NVIDIA RTX is spinning new cycles for designs. Trek Bicycle is using GPUs to bring design concepts to life.
The Wisconsin-based company, one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, aims to create bikes with the highest-quality craftsmanship. With its new partner Lidl, an international retailer chain, Trek Bicycle also owns a cycling team, now called Lidl-Trek. The team is competing in the annual Tour de France stage race on Trek Bicycle's flagship lineup, which includes the Emonda, Madone and Speed Concept. Many of the team's accessories and equipment, such as the wheels and road race helmets, were also designed at Trek.
Bicycle design involves complex physics - and a key challenge is balancing aerodynamic efficiency with comfort and ride quality. To address this, the team at Trek is using NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs to run high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, setting new benchmarks for aerodynamics in a bicycle that's also comfortable to ride and handles smoothly.
The designers and engineers are further enhancing their workflows using NVIDIA RTX technology in Dell Precision workstations, including the NVIDIA RTX A5500 GPU, as well as a Dell Precision 7920 running dual RTX A6000 GPUs.
Visualizing Bicycle Designs in Real Time To kick off the product design process, the team starts with user research to generate early design concepts and develop a range of ideas. Then, they build prototypes and iterate the design as needed.
To improve performance, the bikes need to feel a certain way, whether riders are taking it on the road or the trail. So Trek spends a lot of time with athletes to figure out where to make critical changes, including tweaks to geometry and the flexibility of the frame and taking the edge off of bumps.
The designers use graphics-intensive applications tools for their computer-aided design workflows, including Adobe Substance 3D, Cinema 4D, KeyShot, Redshift and SOLIDWORKS. For CFD simulations, the Trek Performance Research team uses Simcenter STAR-CCM from Siemens Digital Industries Software to take advantage of the GPU processing capabilities.
NVIDIA RTX GPUs provided Trek with a giant leap forward for design and engineering. The visualization team can easily tap into RTX technology to iterate quicker and show more options in designs. They can also use Cinema 4D and Redshift with RTX to produce high-quality renderings and even to visualize different designs in near real time.
Michael Hammond, the lead for digital visual communications at Trek Bicycle, explains the importance of having time for iterations. The faster we can render an image or animation, the faster we can improve it, he said. But at the same time, we don't want to lose details or spend time recreating models.
With the help of the RTX A5500, Trek's digital visual team can push past creative limits and reach the final design much faster. On average, the RTX GPU performs 12x faster than our network rendering, which is on CPU cores, said Hammond. For a render that takes about two hours to complete on our network, it only takes around 10-12 minutes on the RTX A5500 - that means I can do 12x the iterations, which leads to better quality rendering and animation in less time.
Accelerating CFD Simulations Over the past decade, adoption of CFD has grown as a critical tool for engineers and equipment designers because it allows them to gain better insights into the behavior of their designs. But CFD is more than an analysis tool - it's used to make improvements without having to resort to time-consuming and expensive physical testing for every design. This is why Trek has integrated CFD into its product development workflows.
https://blogs.nvidia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Madone.mp4
The aerodynamics team at Trek relies on Simcenter STAR-CCM to optimize the performance of each bike. To provide a comfortable ride and smooth handling while achieving the best aerodynamic performance, the Trek engineers designed the latest generation Madone to use IsoFlow, a unique feature designed to increase rider comfort while reducing drag.
The Simcenter STAR-CCM simulations benefit from the speed of accelerated GPU computing, and it enabled the engineers to cut down simulation runtimes by 85 days, as they could run CFD simulations 4-5x faster on NVIDIA A100 GPUs compared to their 128-core CPU-based HPC server.
The team can also analyze more complex physics in CFD to better understand how the air is moving in real-world unsteady conditions.
Now that we can run higher fidelity and more accurate simulations and still meet deadlines, we are able to reduce wind tunnel testing time for significant cost savings, said John Davis, the aerodynamics lead at Trek Bicycle. Within the first two months of running CFD on our GPUs, we were able to cancel a planned wind tunnel test due to the increased confidence we had in simulation results.
Learn more about Trek Bicycle and GPU-accelerated Simcenter STAR-CCM .
And join us at SIGGRAPH, which runs from Aug. 6-10, to see the latest technologies shaping the future of design and simulation.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
NVIDIA RTX is spinning new cycles for designs. Trek Bicycle is using GPUs to bring design concepts to life.
