You Wouldn’t Download A Car, But You Could 3D Print A Dirt Bike

People of a certain generation may misremember the “You wouldn’t download a car” anti-piracy ads. It seemed ludicrous at the time that such a thing would even be possible, especially over a slower-than-molasses dial-up connection. Today, download speeds have significantly improved. You still can’t 3D print an entire car, but you can print a lot of parts. Motorcycles are a little easier. Pantheon Design has even successfully 3D printed an electric dirt bike using its HS-Pro printer.

CEO Bob Cao dreamed of owning a Honda Motocompo, a tiny motorcycle designed to fold up and fit in the back of a Honda City hatchback. After being disappointed in the revived version called the Motocompacto, Cao decided to 3D print his own bike. Pantheon is not in the motorcycle business, but the 3D printing business, so Cao has the technology and know-how to do it.

Motorcycles have been in Pantheon’s blood from the beginning. According to the company’s About page, Pantheon grew out of a motorcycle shop that Cao and CTO Alex Wiecke started, originally as a way to create parts. One example of a 3D-printed part on the HS-Pro’s page is a recreation of a Honda brake lever that matches the strength of the original aluminum part. One of the company’s stated missions is even to “race a 3D printed motorcycle in Dakar.”

After 3D printing the Pantheon Compo, the company’s human crash test dummies tested it just a bit too hard. They realized that since they were already riding it like a dirt bike, they might as well redesign it to take the abuse, and the Enduro Compo was born. We don’t know the electric drivetrain’s specs, but the video shows it’s plenty fast enough to tackle mountain bike trails, a stunt park, and big jumps.

I appreciate Cao’s candor about what broke during these torture sessions and why. The bike Cao rode broke a footpeg when it crashed from the jump and hit the ground hard. This could happen to any bike, not just 3D-printed materials. The advantage is that he’ll have a new part in his hand after three hours of printing, while you’ll have to order a replacement part online or from a store, which can take days or even weeks. The second bike cracked the steering head, but Cao realized too late that this was a test frame that was never meant to be ridden, especially this hard. It’s like accidentally sending the Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle to space. It’s amazing it held up as well as it did.

Most of us don’t have a 3D printing factory at our disposal, but the technology is rapidly evolving and coming down in price. Perhaps in the future, downloading and 3D printing a car won’t seem so ludicrous after all.