ENGEL, the world's leading specialist in plastic injection moulding, made its debut at EUROBIKE 2025, taking place from 25th to 29th June in Frankfurt. Headquartered in Schwertberg, the Austrian machine manufacturer demonstrated a turnkey, fully automated production cell showcasing the live manufacturing of an innovative, lightweight bicycle handlebar developed for CANYON Bicycles GmbH.
The handlebar is manufactured on ENGEL's tie-bar-less triumph 180 injection moulding machine, employing its advanced fluidmelt technology. This facilitates the construction of hollow components by displacement of the molten core by water or nitrogen, allowing for light designs with high torsional and bending stiffness. Automated integration, such as an easix articulated robot, ensures the part is ready for use directly from the mould without post-processing.
Made from glass fibre-reinforced polyamide 6 and strengthened with four unidirectional carbon fibre (UD) tapes, the handlebar provides the structural integrity and performance of aluminium, while considerably minimizing material consumption, energy usage, and CO2 emissions. The component is made in less than one minute, underlining its potential for mass production and recyclability.
Paul Zwicklhuber, Technology Manager for Lightweight Solutions at ENGEL, said: "This new combination of technologies is a real innovation. It reduces weight while offering high stability, geometric design freedom, and the possibility of incorporating features like cable routing or display mounts directly in the process. This significantly reduces the cost of production and the carbon footprint, making European manufacturing economically appealing once again."
The tie-bar-less machine design of the ENGEL victory series offers increased mould space and flexibility in high, complex geometries within a smaller footprint. The Wide-Platen variant further increases mould dimensions by 100 mm without requiring a higher clamping force.
ENGEL's EUROBIKE showcase is the result of strong cooperation with multiple partners: CANYON Bicycles contributed to the conceptual and functional design; ARTEFAKT Design developed the product's visual and aesthetic design; DOMO Chemicals supplied the polyamide compound and reinforcement tapes; Plastic Innovation led the mechanical design, process development, and simulation; and Simoldes provided toolmaking and series production expertise.
ENGEL's exhibition at EUROBIKE presents it as a pioneer in creating innovative technologies for lightweight structures and urban mobility, setting a new benchmark for cost-efficient, high-quality production of plastic parts in markets historically controlled by metal.
Source: www.engelglobal.com
