COLD FORGING

WHAT IS IT :
A superior manufacturing process that FORGES 7075 T6 aluminum chainrings with more tooth detail than ever before.

WHY WE DO IT :
The process delivers a harder & tougher overall chainring tooth and also allows for more shifting features to be added to a ring than traditional CNC manufacturing allows.   It makes a better chainring!

HOW DO WE DO IT :
With some of the most cutting edge massive forging presses in the world.  Praxis mastered  a  “One-Shot” forging process to create our rings and cranks.

COMPRESSING METAL

At Praxis, we know it’s the little things that add up. All of our chainrings are created with our proprietary forging process which allows us to manipulate the ring shape and tooth profile more than ever before. With our “One-Shot” forging we are able to increase the amount of shifting features on a chainring which normal CNC manufacturing won’t allow. The process also creates a harder and tougher tooth surface for durability. Individual tooth profiles, alternating tooth angles, timed ramps and tactically placed shift elevators are all jam packed onto a Praxis ring. 

Translation: All of these small aggregate features add up to the most durable and consistent shifting rings ever produced for cyclists. We do all this because we know that great shifting means even better rides.

GRAIN STRUCTURE AND FLOW : 

A SIMPLE EXPLANATION

THE PROCESS

Forging is the process by which metal is shaped applying heavy compressive force. At Praxis, this compressive force comes in the form of a very large forging press.  For example, the forging machine used to produce our 52t X-Ring is 2 stories in height and we use over 700 tons to forge it.  This is no simple task.

GRAIN : Similar to wood, metal has grain to it. Forging refines that grain structure and improves the physical properties of the 7075 T6 Aluminum blanks we start with. With our ring designs, the grain flow can be oriented in the direction of principal stresses (the chain) encountered while riding.

Physical properties (such as hardness and toughness) are also much better in a forging than in the base metal which has grain crystals randomly oriented. The chainrings produced here yield very high strength to weight ratio.

NOT A SIMPLE TASK

WE DO IT BECAUSE IT’S HARD

NOT BECAUSE IT’S EASY

At Praxis the primary reason we forge is that it allows us to create dramatically shaped teeth and ramping surfaces on our chainrings. Our “One Shot” forging process allows us to make these shapes, and at the same time we create a harder and tougher ring than the competition’s machined rings.

Imagine for a second, you have a big hammer and you are hitting a cold block of metal trying to shape it. Now, imagine the hammer is the size of a car and when you swing that hammer you’ve got hundreds to thousands of tons of pressure behind it. Yep. It’s a very intense and difficult process that requires a great deal of tooling know-how. This manufacturing process happens to be our specialty.