A new car chassis has been made using bicycle production techniques, making history in the process. A trio of British companies have got their heads together and have been able to make a car chassis which features a world first. It is the first to be use butted tubing technology which is more at home in bicycle production.
The companies in question are Reynolds Technology, Simpact and Caterham. Reynolds Technology are famous for making bicycle tubes, Simpact offer computer aided engineering consultancy and Caterham will need little introduction, but those who are unfamiliar of its work, they make light sportscars. Reynolds patented the process of making butted tubes in 1897 so it's fair to say they know their way around butted tube.
For those of you, like myself who don't really know what a butted tube is allow me to explain. A butted tube is thicker at the ends than it is in the middle which means the frames in which it's built from will be strong but more importantly, lightweight. This means that steel can be used rather than exotic - and expensive - which will keep costs down. Speaking of cost, the new feather-light chassis will be available as an option to customers at a price £1,000-£2,000 and it is thought that a fifth of Caterham customers will choose this option.
Simon Lambert, CTO of Caterham Cars, said: “Caterham has made its name as a purveyor of lightweight sportscars but we believe more can always be done to reduce weight and, therefore, emissions.“Caterham and Reynolds are two proudly British brands and there is a real synergy between customers of Caterham and cycling enthusiasts, so it’s even better that the technology that has made this possible has come from the two-wheeled world.”