VDL Bike Frame Technologies
- Case Designing a modular bike frame platform
- Client VDL Bike Frame Technologies
- Industry Urban / Bicycle
VDL Bike Frame Technologies is bringing bicycle frame production to Europe. MODYN is responsible for the design of the frameset and its parts. The VDL Frameset, designed and optimized for production in the, state of the art, fully automated production facilities of VDL Bike Frame Technologies in the Netherlands. One of the main challenges is creating three designs that are visually different but can still be produced as part of one frameset.
Design for Manufacturing (DFM) enables VDL Bike Frame Technologies to optimize production from the design phase. This leads to faster production processes, higher quality and lower costs.Local production shortens delivery times and enables flexible response to market demand. It also benefits from Dutch expertise in precision engineering and automation. This combination of sustainability, efficiency, quality and flexibility gives Dutch production of bicycle frames a significant competitive advantage.
We identify three specific design languages based on the current market and where that market is headed in the future. Through trend watching, extensive research and various design loops, we achieved three foundational designs for VDL’s bicycle frames.
The translation of these design languages to the versatile frameset leads to a fine balance between the design and manufacturability. The interchangeability of frame parts means that, from every possible design, each frame part has to fit multiple other parts with various designs.
The resulting three base designs serve as a starting point for each customer to create their own bicycle vision. Each base design can be chosen and matched with a specific geometry. Combinations of parts with various designs can be made to create unique bicycles.
Additionally fully custom components can be made to fit the frameset if a brand requires a unique look for a certain part. MODYN is constantly keeping the frameset up-to-date, improving and designing new custom parts to fit the frameset seamlessly.
