Carbon: Additive series production of bicycles reaches millions of dollars

The technical focus is on digitally designed lattice structures, the mechanical traits of which can be varied in a targeted manner within a component. In bicycle saddles, these structures replace conventionally manufactured foam padding. Damping, support and mechanical behavior can be defined to different areas of the saddle. The production figure shows that additive manufacturing in this field of consumption has been transferred beyond prototypes and small series into repeatable series processes.

Customized saddles based on pressure data

Applications include the "Argo Adaptive" saddle of "fizik". At the Tour de France 2026, Tadej Pogačar applied an individually adapted version, which was designed as part of the manufacturer's "one-to-one" program based on its print profile and seating position.

With "Unica", "Selle Italia" has also introduced a fully customizable saddle. The product is manufactured by carbon production partner Prototek. The basis is pressure measurement data of the respective driver, from which an individual internal grid structure is derived. The saddle is made from the carbon elastomer "Epu 46". According to Carbon, "Unica" is the second fully customizable saddle model produced on the company's platform.

Transfer to further applications

Carbon refers to comparable approaches in other industries. In the "Vivo Biome Tabi Gen 02" shoe model from "Vivobarefoot", to instance, foot scans are converted into a digital production model from which individualized shoes made to order are created. Other fields of consumption of the platform include protective equipment, mobility seats, medical methodology and manufacturing and automotive applications.

At the same time, Carbon is expanding its production network. According to the company, it now has greater than 40 manufacturing partners in eleven countries. The network is intended to provide access to qualified production capacities in various sales regions and to support the transition from product research to scaled series production.

Carbon also reports growing production volumes when it comes to the consumption of materials. Since the introduction of the high-performance elastomer family "Epu Pro", greater than 1,000 t of material have been delivered.

Presentation at Formnext 2026

At Formnext 2026, Carbon wants to show ongoing series applications from several industries. In addition to bicycle saddles, applications from the areas of individualized shoes, protective equipment, mobility seats, medical methodology, sector and automobiles are to be presented.

Carbon, Inc. is a corporation established under the law of the US state of Delaware. The company's headquarters are in Sunnyvale, California, USA.

Formnext 2026