3D Printing
News Videos Newsletter Contact us
Home / News / 3D Printed Handlebar Fails During Olympic Race
qidi

3D Printed Handlebar Fails During Olympic Race

August 4, 2021

This years’ Olympics in Tokyo have seen a boom in 3D printed sporting goods employed over a range of competitions.

Cyclists in particular have been making use of AM technologies bringing a variety of AM products to the track ranging from 3D printed cranks to lugs to handlebars.

Given the increase in AM hardware in this years’ competition, it was perhaps inevitable that we see the first AM part fail during an Olympic event. And that is exactly what happened when the 3D printed handlebars of Australian cyclist Alex Porter snapped off during the men’s pursuit qualifiers on Monday 2nd August.

You can see what that looked like in the image below. Note the failed handlebars in the top left corner of the image.

am part failure
AM part failure (Image credit: Getty Images)

Thankfully nobody was severely injured, save for some grazes and scrapes to the rider, which is remarkable in itself when you consider he hit the deck face-first at 65 km per hour.
Under the “recognized mishap” rule, the team is allowed a restart if there is an unavoidable mishap which stops the race, hence the Australian team quickly signalled that they wanted a second attempt.

With just 30 minutes to recover from the face-plant, the Australian team took that second attempt, and came in 5th place with 1st going to the Danish team. This means Australia will be competing for Bronze in the final of this event.

The so-called “Madison handlebars” (pictured below) were produced by Australian cycle company Bastion, who were formed in 2015 by ex-automotive industry engineers. They produce custom cycles and components and claim to be the only cycling company in the world with in-house Titanium 3D printing capabilities. They are using Renishaw printers for the fabrication of their titanium components.

Printed Bike Handlebars
The Madison handlebars in action during a previous race (Image credit: Dianne Manson)

It should be noted that the bikes themselves are not designed by Bastion, rather they have been designed by Canadian company Argon 18. Bastion has designed the AM titanium handlebars to drop directly into the Argon 18 Electron Pro bike model.

Bastion has also designed AM for the stems and cranksets of the Olympic Electron Pro, although it is not confirmed that these AM components were also in use on the bikes on the day of the accident. You can see the printed titanium crank in the image below.

3D Printed Titanium Bike Crank
3D printed crank (Image credit: Bastion)

The failed component seems to be a similar design to Bastion’s commercially available “Base Bar”, which has been withdrawn from sale on the company website since the mishap at the Olympics.

The webpage for the product has been replaced with a statement from Bastion, which reads:

“Our team is working with the Australian Olympic Team to understand the cause behind the failure of one of our handlebar units during the four-person, Australian pursuit challenge at the Tokyo Olympics overnight.”

“Our first concern was for Alex Porter and the entire team. We are in constant contact with the Australian Olympic cycling team and coaches, and give our assurances that we are using all means available to investigate why this occurred.”

Cycling Australia, the national administrative body responsible for the sport of cycling in the country has also put out their own statement regarding the mishap and subsequent ongoing investigations.

“While the immediate focus is on the success of the Australian Cycling Team across the remainder of the Olympic program, there will be a thorough investigation and review of the factors involved in the incident.

To ensure the fairness of this process, we will make no comment on the detail of the investigation until it is complete.”

We agree. We do not like to speculate.

Of course, this hasn’t stopped other commentators from speculating as to the cause of failure, and we don’t mind quoting them.

CyclingNews has suggested that the break in the handlebar occurred at/close to the bolt mounting hole, as seen in the image below. This could, according to the website, suggest that the failure may have been caused by over tightening the bolt.

Base Bars
Base Bars, with red line showing failure location (Image credit: Bastion / CyclingNews)

Naturally, we will bring you the actual details when Bastion releases their findings.

As we saw in our previous article on AM handlebars, there are a lot of riders using similar technology from other companies in this year’s Olympics, so hopefully the findings will be released in a timely manner, so that others may benefit from the knowledge and avoid similar mishaps

metal 3d printed bike parts olympics
Related Story
Printed Titanium Bike Handlebars Debut at Olympics
Share:
WhatsApp Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Buffer Reddit E-mail
About the author | Phillip Keane
Phillip is an aerospace engineer from UK. He is a graduate of Coventry University (UK), International Space University (France) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), where he studied Advanced Manufacturing at the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing.
Join our newsletter

Our newsletter is free & you can unsubscribe any time.

