Hero Motor Company’s sister concern, Spur Technologies, announced opening its first manufacturing unit for making indigenous bicycle components to compete with the cheap Chinese imports at Dhanansu e-cycle valley on August 11.

The chairman and managing director of Hero Cycles, Pankaj Munjal, stated that the bicycle component industry should boost its pace in the global sector by shifting to the use of aluminium instead of steel in the making of high-end bicycle products, which has been the motto for the European Union, Japan and North America for over twenty years.

He defined that other auxiliary experiments with materials like carbon or other composites must be accomplished at a local level, alongside the development of patents and required intellectual properties at the site to add value to the initiative.

The construction of the building has syphoned INR 60 crore from its makers and has specialised in producing double-wall alloy rims, front suspension forks, alloy stems, freewheels (single speed) and BB cartridges for the Indian bicycle market.

Spur Technologies’ innovation might curb the demand for imported Chinese parts and replace that with locally made, precisely engineered components. The factory will be crucial in turning the foreign-based economy around and making it completely regional. Specific high-end parts would be forged by Spur Technologies in the e-cycle valley, which houses Hero’s 50 acres e-cycle factory.

Production from this latest unit would be allotted for international trade after it caters successfully to the local requirement, as officials confirmed it.

Ludhiana has the largest number of bicycle manufacturers in India, almost 90 per cent, but it depends massively on China to import some components used in assembling e-cycle.

Director of Hero Cycles, Abhishek Munjal, ensured that the function of this new unit would be to directly aim at producing high-end aluminium components for both the domestic and international markets.

India is on a quest to replace China and South-East Asia as the leading exporters of bicycle and electric bicycle components. To achieve this, all the main electrical and mechanical components must be manufactured within India to diminish the eternal dependency on China, Europe and Taiwan.

Hero Cycles had formed the hi-tech ‘Cycle Valley’ unit known as Hero eCycles Pvt. Ltd. to create an e-cycle zone and meet the export demands. But gradually, the company began to form global Joint Ventures and conducted thorough research to ultimately flag off the production of aluminium bicycle components locally.