Case Study: FLO Cycling achieves high-performance, affordable race wheels with Autodesk

Twin Brothers Use AutoCAD for Cycling Start-Up

FLO Cycling, founded by twin engineers Jon and Chris Thornham, set out to produce high-performance bike wheels at a fraction of the price of premium brands. Their challenge was to design aerodynamically advanced rims without incurring the high cost and time of traditional prototyping and wind‑tunnel testing, while also delivering manufacturer-ready DWG files for production. To meet this need they turned to Autodesk tools, notably AutoCAD and Inventor.

Using Autodesk AutoCAD for detailed drafting and Inventor as part of a multistage R&D process, FLO Cycling combined computational fluid dynamics and a custom data‑collection rig that logged 110,000 real‑world points to drive an algorithmic search of some 500 candidate shapes. Autodesk-enabled simulation let them verify designs before opening molds and using wind tunnels only for final validation, cutting prototyping cost and time; the result is wheels that rival the aerodynamics and speed of long‑established competitors while being sold direct to consumers at much lower prices.

FLO Cycling

Jon Thornham

Cofounder