Recently ABUS presented the new Targon, a high‑tech full‑face MTB helmet with a removable chin bar. The Targon is "Made in Italy" and is produced, like the Gamechanger, the new Taipan and several other top helmets, in the heart of the Italian cycling industry.
We are in Camisano, a municipality of just under 1,300 inhabitants halfway between Vicenza and Padua — in the "home of cycling", as some Giro d'Italia commentators like to call it. In fact, the area around Castelfranco Veneto, with its incredible concentration of professional cyclists, is not only the cradle and hotspot of cycling but also a center of the associated high‑end production facilities in Europe. It is the official Italian bicycle industry district with almost 100 companies and about 1,500 employees. Around 30 percent of all Italian bicycle products are made here; names like Campagnolo, Castelli, Pinarello, Sarto, Fondriest and many more are based here.
How a polycarbonate sheet and a few little beads become a helmet
Tenths of a second, temperatures, humidity, elasticity, adhesive joints - every tiniest detail counts
No wonder, then, that ABUS has found here those partners who have elevated the helmet line-up to a new level with high-tech and an innovative spirit. Because the Maxi Studio site is no longer just part of the ABUS group, but, thanks to the high demand, is bursting at the seams, an exclusive new plant for helmet production is being built just around the corner in Campodoro - "Made in Italy" at the highest level.
The bicycle helmet as a high-tech product
After all, a bicycle helmet is nowadays a sophisticated high‑tech product, always at the limit of what is technically possible. A product that, on the one hand, has to meet strict quality standards, and on the other hand must also look good and be as light as possible, fit well and — as in the case of the Targon — offer a wide range of functions. Fidlock fastenings, minimalist straps, a comfortable and as flexible-as-possible adjustment system, GoPro and light mounts, a removable chin bar, a safety visor and much, much more must be considered in product development and, where possible, be cast into helmet form as lightly and elegantly as possible.
Short innovation cycles thanks to European production
So that development — and thus innovation — cycles remain as short as possible, there is not only a torture chamber for helmets at ABUS’s headquarters in Wetter, Germany, but also here at the Camisano site, where various pieces of equipment await the helmets to be reviewed, which must meet the strict EU and US regulations. The reviews include drop reviews onto various objects, with straight-on or side impact, as well as pull and twist reviews for retention-system straps and closures.
Only after successfully passing the review and torture procedures are the final material thicknesses as well as the final helmet shape — and those of the attachments — determined.
It is also interesting that the differences between the US and EU rules lead to helmets being foamed with different EPS materials.
Nobody would guess what products leave Maxi Studio's factory if you look at the raw material delivered to the goods entrance: thin polycarbonate sheets with adhesive film and sacks of small plastic pellets. On my first visit I even compared it to Schiller's "The Bell," where at the end of the poem a perfectly formed bell emerges from raw ore. Basically the magic of modern technology is not essentially different, because however elementary the ingredients may appear, between the simple polycarbonate sheets and the finished, perfectly formed helmet there are numerous work steps and a wild marriage of computer science, mathematics, mechanics, physics and chemistry.
Firmly built into the earth stands the mold, fired from clay
The long road to high-tech plastic injection molding
The recipe for helmet production
Step 1 - the prerequisites: set up a production line based on CAD models, analyses, reviews and prototypes, organize suitable machines and molds.
Step 2 - plate tectonics: print plastic sheets of appropriate thickness (< 1 mm) in the desired color (sublimation printing or digital printing); the chemistry of the ink is essential - it must withstand subsequent processes, both in terms of hardness (brittleness) and high temperatures; allow time to dry.
Step 3 - aliens from the deep: carefully heat the printed sheets up to temperature X to make them formable without them becoming liquid; the helmet mold for the outer shell is dipped into the plastic from below; pay attention to material thicknesses and coating quality, allow time to cool.
Step 4 - Haircut: CNC machine for milling out the final shape of the outer shell; pay attention to clean burrs.
Step 5 - the magic: the most complex of all steps — place the cooled outer shell, internal parts (spider web), carrier mounts, adjustment system, anchor points and all other parts exactly into the injection mold; prepare plastic granulate in the correct chemical composition (pentane content acts as an adhesive, water content determines the final EPS density ~ material hardness), heat water to steam, close the mold, inject the beads with steam and enormous pressure into the mold, follow temperature curves and timings meticulously, otherwise the process ends in chaos; finally allow ample time for cooling.
Step 6 - Admire: Remove the nearly finished helmet from the mold, send it to the print shop. The pad picks up ink from the stencil and presses it onto the helmet; repeat the step until all logos and colors are on the helmet; pay attention to precise color edges, logo positioning and alignment in multi-color printing; Allow time to dry
Step 7 - Assembly: Attach the retention system and mounting parts, remove any burrs that may be present, final quality control, packaging, shipment to the dealer.
Getting underway at the new ABUS plant
At the end of the process, not only is the production model (such as the new ABUS Targon) once again put through its paces to ensure it meets all safety requirements, but the helmets also embark on the wild life of the open market. And for product developers like Patrick Schreiber, the next project begins — the next iteration and new development, taking into account the many lessons learned from past products, with feedback from customers, dealers and athletes, and above all with the ever-new possibilities brought by new manufacturing processes, technical advances and a huge new production site like the new ABUS plant in Campodoro.
Links
