Plans and Ponderings At VO

by Igor

This whole year has been a busy one: new Neutrino and Pass Hunter frames, fenders, rims, racks, and other projects you haven't even seen yet - well maybe keen Instagram story followers may have seen. I sometimes like to pull back the curtain on a few projects and happenings around Velo Orange World Headquarters. So here's a quick roundup!

Gearing up for Philly Bike Expo

We're getting things ready for the Philly Bike Expo (November 2nd and 3rd). In recent years, we've taken less individual products, and more complete bikes with our products integrated into them. The idea is that while we can't bring all 700+ skus with us, we try to create an atmosphere and buzz around our brand and general offerings so that people can check out the website if they are in need of something specific for their build or repair.

Basically, it's more of a showcase of the brand, identity, and new and prototype products rather than a flea market of everything we offer. It also makes it easier to contextualize design intentions when a product is actually on a bike rather than just sitting on a table or hung to a gridboard. Plus it makes our lives a ton easier for setup and breakdown of the booth. We also get a chance to ride our bikes around Philly!

Be sure to check out VO Island at booth 3004, close to the entrance. I think you'll have a hard time missing us.

Check out our previous PBE posts from 2018, 2017, and 2016.

Prototype Hubs

With the introduction of the newest form of the Pass Hunter, we've been working to update our rear and front hubs to be more future-proof with 12mm and 15mm thru-axle and QR compatibility. Simply pop the endcaps off and switch them for the included replacement ones. This custom hub shell is an homage to the 8-speed Campagnolo Record Hub. It will retain the tool-free disassembly as our current offerings. Sorry, no backwards compatibility.

Lucky Bars

These will have a lot of 8's in the design - deemed very lucky in Chinese culture. It's going to be perfect for more upright MTB and bikepacking bikes like the Piolet. Wide, nice rise, nice sweep. These are currently being prototyped using some really neat mandrel bending tooling. Basically, this style of bending allows for tighter and more consistent bends without the risk of stress risers or limited shapes.

Dropper Posts

These literally arrived minutes ago while I was writing this post (get it? Post, seatpost...) The good folks at Dajia Cycleworks thought we might like them, so we got a few samples to test out. They look really good. More details on these coming soon once we get them mounted up.