Harley-Davidson fans are certainly familiar with Thunderbike. Founded in 1985, the company from Hamminkeln in the Lower Rhine region specializes in the retrofitting of Harley-Davidson motorcycles (custom bikes) and operates a roadhouse on its premises, which has become the place to be for Harley fans in Germany.
Custom Bike for Company Anniversary
For the 35th company anniversary in 2020, a special motorcycle was built – a chopper, with a golden metal flake paint job. Various parts had to be custom-made for this, including a fender and a gas tank, which had to be attached as well as fitted with connectors. After the parts were manufactured in the company’s own welding shop, they were measured using the recently acquired 3D-Scanner HandySCAN 3D and Creaform’s VXelements software.
Why HandySCAN 3D?
This scanning system seemed to make the most sense to Thunderbike for their requirements, as mobile measurements often need to be taken at different locations and different types of surfaces need to be digitized. In addition, the scanner is very accurate and CAD models can be created directly.
Before the Creaform measurement system was acquired, measurements were taken manually, or service providers were contracted. Even though the custom bike mentioned above could have been made without using the HandySCAN 3D, everything would have taken much longer, especially the creation of the various 3D models. This is because the data obtained allowed the various brackets and connections to be simulated and tried out on a PC before the selected options were produced with CNC machines.
Conclusion
With the Creaform system, Thunderbike now has the ability to develop new parts and adapt or further develop existing parts. Now that the company has the data digitally, they can reproduce all parts at any time as needed.
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About Thunderbike
Thunderbike was founded in 1985 by Andreas Bergerforth and is still a family-owned company. It began with servicing and rebuilding motorcycles from various brands. Having partnered with Suzuki in 1987, a contract partnership with Harley-Davidson for the Lower Rhine was accepted in 2005.
Our main business is the sale of new and refurbished Harley-Davidson motorcycles (“custom bikes”). We also deal in Harley-Davidson parts & accessories as well as our own products. Around 90 employees develop, design, produce and sell products for the customization of Harley-Davidson motorcycles (“custom parts”) to a worldwide clientele.
In 2010, Thunderbike opened the Roadhouse on the company premises, where food and drinks are offered 7 days/week in the “American Way of Life”, and which has since become a trendy hangout, complementing the motorcycle division.
This content was originally published on the Creaform website.
