Velocite Bikes

Last updated
Velocite Tech. Co Ltd
Company typePrivate company
IndustryBicycles
Founded2008 (2008)
FounderVictor Major
Headquarters Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Key people
Victor Major, CEO
ProductsBicycles and related components
Website www.velocite-bikes.com

Velocite Bikes is a Taiwanese manufacturer of racing bicycle, mountain bike frames, bicycle wheels and other bicycle components. Notable collaboration partners include the National Cheng Kung University, National Center for High-Performance Computing, [1] Oxeon [2] and Acer Inc. [3] [4] [5] Velocite specializes in carbon fiber composite products, but also manufactures bicycle frames and components using aluminium alloys. Its core bicycle frame models include the road bike frames "Magnus", "Geos", "Selene" and mountain bike frames "Flux", and "Flux Alloy". The firm is also one of the few manufacturers of full carbon road tubeless wheels, the "Velocite RT50". [6] The firm have been sponsoring the UK based Matrix Fitness Racing Academy women's cycling team since 2012. [7] [8]

Contents

History

Velocite Bikes was founded in 2008 by the present CEO Victor Major. Prior to starting the brand, Major ran and managed Cycle Taiwan for 2 years. Cycle Taiwan was a cycling community website for English speakers. [9] focussed on providing riding and equipment information for English speaking riders during the time in Taiwan before cycling for sport, or recreation were popular. At that time it was the only active English language cycling website in Taiwan. Seeing the opportunity for racing bicycle production, he launched Velocite Bikes with four original carbon fiber bicycle frame models; "Velocite Helios", "Velocite Magnus", "Velocite Isoflow" and "Velocite Flux", and a line of carbon fiber wheels, "Velocite Noir".

In 2015 Velocite released the world's first composite rims made using filament winding and launched a new OEM brand, Venn. [10] The Venn Rev 35 wheels series (TCC - rim brake specific tubeless clincher, TCD - disc brake specific tubeless clincher and TUC - rim brake specific tubular) made with the rims manufactured by filament winding technology received a 2015 Taipei Cycle d&i Award, 2015 Eurobike Award and the inaugural 2017 Velofollies Flanders Bike Valley Innovation Award. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

In 2016 Velocite BVBA was set up in Belgium at the newly opened Flanders Bike Valley [17] facility. Velocite BVBA serves as a distribution and R&D center for Venn and Velocite products for European and pan European markets.

Patent dispute with Cicli Pinarello

In January 2017, Velocite accused Cicli Pinarello [18] of taking the patented [19] and copyrighted original research performed by Velocite dealing with integration of a round water bottle into the airflow through use of a concave downtube. Velocite developed the aerodynamic solution during 2014 and launched the Velocite Syn aero road bike featuring the concave downtube at the 2015 Taipei Cycle Show. [20] Pinarello released the Bolide TT bicycle featuring the concave downtube over a year later in May 2016 [21] and a Dogma F10 bicycle in January 2017. [22] The Dogma F10 marketing information also makes use of the Velocite Syn wind tunnel data. [23] At the time of launch of the Dogma F10, Pinarello did not present any wind tunnel, or simulation results data that indicates independent work. Pinarello disputed the rights of Velocite to the aerodynamically functional concave downtube design and associated airflow data, insisting that they have the right to incorporate the design into their bicycle designs and use the data in their marketing materials. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain bike</span> Type of bicycle

A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which makes them heavier, more complex and less efficient on smooth surfaces. These typically include a suspension fork, large knobby tires, more durable wheels, more powerful brakes, straight, extra wide handlebars to improve balance and comfort over rough terrain, and wide-ratio gearing optimised for topography, application and a frame with a suspension mechanism for the rear wheel. Rear suspension is ubiquitous in heavier-duty bikes and now common even in lighter bikes. Dropper seat posts can be installed to allow the rider to quickly adjust the seat height.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bicycle frame</span> Main component of a bicycle

A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles: a main triangle and a paired rear triangle. This is known as the diamond frame. Frames are required to be strong, stiff and light, which they do by combining different materials and shapes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bicycle wheel</span> Wheel designed for a bicycle

A bicycle wheel is a wheel, most commonly a wire wheel, designed for a bicycle. A pair is often called a wheelset, especially in the context of ready built "off the shelf" performance-oriented wheels.

