Teaming and riding lighter

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15.12.2023

Top bicycle components thanks to coordinated injection molding simulation, material & product development

Leichtbau-Zentrum Sachsen (LZS), V Frames, and the Lehvoss group established partnership-based simulation and material research and development cooperation for injection-molded carbon composite bike components.

Innovative bicycle frames made of recyclable carbon composites are part of the product range of the plastics processor V Frames GmbH. Its partner for material development and supply is the Lehvoss Group. Following a successful collaboration in the field of new high-performance materials, V Frames has now signed an exclusivity agreement with LZS for all simulation tasks in this area.

Super simulations

Michael Müller, managing director of V Frames, is “absolutely thrilled by this new cooperation. After seven years trying to simulate complex products such as bike frames with various partners, we are proud to have LZS as exclusive partner in the boat.”

Understandably so, since “mistakes or unprecise simulations in the past resulted in product failure. This is critical when you have fixed OEM production timelines and molds produced, that cost several hundred thousand Euros, but are unable to start mass production, thus requiring extensive reworks and costs that can easily double the initial investment cost.”

“Therefore,” Müller continues, “in the last years V Frames focused to build up the fluidsimulations in-house, using the same specialists to feed the software with the exact production parameters that will be used for running the machines later – with excellent improvement in simulation results. Our customers are absolutely satisfied with their work, so we decided to integrate LZS in our development family.”

Best prospects

Müller sees plenty of application and development opportunities: “In recent years, we have successfully implemented the first bike frames in the market for our OEMs Ebike Advanced, Buddy Electric, and Affenzahn. This new cooperation will bring us to the next performance leap for our technology. Our simulations are becoming more and more accurate, material data will be modified according to actual product feedback, and we have a system in place to quickly develop and test completely new materials. This leads us closer to our goal to develop the perfect material for each product.”

Contact:

Leichtbau-Zentrum Sachsen GmbH (LZS), Dresden
Dr. Karsten Wippler, CEO
+49 351 44 69 60-90
karsten.wippler@lzs-dd.de || www.lzs-dd.de

Karsten Wippler, managing director of LZS, agrees: “We approached V Frames two years ago, as we think LZS with 30 engineers, devoted to design, simulation and testing, provides the perfect match for V Frames cutting-edge technology. Since then, we concluded several projects with four OEMs together with V Frames and are looking forward to further, now exclusive cooperation.”