FRONT MECH BOSS
THE DESIGN OF A DERAILLEUR BOSS FOR USE ON CARBON FIBRE SEAT TUBES
A front mech boss is a component that seldom takes the limelight in the cycling industry and is one that is often overlooked in terms of aesthetic design. In a collaboration with Saffron Frameworks, I was tasked with designing a discrete front mech boss that would be fixed to a carbon fibre seatpost. The images to the left show a short journey through the design process from early concepts to the final product.
Through the use of 3D printing, we removed the aesthetic limitation that other more traditional manufacturing methods can incur on a design. 3D printing also enabled us to keep the design lightweight with the final product weighting just 16g. To bond the boss to the frame, we used a combination of epoxy and rivets to ensure a secure fix.
The final product subtly integrates the Saffron logo into the design whilst maintaining a discrete and functional form. The front mech boss will be concealed by the front derailleur in a bike assembly however, when disassembled for maintenance, the logo detail will be revealed and hopefully give customers a new appreciation for the attention to detail that the Saffron brand is already so well known for.