When most people think about how a bicycle frame is built, they probably imagine sparks flying from a welding torch.
That’s certainly how the vast majority of aluminum bike frames are made. But one British e-bike company is taking a very different approach, and it has more in common with Aston Martin sports cars and aerospace engineering than traditional bicycle manufacturing.
Cambridge-based folding e-bike maker FLIT says it is scaling up production of its lightweight FLIT M2 electric bicycle using a manufacturing process known as adhesive bonding.
And before you picture someone squeezing a tube of hardware-store glue onto a bike frame, that’s not what’s happening here.
Adhesive bonding is actually a highly advanced manufacturing technique that has been used for decades in industries where strength, precision, and weight matter tremendously. The process was famously pioneered in vehicles like the Lotus Elise and has since found its way into cars from Aston Martin, Tesla, and numerous aerospace applications.