Latest posts

Scientists 3D Print Solar-Powered Sponge for Seawater Desalination

Researchers have developed a 3D-printed aerogel material that uses sunlight to convert seawater into drinking water. The sponge-like structure contains microscopic vertical channels... read more »

News

Revopoint Launches Major Prime Event 2025 Sale with Up to 40% Off 3D Scanners and Accessories

Revopoint is kicking off its Prime Event 2025 with a series of major discounts on its range of professional 3D scanners and accessories.... read more »

News

Turkish Companies Test 3D Printed Component for Armored Vehicles

MetalWorm and Nurol Makina, both based in Ankara, Turkey, have completed testing of an armored vehicle component manufactured using Directed Energy Deposition (DED)... read more »

3D Printing Metal
Turkish Companies Test 3D Printed Component for Armored Vehicles

McGill Spinout Uses 3D Bioprinting to Create Tumors for Smarter Cancer Treatments

TissueTinker, a McGill University spinout company, has developed 3D bioprinting technology to create miniaturized tumor models for cancer drug testing. The company recently... read more »

Medical
McGill Spinout Uses 3D Bioprinting to Create Tumors for Smarter Cancer Treatments

University of Twente Awarded €13.6M for Research in Circular 3D Printing and Transparent AI

The University of Twente has received €13.6 million in funding from the 2024 NWA ORC program to lead two research projects focused on... read more »

News
University of Twente Awarded €13.6M for Research in Circular 3D Printing and Transparent AI

China’s 3D Printed Micro Turbojet Engine Completes Maiden Flight

The Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) has successfully completed the first flight test of its 3D-printed micro turbojet engine in Inner Mongolia... read more »

Aerospace
China's 3D Printed Micro Turbojet Engine Completes Maiden Flight

Laser-Assisted Cold Spray Technology Enhances Material Deposition Process

Researchers at the University of Cambridge's Center for Industrial Photonics have developed a new additive manufacturing technique called laser-assisted cold spray (LACS). The... read more »

3D Printing Metal
Laser-Assisted Cold Spray Technology Enhances Material Deposition Process

Titomic Netherlands Secures Strategic Funding to Advance Cold Spray 3D Printing Technology

Titomic Limited, an Australian company specializing in cold spray additive manufacturing, has received €800,000 in funding from the Netherlands' 3D Print Kompas program.... read more »

3D Printing Metal
Titomic Netherlands Secures Strategic Funding to Advance Cold Spray 3D Printing Technology

3D-Printed Insects Help Scientists Map the Limits of Mimicry in Nature

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have developed a method to 3D print life-sized, color-accurate insect models for biological research. The team, led... read more »

Environmental

Social

  • Facebook Facebook 3D Printing
  • Linkedin Linkedin 3D Printing
Join our newsletter

Our newsletter is free & you can unsubscribe any time.

Featured Industries

  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Construction
  • Dental
  • Environmental
  • Electronics
  • Fashion
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Snapmaker Artisan Premium 3-in-1

    • - Print size: 400 x 400 x 400 mm
    • - comes with enclosure
    More details »
    $2,999.00 Snapmaker
    Buy Now
  • QIDI Tech Q1 Pro

    • - Print size: 245 x 245 x 245 mm
    • - 600mm/s max speed
    More details »
    $449.00 QIDI Store
    Buy Now
  • QIDI Tech X-Max 3

    • - Print size: 325 x 325 x 315 mm
    • - fully enclosed
    More details »
    $799.00 QIDI Store
    Buy Now
  • QIDI Plus4

    • - Print size: 305 x 305 x 280 mm
    • - print temperature of 370°C
    More details »
    $799.00 QIDI Store
    Buy Now

Company Information

  • What is 3D Printing?
  • Contact us
  • Join our mailing list
  • Advertise with us
  • Media Kit
  • Nederland 3D Printing

Blog

  • Latest News
  • Use Cases
  • Reviews
  • 3D Printers
  • 3D Printing Metal

Featured Reviews

  • Anycubic Photon Mono M5s
  • Creality Ender 5 S1
  • The Mole 3D Scanner
  • Flashforge Creator 3 Pro

Featured Industries

  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Construction
  • Dental
  • Environmental
  • Electronics
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Fashion
  • Art
2025 — Strikwerda en Dehue
  • Home
  • Join our mailing list
  • Contact us
Blog
  • Latest News
  • Use Cases
  • Reviews
  • 3D Printers
  • 3D Printing Metal
Featured Industries
  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Construction
  • Dental
  • Environmental
  • Electronics
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Fashion
  • Art
Company Information
  • What is 3D Printing?
  • Contact us
  • Join our mailing list
  • Advertise with us
  • Media Kit
  • Nederland 3D Printing