Triangles Cycling Equipment has taken the next major step in its launch of aluminium frame production in Europe. After the initial start of the production in October 2016 with a small batch of test frames, the manufacturer gradually increased volumes as well as the complexity of frames produced, including e-bikes.
Right from the start it was one of the main goals of Triangles to combine the e-bike frame production with hi-end frames for conventional bicycles. “But we expect that e-bike frames will take up 70% of our total annual production of 500,000 units,” said Triangles General Manager Luis Pedro during Bike Europe’s visit last week . “We assume to reach full capacity by 2020.”
According to the initial planning of the three Portuguese Triangles investors; Ciclo Fapril, Rodi and Miranda the aluminum frame factory would be fully operational this spring. However, that goal has not been reached. GM Luis Pedro explains “This is the start of a new era. There was hardly any know-how available in Europe on how to produce aluminum bike frames. Everybody at Triangles had to learn how to do it on the job. And we still have to train each new employee that comes in ourselves. So we started with small series and relatively simple frames.”
Pedro explains further “Triangles will generate a turnover of 3.4 million euro in 2018 while the company will break-even in 2019.” More on Triangles and an update on the Portugal Bike Value project is in Bike Europe’s May edition.
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