Vielo partners with German University to deliver four Upcycled Cargo bikes made from Airplane parts to Valencia flood victims.
- Weighing just 13kg (Less than a folding bike!) and able to carry +70kg pay load.
- Made from 55mm diameter Carbon tubes used as supports to hold the passenger floor on an Airbus A380.
- Gifted to Two villages in Valencia to replace vehicles lost in the flash flooding of October 2024
- Donated in partnership with ‘Empty’ Juan Dual. A Valencian ultra cyclist that’s missing half his internal organs due to cancer, yet still lead a group of 100 volunteer cyclists to donate aid in the aftermath of the 2024 floods.
- YouTube video documents the story and people involved.
In October 2024 torrential rain in eastern Spain caused sever flash flooding across Valencia and surrounding regions. The resulting floods caused over 230 deaths, unbelievable property damage and the destruction of over 100,000 vehicles. Streets were covered in a thick slurry of bacteria filled mud, homes ruined, roads blocked with piles of cars stacked 3 high such was the intensity of the flooding.
Vielo sponsored Ultra distance Athlete Juan Dual, a Valencian native, was heartbroken by the scenes. “So many of my friends and family were affected by the floods. Photographers with their equipment ruined, restaurants and businesses destroyed. It was like a Godzilla movie but without the monster” said Juan.
In the aftermath emergency Vielo sponsored Ultra distance Athlete Juan Dual, a Valencian native, volunteered in distributing aid (Medicines, food, water etc) using his backpack and his Vielo Gravel bike.
“We started distributing whatever we could straight away. With my bike I was much quicker than the cars or those walking, So I did many trips.” Over the coming days Juan lead a team of 100 volunteer cyclists to distribute essentials across a vast part of the town.
An incredible achievement for anyone, but more so when you consider Juan’s background. Through his teenage year’s he’s had a large portion of his internal organs removed to prevent cancer. No stomach, rectum, colon or gallbladder he’s very much earned the nickname ‘Empty Juan’. It’s also testament to the man to do anything, considering that the slightest infection from the bacterial filled mud could be deadly to him.
Vielo were looking at opportunities to help Juan help the region in a meaningful way. In conversations with Vielo’s Engineer Jens Buder, a member of the Scientific staff at Chemnitz university of Technology in East Germany. Jens introduced a project recently undertaken by the students of the sports engineering department.
The project was to take materials recycled from Airbus A380 aeroplanes that were being dismantled and turning them into something meaningful. Their idea was a Cargo bike.
The team at Vielo began looking at ways to become involved in the project, to improve the prototype with resources from Vielo and utilise its network of contacts to gather sponsors to help produce Four new, updated cargo bikes from the recycled materials.
About the bike
The bike is made from 55mm diameter carbon fibre tubes. A traditional tube for bikes are usually very thin walled for saving weight. Traditional carbon layup on a bike would be 30% fiber and 70% resin. The recycled tubes flip that to a 70% dense carbon structure, with a 30% resin. This makes them ridiculously strong.
The students were tasked with producing the CAD drawings, building the jigs and tooling required. The hands on experience contributed as credits toward their overall studies, giving them practical experience on prototyping the original concept bike.
The tubes arrive with a thick blue coating, which is sanded back to raw carbon. They are then cut and machined to size. The tubes are ‘tacked’ together with an epoxy and carbon fibre mix that is used just to mount the tubes in place. The joins are then wrapped with a dense carbon fabric to ensure the bond is exceptionally strong. The BB area features a lot of addition carbon strand wound in multiple directions to ensure strength. The frame then has a final coat of epoxy to make the finish uniform, but also keeping a raw finish.
Utilising Vielo’s V+1 Gravel bike fork meant the wheel size could be increased from a 24” BMX wheel to a 700c Front and a 650b rear. Giving wide enough tyre clearance to fit a 50mm tyres. In the rear a 650b wheel size was chosen to keep the weight low on the cargo rack. Vielo’s quick release axles and bearings enabled standard known parts to be used, but custom inserts were made to transition from the fork to the 55mm tubes used in the head tube.
Vielo sought sponsors from existing partners. Cambrian tyres donated Goodyear Transit SUV and Transit Tour tyres and inner tubes. Token donated G23AB Wheels as well as sourcing the CNC’d custom aluminium parts for the dropouts and seat post inserts. Satori donated their Alloy bar and stems as well as seat posts. Tektro / TRP donated the ED9 group set, including custom length hoses and shift cables. WTB donated saddles and grips to finish the bike. EFW donated the carbon tubes from the Airbus plane.
Total bike weight 13kg
Load capacity – Limited to +70kg (We’ve tried it with 150kg, but the rim was sat on the ground)
The final challenge on donating the bikes was getting them to Valencia. A logistics partner had offered to help, but that fell through. The solution was for Vielo Co Founder Trevor Hughes to go pick them up. A 2,600 mile round trip from Newcastle Upon Tyne, to Chemnitz and down to Valencia.
Trevor filmed the journey as part of their Road Diary vlogs which can be seen in full on their Youtube channel. https://youtu.be/gRzkSuL6z80
With Thanks:
Jens Buder, Steffen Muller, Chemnitz University of Technology, Sebastian Marx, Thorben Tittel, Louis Ladewig, Ian Hughes, Juan Dual, Pedro Mecinas, Jordi Palli, Marcos Lopez, Annia Martinez, Tektro TRP, Satori, WTB, Token, EFW, Goodyear, Cambrian Tyres, Ineos Automotive
About Vielo
British bicycle brand Vielo launched in 2018 by father and son duo Ian and Trevor Hughes. They specialise in light weight carbon road and gravel bikes, all exclusively designed for 1X (One by – Single chain rings). Know for their bespoke builds, boutique style and exceptional ride qualities, Vielo are about doing things the corporate brands don’t… because they can. No made up marketing BS, they’re for real riders riding in real British riding conditions.
