Vielo is partnering with another trade manufacturers to perform a little good. Utilizing airplane elements from retired plane, the model created upcycled cargo bikes to assist flood survivors within the Valencia area of Spain. The cargo bikes are superior, burly, and weigh solely 13kg (~29lbs).
Valencia, Spain, October 2024
On October 29, 2024, the conventional yearly complete rainfall for Valencia fell in simply eight hours. The city of Chiva, for instance, acquired over six inches of rain in a single hour. Totals for the Valencia area reached practically 20 inches, overwhelming rivers and drainage techniques. This led to devastating flash flooding all through the area, even in areas that didn’t obtain the torrential rain.
Because of the catastrophic downpour and flooding, a lot of the area was completely devastated. A thick, muddy slurry carrying micro organism lined communities. 1000’s misplaced their houses, companies, and far, if not all, of their possessions. Over 100,000 vehicles had been destroyed, wedged three vehicles excessive between buildings.
However the greatest tragedy of all is the 230 individuals who misplaced their lives.
Restoration after the devastation throughout the realm was fully overwhelming and slow-moving. With a lot particles and vehicles blocking entry, assist groups discovered it very tough to entry completely different communities.
Vielo-sponsored endurance athlete “Empty” Juan Twin started accessing hard-to-reach areas on his bike. Navigating the mud and particles, climbing over vehicles, Empty Juan discovered he might get assist to these in want a lot earlier than on his bike. Merely, he didn’t want to attend for cleared roads.
Quickly, different cyclists joined Empty Juan, and a military of roughly 200 riders dispersed by means of the realm, offering assist the place they may. And slowly, the clean-up of Valencia started.
Vielo Athlete Empty Juan Twin
Juan Twin is really “empty.” As a teen, medical doctors identified Empty Juan with a uncommon hereditary situation that put him at an unusually excessive danger of most cancers in his digestive tract. As a younger man, he would have a number of preventative surgical procedures, eradicating inner organs corresponding to his abdomen, gallbladder, colon, and rectum.
Regardless of these huge surgical procedures, Empty Juan went on to be an ultra-runner and ultra-cyclist, catching the eye of manufacturers like Vielo. It could be on his Vielo gravel bike that Empty Juan delivered assist to the devastated communities of Valencia, the place Juan can also be a local.
“So a lot of my family and friends had been affected by the floods. Photographers with their tools ruined, eating places and companies destroyed. It was like a Godzilla film however with out the monster.”
With out hesitation, Empty Juan started to assist in any method doable. Whereas this may be an unimaginable endeavor for anybody, it was particularly dangerous for Juan. Having had a lot of his inner organs eliminated put him at a better danger of an infection. Slogging by means of the bacteria-laden water and dirt might have price the athlete his life.
“We began distributing no matter we might immediately. With my bike, I used to be a lot faster than the vehicles or these strolling. So I did many journeys.”
Whereas the cleanup was extra immense than anybody might think about, folks like Empty Juan and his military of cyclists made an impression in these early days.
Vielo Helps within the Aftermath
Within the aftermath of the flooding within the Valencia area, Vielo wished to discover a significant option to help what could be a whole begin over for a lot of. Vielo’s engineer, Jens Buder, who can also be a professor at Chemnitz College of Know-how in Germany, had an concept that stemmed from a college undertaking he was at present engaged on.
Buder and his engineering college students had not too long ago undertaken a undertaking to make the most of supplies from a retired Airbus A380 airplane and rework them into one thing significant. The crew’s concept was to upcycle sure elements of the aircraft and construct a cargo bike.
Realizing of the devastation in Valencia, they determined that the residents of the impacted communities would possibly profit from as many cargo bikes as the scholars might construct.
The college engineering crew used 55mm diameter carbon fiber struts used to help the ground of the aircraft. Not solely are the tubes a lot bigger and thicker than what would historically be utilized in bicycle carbon tubing layup, however in addition they have a flipped fiber-to-resin ratio. Whereas bikes are usually 30/70 fiber-to-resin, the upcycled struts had been 70/30.
This is able to make them very sturdy. Nonetheless, the added power and emphasised tubing don’t add a lot weight, as accomplished cargo bikes are beneath 30lbs. Whereas remaining mild, they’ll carry a load of over 150lbs.
They lower the tubes and machined them to dimension, finally tacking them along with epoxy. Body joints are then wrapped and bonded utilizing particular carbon strands and epoxy.
With the frames full, Vielo now needed to construct a motorcycle with unconventional sizing. To do that, they’d particular parts, corresponding to backside brackets and headsets, made. Vielo then partnered with different trade manufacturers corresponding to WTB, Cambrian, Token, Satori, and Tektro. These manufacturers helped with tires, wheels, drivetrains, brakes, and touchpoints.
Take a look at the quick movie Vielo made on the undertaking.
Vielo.cc