Trek Bicycle Corporation is a bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Bontrager, and Diamant Bikes. The company has previously manufactured bikes under the Gary Fisher, LeMond Racing Cycles, Klein, and Villiger Bikes brand names. With its headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek bicycles are marketed through 1,700 independently owned bicycle shops across North America, subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, South Africa, as well as distributors in 90 countries worldwide. Nearly all Trek bicycles are manufactured outside the United States, in countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan, and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinarello</span> Italian bicycle manufacturer

Cicli Pinarello S.p.A. is an Italian bicycle manufacturer based in Treviso, Italy. Founded in 1953, it supplies mostly handmade bicycles for the road, track, E-bikes(NYTRO), mountain bikes and cyclo-cross. The company also produces an in-house component brand – MOST.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racing bicycle</span> Bicycle designed for competitive road cycling

A racing bicycle, also known as a road bike is a bicycle designed for competitive road cycling, a sport governed by and according to the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclo-cross bicycle</span> Bicycle designed for cyclo-cross racing

A cyclo-cross bike or cyclo-cross bicycle is a bicycle specifically designed for the rigors of a cyclo-cross race. Cyclo-cross bicycles roughly resemble the racing bicycles used in road racing. The major differences between the two are the frame geometry, and the wider clearances that cyclo-cross bikes have for their larger tires and mud and other debris that they accumulate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Track bicycle</span> Bicycle optimized for racing at a velodrome or outdoor track

A track bicycle or track bike is a bicycle optimized for racing at a velodrome or outdoor track. Unlike road bicycles, the track bike is a fixed-gear bicycle; thus, it has only a single gear ratio and has neither a freewheel nor brakes. Tires are narrow and inflated to high pressure to reduce rolling resistance.

Colnago Ernesto & C. S.r.l. or Colnago is a manufacturer of high quality road-racing bicycles founded by Ernesto Colnago near Milano in Cambiago, Italy. It remained a family-controlled firm until May 4, 2020, when it was announced that the UAE-based investment company, Chimera Investments LLC, had acquired a majority of the Colnago shares from Ernesto Colnago, although the headquarters will remain located in Italy after the acquisition. Instead of following his family's farming business, Ernesto Colnago chose to work in the cycle trade, and was apprenticed first to Gloria Bicycles at the age of 13, and subsequently taking up road racing. After a bad crash ended his racing career, he began subcontracting for Gloria, and opened his own shop in 1954, building his first frames the same year. While building frames, he remained much in demand as a racing mechanic. He was second mechanic on the Nivea team Giro d'Italia under Faliero Masi in 1955, eventually being employed as head mechanic for the Molteni team of Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx in 1963.

Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China,and Hungary. They have future plans for Vietnam to be the fifth location.

Keith Bontrager is a motorcycle racer who became a pioneer in the development of the modern mountain bike. Between 1980 and 1995, he was president of his own Bontrager Company, which continues to develop components for Trek Bicycle Corporation after Trek bought out Bontrager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zipp</span> American cycling components company

Zipp is an American company that is best known for designing, manufacturing, and marketing carbon-composite bicycle wheels for road cycling, triathlons, track racing, and mountain biking. The company's product range also includes handlebars, stems, seat posts, tires, inner tubes, handlebar tape, and bags.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kogswell Cycles</span>

Kogswell Cycles, Inc. was a small bicycle frame company with its headquarters in El Dorado Hills, California. Kogswell frames were designed in the United States and manufactured in Taiwan. Kogswell frames often ran counter to mainstream bicycle industry trends. According to Biking.com, Kogswell "focuses on creating bicycle frames that lean more towards utilitarian design rather than speed and rough roading."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorcycle frame</span> Frame of a motorcycle

A motorcycle frame is a motorcycle's core structure. It supports the engine, provides a location for the steering and rear suspension, and supports the rider and any passenger or luggage. Also attached to the frame are the fuel tank and battery. At the front of the frame is found the steering head tube that holds the pivoting front fork, while at the rear there is a pivot point for the swingarm suspension motion. Some motorcycles include the engine as a load-bearing stressed member; while some other bikes do not use a single frame, but instead have a front and a rear subframe attached to the engine.

