mm of bottom bracket drop.

As for other details, the bike does feature a standard threaded bottom bracket, and a stealth dropper post. It gets some pretty trick downtube internal cable routing too, that keeps shift wires inside all the way to the possibly interchangeable dropouts, but exits the rear brake out of the top of the BB/chainstay yoke.

The R-Zeros are developed as an aggressive trail bike, so even though geometry is flexible, expect frame weight to come in just under the 2kg/4.4lb level.

Get the compliant ride of a titanium hardtail, with carbon hardtail pedaling efficiency. Pricing is still up in the air, as is the official launch date. (The full-suspension frames are around £3900 with VAT.) If you feel like you can’t wait, send them an email to register interest in a pre-order.

Over on social media, Robot Bike is teasing the R-Zero under the hashtag #bespoke. They are confirmed as an exhibitor at Bespoke Bristol starting April 20, so it will most surely be on show then.

RobotBike.co

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JNH
JNH
6 years ago

Metal lugs, Carbon main tubes, what’s old is new again! Having seen a Robot 160 in the flesh I hope they continue to do well, they are beatifully made.

Maus Haus
Maus Haus
6 years ago

DBR WCF frame.

suede
suede
6 years ago

Unfortunately after thirty years in the bike business I had become woefully jaded and completely numb and immune to the “shinies” but holy sh!t is that gorgeous, me wants.

mudrock
mudrock
6 years ago

Every joint to me looks like a potential weak point. Just because you can find a way to use your 3D printer doesn’t mean you should.

Joe Pirelli
6 years ago
Reply to  mudrock

Ahh, armchair engineering. This method has proven to be well engineered already, more than strong enough. Based on the actual limited info here, the only valid complaint would be that you don’t like the look.

Michael Myers
Michael Myers
6 years ago
Reply to  mudrock

Do you think the glue, the lug, or the carbon tube is apt to fail, and why do you think this?

JNH
JNH
6 years ago
Reply to  mudrock

The joints are Pi-joints, so the carbon tube is bonded into the lug on it’s inner and outer surface. Very clever and very strong, I would expect the lug itself to fail before the tube or the bond but you’d have to hit it pretty hard.

NGL
NGL
5 years ago
Reply to  mudrock

Titanium alloys are used in aerospace, carbon is used in F1 and the adhesives are used in military helicopters – all industries that require the most stringent r&d and manufacturing. Robot sent ONE frame for EU testing (most companies send six) and it came back ready for use after all the tests. Also it the joints are not 3D printed, they are formed by additive manufacturing. But it’s always great to have an armchair expert’s opinion on a forum.

Ol' SHel'
Ol' SHel'
6 years ago

I wish I had their money and access to the printing…

Number 5
Number 5
6 years ago

I, for one, welcome our new Robot Bike overlords.

contrarian
contrarian
6 years ago

The unfortunate thing about this manufacturing scheme is that it’s ultra-premium, instead of being a way of producing carbon/titanium bikes quickly and for less cost. If this frame cost $1000, even if it wasn’t custom, I’d buy one today. The manufacturing should be a way of bringing frames changes and updates to market quickly, or by offering a large quantity of pre-designed frames, but the full custom business model with extreme pricing already exists and many of those companies go under quickly. The super expensive pricing model will be the doom of Robot Bike Co.

JBikes
JBikes
6 years ago
Reply to  contrarian

I had the same thought. Not sure what this provides from a performance benefit over custom or hi-end existing frames, and most don’t require custom geometry. Cool product but seemingly for someone that just wants something different and has the money to justify it.

3D printing tech’s real value is bringing cost of production down by eliminating costly casting molds. We’ll have to see how it works out for the cycling industry.

Dirty Tires
Dirty Tires
6 years ago

Can’t believe i’m going to be the first to call b.s. on the “dark teaser photos”…more like dark rendering.

Lancetigerblood
Lancetigerblood
6 years ago

A bike company that can use technologies like this are awesome. I keep reading that these bikes are too expensive, so I emailed Ed from Robot Bike Co to find out what the deal was. The technologies used in these frames are not cheap to use If They used the same margins that most of the bike companies use, these frames would cost 20,000 euro’s. These guys are making next to nothing relatively speaking, while using some cutting edge tech. I hope these guys keep it up, because I see one of these in my stable soon.

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