Carbon
fizik Adaptive
fizik Adaptive bike saddle.
Carbon’s 3D printing technology is being applied by bike accessory manufacturer fizik to produce its Adaptive bike saddle.
It comes just a week after Carbon announced its entry into the bike market by partnering with Specialized to develop a similar application. Adaptive has harnessed mapping data collected over a nine-year period from professional cyclists around the world and takes advantage of Carbon’s Lattice Engine to engineer a saddle with zonal cushioning and power transfer properties. As with the Specialized bike saddle, the product is additively manufactured in Carbon’s EPU 41 material.
Harnessing 3D printing to produce the bike saddle, fizik is to explore the potential of adjusting and customising designs per each customer, looking to eventually collect pressure mapping data in stores and create fully personalised saddles for consumers. It represents the first time fizik will use personal data to drive the design and engineering of a product.
Carbon
fizik carbon
“Digital Light Synthesis unlocks a new era in saddle design and manufacturing, driven by athlete data and agile manufacturing processes,” commented Luca Mathia Bertoncello, fizik Brand Director. “It means we can fully release our creativity – transforming not just what we make, but how we make it, bringing a whole new way of thinking to cycling saddles. Our aim is to provide riders with bespoke performance products tailored to their individual biodynamic data.”
For Carbon, its work with fizik is the latest partnership to fall under its Crafted By Carbon banner, following the Specialized alliance announced last week and the ongoing efforts with Riddell and Adidas. All of these collaborations, per Carbon, are focused on pushing the boundaries within products where comfort and performance are not only essential in isolation, but often go hand in hand.
“We’re proud to partner with fizik to unlock their unique product vision to push the limits of saddle design,” added Erika Berg, Head of Application Development at Carbon. “fizik used the Carbon Lattice Engine to match optimised response profiles based on rider feedback and create a digitally tuned lattice geometry for the Adaptive – enabling differentiation based on their unique product vision and design.”