Dahon is the world's largest manufacturer of folding bicycles with a two-thirds marketshare in 2006. The company was founded in 1982 by David T. Hon, a former laser physicist, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with assembly factories in China, Macau and Bulgaria. Dahon markets bicycles under its own name as well as other brand names, including the affiliated Yeah and Biceco Brands, and Novara for REI in the U.S. The company is a member of the Global Alliance for EcoMobility. Dahon holds over 200 patents, some having become industry standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tubular tyre</span>

A tubular tyre, referred to as a tub in Britain, a sew-up in the US, a single in Australia, or just a tubular is a bicycle tyre that is stitched closed around the inner tube to form a torus. The combination is then glued onto a specially designed rim, referred to as a "sprint rim" in Britain, and just a "tubular rim" in the US, of a bicycle wheel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comstar wheel</span> Composite motorcycle wheel

The Comstar wheel, sometimes referred to as Com-stars or stylised as ComStar, was a composite motorcycle wheel that Honda fitted to many of its motorcycles from 1977 to the mid 1980s. Its design allowed it the option of being fitted with tubeless tyres and its use on the Honda CX500 was the first time tubeless tyres had been designed for a production motorcycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorcycle wheel</span> Component of motorised two-wheelers

Motorcyclewheels are made to cope with radial and axial forces. They also provide a way of mounting other critical components such as the brakes, final drive and suspension. Wheels, and anything directly connected to them, are considered to be unsprung mass. Traditionally motorcycles used wire-spoked wheels with inner tubes and pneumatic tyres. Although cast wheels were first used on a motorcycle in 1927, it would not be until the 1970s that mainstream manufacturers would start to introduce cast wheels on their roadgoing motorcycles. Spoked wheels are usually made using steel spokes with steel or aluminium rims. Cast wheels are predominantly made from an aluminium-alloy, but can also be made from more-exotic materials, such as magnesium content alloy or carbon fibre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markus Storck</span> German bicycle designer and developer

Markus Storck is a German bicycle designer and developer, known for creating the lightest racing bike fork in the world, made of carbon fiber, and the first ever carbon fiber bicycle crank. He is the managing director and founder of Storck Bicycle, designer, and innovator, and his current developments hold the world record lightness and stiffness to weight ratios.

Carbotec Industrial Co. Ltd. is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer. The company sells its frames under its own brand and at the same time produces all frames made of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) for the Italian brand Pinarello and some of the German brand Storck.

References

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  2. "Velocite signs carbon R&D deal with Oxeon". BikeBiz.
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  4. "Taiwan Foreign Community National Local Foreign Affairs China-Taiwan Relations Business Arts & Leisure Analysis Acer partners with local firm for bike manufacturing". The China Post. The China Post. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  5. "Deploying General Purpose GPUs in a Manufacturing Environment: Software and CFD Development in Bicycle Manufacturing (Presented by Acer Inc.)". GPU Technology Conference. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  6. "Velocite RT50 tubeless carbon wheelset". Road.cc. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  7. "Stefan Wyman: The costs and benefits of sponsoring a women's team". Podium Cafe.
  8. Sutton, Mark. "Matrix Fitness, Velocite and Vulpine get behind women's cycling". BikeBiz. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  9. "深耕國際自行車市場 紹凱揚名國際" (PDF). 主辦單位. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
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  11. "Velocite is de winnaar van de Start-up Innovation Award met de Venn Filament gewonden fietsvelgen". Cycling.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  12. "Venn Rev 35 TCD". Eurobike Awards. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  13. "Venn Rev 35 TCC". iF Design. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
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  17. "Velocite | Flanders' Bike Valley". www.flandersbikevalley.be. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  18. "Pinarello stole my patented design, says composites guru". Bikebiz. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  19. "Velocite concave downtube patentVelocite Bikes blog, news and updates | Velocite Bikes blog, news and updates". blog.velocite-bikes.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
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  21. "Pinarello unleashes lighter and sleeker new Bolide time trial bike - Cycling Weekly". Cycling Weekly. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
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  23. "Velocite Syn first wind tunnel runVelocite Bikes blog, news and updates | Velocite Bikes blog, news and updates". blog.velocite-bikes.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  24. "Pinarello says it needs more information on Velocite patent infringement claims". Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. Retrieved 2017-03-09.