Case Study: Trek Bicycle Corporation achieves faster development and on-time product launches with ANSYS Mechanical

Speeding Up Development Time for Racing Cycles

Trek Bicycle Corporation, a global leader in bicycle design and manufacturing, needed to shorten development time while ensuring strict strength and stiffness requirements for a new racing fork assembly (an aluminum steer tube epoxied into a composite fork). To accelerate product launch schedules and reduce costly prototype cycles, Trek turned to ANSYS, deploying ANSYS Mechanical (installed and supported by ANSYS channel partner Belcan Engineering Group) to drive simulation-led design decisions.

Using ANSYS Mechanical, Trek imported SolidWorks geometry, used the Virtual Topology feature to create a unified mesh across composite and metal parts, applied bonded contact elements for the epoxy joints, and leveraged shell lay-up capabilities to model complex composite behavior. ANSYS simulations let engineers rapidly evaluate lay-up and aluminum wall-thickness changes, accurately reproduce lab tests, cut lengthy hardware prototype iterations, and produce a fork that met design and safety standards—saving considerable development time and enabling Trek to meet critical product launch deadlines.

Trek Bicycle Corporation

Brian Schumann

Senior Design Engineer