Aug 14, 2020
7 days of quarantine done… 7 days to go!
Don’t worry, Dave, our Technical Lead, hasn’t quite lost it (yet).
He’s spent the past week in one of the dedicated quarantine hotels in Tapei, Taiwan. The rules around COVID-19 are very strict over there: those in quarantine are tracked through the GPS in their phones, and if they leave their hotel room or the phone runs out of battery, the police are automatically notified.
Luckily, Dave has his mini work station and our blue demo bike Maya for company. He has been documenting his first few days in Taiwan. Watch below to find out how he’s getting on!
NEWS FROM THE FACTORY: FRONT FORKS FINISHED
In our last update, we had begun welding the front forks – these are now complete! We’ve made a short video with footage from the factory so that you can see the processes involved.
1. PRESSING
This hydraulic press squashes the circular tube between two dies to form the fork arms’ elliptical profile. This shape improves the stiffness and strength in the most important direction and makes the forks look great too!
2. BENDING
The bending machine consists of three dies (that shape the tubes). The straight die on the top left grips the fork and then rotates around, causing the fork arm to bend. The profile of the fixed die (top right) and a mandrel (a cylindrical rod that goes inside the tube) force the tube to deform with a smooth surface and continuous profile.
3. PUNCHING
The punching machine clamps the fork arm and then draws a cutting tool past it. The cutting tool has an angled face so that it only cuts a small part of the material at a time, reducing the force on the fork arm.
The cutting tool is the same diameter as the fork crown (where the fork arms are joined) so that the arms butt up perfectly during welding.
4. WELDING
The fork arms and fork crown are loaded onto a fixture, then welding is performed.
5. ALIGNMENT
This pneumatic clamping machine holds the forks in place while the forks are aligned. The upright slab of steel next to the dropouts (at the end of the fork arms) is used as a reference surface – the fork arms are manipulated until the dropouts are just touching the surface. A similar operation is used to align in the other direction.
FRONT FRAME WELDING
Welding of the front frames has begun… which means that welding is nearly complete!
WHAT’S NEXT?
Dave has another week left of quarantine before he can visit the factory for final assembly.
In our next update, he’ll show you around and give a run down of what’s been going on. Make sure you keep an eye out!
Looking forward to updating you with more soon.
As always, if you have any questions about our latest update, please feel free to get in touch!
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