Airbus unviels ‘Light Rider’ the first 3D-printed motorcycle made from aluminum

Airbus engineers showed the world their 3D- printing prowess the other day when they unveiled the world’s first 3D-printed motorcycle.

The aerospace engineers turned their hands to designing a motorcycle coming up with the world’s first 3D-printed futuristic motorcycle made from aluminum powder.

Airbus Group’s APWorks subsidiary based in Germany created the hi-tech brainchild named the Light Rider, an emission-free motorcycle powered by a 6-kW electric motor which can accelerate the bike to 80 km/h. It can gain a speed of 45 km/h in three seconds.

APWorks, which has worked at the forefront of additive layer manufacturing (ALM) and advanced materials since its launch in 2013 produces bionically optimized metal parts for a wide range of industries, from aerospace to automotive and robotics.

The Light Rider motorcycle weighs in at a just 35 kg and is probably the world’s lightest motorcycle.

The bikes frame was 3D-printed.

Each 3D-printed part of the Light Rider’s frame – produced using a selective 3D laser printing system that melts millions of aluminum alloy particles together – consists of thousands of thin layers just 60 microns thick.

APWorks designed frame parts that were hollow instead of solid, which has allowed for integrated cables, pipes and screw-on points in the finalized motorcycle structure – resulting in a dramatic 30% weight reduction over motorcycles produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.

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