Bastion Cycles tease 3D titanium printed SRM-equipped crankset
Bastion Cycles tease 3D titanium printed SRM-equipped crankset
As one of the earliest adopters of 3D titanium printing in the bicycle industry, Bastion Cycles has been well placed to benefit (and perhaps suffer) from the increased uptake of the new manufacturing tech.
It was at last year’s Handmade Bicycle Show Australia that the local Melbourne-based company announced its first fork and matching cockpit, and now the company has teased a matching crankset with an SRM Origin spider-based power meter.
Currently, the ‘BC01’ crankset is in a late prototype stage, with the company of 12 staff using the Handmade show to get a feel for demand. With a third 3D printer inbound, they’ll finally have the bandwidth to produce smaller parts like this.
Now, Bastion isn’t the first to produce a 3D Titanium printed power meter crank – that title belongs to Verve and its InfoCrank 3D Ti. Likewise, UK-based Sturdy Cycles has previously released a 3D titanium printed crankset, as has part-time-maker Stellar Performance. Bastion has also created cranks under contract for the Australian track team, a now-infamous partnership.
Still, this crankset does represent another example of continued integrated design from the next generation of niche custom bike makers. And in the case of this Bastion crank, the goal was to achieve both great stiffness-to-weight and a consistent aesthetic for Bastion customers. Its design – according to Bastion’s designer Charlie Cranswick, has a shape inspired by the Peregrine Falcon – sounds like a perfect match to Silca’s bird of prey that happens to open beverages.
Obviously, the use of additive manufacturing allows for a unique shape with a hollow construction, but there are other functional benefits too. Namely, the one-off manufacturing approach means that Bastion can cater for a wide variety of crank lengths, ranging from 150 through to 180 mm in 2.5 mm increments.
Both the hollow crank arms and spindle pieces are titanium 3D printed in-house, with all mating surfaces and threads machined after printing. Similarly, the carbon tube that forms the centre of the spindle is made by Bastion, just a short staircase away from the 3D printers.
Power measurement comes in the form of a Spider-based SRM Origin unit – a well-respected product, albeit without true independent left-right power measurement (yeah… I just opened that can of worms). The spider features a 110BCD 4-bolt design which is intended to be used with Shimano chainrings or Carbon-Ti (4-bolt) chainrings for SRAM AXS and Campagnolo users.
The spindle and cranks weigh in at 390 grams (172.5 mm length), a figure that excludes the power meter spider and rings. Bastion is yet to put the crankset through ISO testing, but that’s something it’ll do in the coming few weeks. The company currently estimates the power-equipped crankset will retail for AU$4,800 (approx. US$3,500), plus shipping and taxes. There’s no denying that’s a big number, however, it’s noticeably less than Verve’s offering.
More information should be available shortly at bastioncycles.com
