No. 22 Reactor: Aero 3D Printed Titanium Bike Breaks Cover at MADE

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When it comes to modern bikes, off-the-shelf bikes are almost always the faster option compared to custom. They tend to be lighter given the optimization possible with factory production, though not always. Perhaps more importantly though, there’s also almost always aerodynamic considerations.

Production bikes from large companies have access to CFD and wind tunnels during the design phase but they also have a flexibility of tube shapes that’s hard to match. That tends to be true even if we are talking about custom carbon. If a metal bike is more your flavor, it’s rarely even considered. With the rise of 3D printing, that’s all starting to change.

No. 22 images hand built titanium bikes and is a brand that’s always embraced a modern aesthetic. A few days ago No. 22 took that even further by teasing the world’s first fully 3D printed titanium bike. Like others who’ve been playing with small pieces, No. 22 is creating shapes that would otherwise be impossible. This time though, the Reactor is using those shapes to turn our understanding of a custom metal bike on its head. The Reactor isn’t just the world’s first 3D printed titanium bike, it’s also an aero optimized metal bike.

The team at No 22 started the process with CFD. From there the idea was to blend the unique properties of titanium with an understanding of how to cut through the air. As No. 22 co-founder Bryce Gracey shares in the video above, the Reactor isn’t just capturing eyes by using 3D printed titanium for the sake of it. According to him, this bike still feels like a titanium bike. Printing the whole frame as one-piece just allows for aero tube shapes otherwise not possible.

It’s not just the frame that’s 3D printed either, the rest of the build partners with a variety of companies and there’s 3D printing whenever possible. The first place you might notice that isn’t actually from a partner but instead the brand’s own 3D printed and internally routed stem. The handlebar looks like it might be 3D printed but it’s not. That’s just attention to detail and paint applied to an Enve Aero IN-Route Handlebar.

Another place where you’ll find 3D printing is on the wheels. The wheelset is the Scope Artech 4 that we recently reviewed. As expected of a modern wheelset, the construction uses carbon. In this case there’s a bit of biomimicry with fish scales for aerodynamics and carbon spokes as well. The hub is something even more unique though. Scope uses 3D printed Scalmalloy (additive manufacturing substitute for 7000 series aluminum alloys made up of scandium, aluminum, and magnesium) to achieve otherwise impossible to create shapes. Both hubs together come to only 220 grams yet the bonelike structure allows them to retain the required stiffness.

The groupset comes from SRAM in the form of the recently released SRAM RED 2x road. While it’s not necessary to use a UDH for the road version of the groupset, No. 22 did incorporate that design into the chainstay. The brand also incorporated a Ceramic Speed pulley though rather than the 3D printed version, you’ll find the CeramicSpeed OSPW Aero ALPHA system. I’m sure that was a difficult decision as both options fit the build in different ways.

Also swapped into the groupset is a titanium crank. No 22 often uses Cane Creek eeWings Titanium Cranks but this time you’ll find a 5DEV Road crank. This is a piece that first showed up at Sea Otter and while there’s, again, no 3D printing it is instead CNC Machined and Laser Welded in California. You’ll notice in this case that the branding is missing and the finish on the crank arms is a little different than what 5DEV offers directly.

The last trick bit of spec to note is the saddle. If you know Berk saddles, then you know. For those that don’t, they come from a former road racer who makes some of the most comfortable, lightweight, and beautiful looking saddles on the market. They are also handmade in Slovenia. This particular saddle is the Lupina Monocoque Open that just came to market and it’s covered with black leather.

Obviously this is an incredibly high-end build and that’s without even trying to guess what it costs to print a complete bike frame out of Grade 5 titanium powder. Right now, this is only a prototype. Gracey tells me that the next steps will involve more aero testing and further refinement with the hope of coming to market in q3 or q4 of 2025.

For more info and, eventually, purchase stop by the No. 22 website.

3D printed titanium bike image gallery