Serious question for anyone who wants to answer it: How much of your adult life do you spend trying to make some deeply held childhood dream of yours come true?
Watching the latest video from Pantheon Design made me wonder about this, because it starts with a really good story. You see, like many a person around the world, Pantheon CEO Bob Cao fell for the Honda Motocompo at some point in his life. He was born well after that tiny little bike first hit the ground, and unfortunately, the collector's market had plenty of time to drive prices for the pint-sized heart stealer absolutely through the roof.
And then, he says, Honda released the Motocompacto. Like many of us (including me), he was both excited and intrigued. And then, he was disappointed, because while the Motocompacto might have the virtue of being relatively inexpensive (MSRP-wise, anyway; we're not talking about markups) , it ended up not being nearly as capable as the OG Motocompo had been.
So he did what anyone with their own 3D printing company would do, and he dreamed out loud. Could he and the Pantheon Design team make what the Motocompacto should have been? And most importantly, could they 3D print it? That's how the Pantheon Compo project came about.
While they made their point, a dirt bike it was decidedly not. So, that's what came next. Pantheon went from what they call the Base Compo to the Enduro Compo, which is what this video is about.
The video goes over the process of taking the lessons learned from making the Pantheon Compo and evolving it into the Enduro Compo. And of course, a good portion of the video is spent actually taking the bikes out and testing them, both at skateparks and on local trails.
It's a pretty impressive feat, all around, and super fun to watch. Spoiler alert: They don't quit until both the bikes and their riders are broken, so you definitely can't say they came home too early. If you're a 3D printing enthusiast, the company also prides itself on posting its designs over at Thingiverse (though at the time of writing, you won't find the designs for either Pantheon Compo up just yet).
What do you think, would you want to give the Enduro Compo a rip if you could? Sound off in the comments.
